The new king of the "transitional" upgrade!
Written: Jul 06 '07 (Updated Apr 20 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Allows use of DDR1 memory and AGP, extremely stable and amazingly cheap for the quality.
Cons: Not a good overclocking or gaming motherboard, SLI or CrossFire not possible.
The Bottom Line: Both this motherboard and its successor, the 4CoreDual-VSTA, are excellent products that fill an important niche in the do-it-yourself PC market. Highly recommended.
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| jsc1973's Full Review: ASRock (775Dual-VSTA) (Q120054) Motherboard |
Similar to popular motherboards of the past, like the FIC VA-503 and the ECS K7S5A, the AsRock 775Dual-VSTA and its successor, the 4CoreDual-VSTA, allow do-it-yourself upgraders to reuse older but still useful components while still providing an excellent computing experience.
For those of you (like me) who like to build your own PCs, it's a regular routine every so often. The computer you build gets obsolete and starts to bog down under heavy use, compelling you to order a new CPU, motherboard, and often a new video card, hard drive and RAM as well. Major advances in video and memory technology have made this even more imperative than it was in the past. As a result, upgrading to a faster CPU can cost hundreds of dollars, even if you're not a hardcore gamer.
But there are sometimes ways to alleviate the high cost of upgrading to the new technology you need, while passing on those you don't. That's where the "transitional" motherboards come in. In 1998, upgraders to the new AMD K6-2 and Cyrix MII processors were able to reuse their (then) expensive EDO SIMM memory thanks to the FIC VA-503 , while still getting then-new AGP and USB support, and the option to upgrade to new SDRAM memory at a later date. Three years later, ECS created the K7S5A motherboard, which allowed upgraders to move to new Athlon Thunderbird CPUs, while supporting both SDRAM and the newer DDR memory.
For the last 18 months, we've seen another move into a new era, as PCI-Express video cards have pushed AGP out of the marketplace, SATA hard drives have become popular, DDR2 memory has displaced DDR, and ultra-powerful multi-core CPUs are now available for not much money.
The problem is that to get that multi-core CPU you covet typically means junking your current AGP video card and DDR memory in favor of the new standards, even though DDR2 isn't much faster, and you may not be a gamer and need faster video. Or, like me, you may have an expensive All-In-Wonder Radeon card in AGP and want to keep it, but still get a speedy Core 2 Duo.
And that's where the AsRock 775Dual-VSTA (since replaced by the very similar 4CoreDual-VSTA), comes into play. These motherboards, for the paltry sum of about $60, will get you into the Core 2 Duo speed class, while allowing you to reuse your DDR1 memory and AGP video card. At the same time, it also comes with DDR2 slots and a PCI-Express port, so you can adopt those new innovations at a future date if you wish.
There are a few drawbacks. First of all, the board uses the slightly dated VIA PT880 Pro chipset, originally designed for the final-generation Pentium 4 but also able to support Core CPUs. The use of this chipset was what made the wide range of memory and video support possible, although at a slight performance penalty. (A penalty that you'll never notice when upgrading to a Core 2 Duo CPU...) Also, because of the presence of the AGP slot, the single PCI-Express slot is limited to just 4X speed--one-fourth of the speed of a full implementation. And because only one PCI-E slot is present, the use of SLI or CrossFire technology is ruled out. This isn't the best motherboard for hardcore gamers...but then again, that's not who it's meant for.
I've had the 775Dual-VSTA several months now, and here's what I've learned:
* The motherboard has excellent sound for such a low-priced board. It features 7.1 HD audio on the very solid Realtek ALC888 chip. It's the first onboard audio I've cared to use in a long time.
* The AGP slot is stable even under the demands of my power-hungry Radeon 9700 AIW.
* The motherboard doesn't overclock great, and only supports DDR2 up to 667 MHz, along with DDR333 or 400. Still, I was able to get a C2D E4300 from 1.8 GHz to 2.4 with no stability issues whatsoever. It works well under both DDR and DDR2, but cannot use both at the same time.
* AsRock certifies the board for Windows Vista. I haven't tried that, but other reports on it under Vista are excellent. I do know it's stable as a rock under Windows XP Pro SP2, which is what I still recommend to people anyway.
* I use my system mainly for publishing and graphics programs (Quark, Photoshop, Acrobat, etc.), and for music and video. It excels under all of those applications with the 775Dual-VSTA inside.
* The board has just two DDR1 and two DDR2 slots, so make sure you choose higher-capacity DIMMs when buying memory. These days, 2GB is almost a must for Vista, and very helpful for XP.
* I have it from reliable sources (other veteran DIYers I know) that the new version, the 4CoreDual-VSTA, is just as good quality-wise, while adding support for the new Intel quad-core chips.
If you're a do-it-yourself computer builder either on a budget, or who doesn't use your computer primarily as a gaming machine, this motherboard is worth a serious look.
***Update April 21, 2008***
I'm still using this motherboard, and it still works as well as it did when I acquired it more than a year ago. I had never used any AsRock product prior to this one, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how well it has served me. Anyone interested in this motherboard should note that AsRock now has a third-generation "transitional" board using the PT880, which is called the 4CoreDual-SATA2. This board is very similar to the 775Dual-VSTA, but it also supports quad-core Intel CPUs and the new Serial ATA-2 (300MB/s) standard for hard disks. These boards are also sold in the $60 price range and have very good reliability records. I still highly recommend it if you need DDR1 and/or AGP support.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 59
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Epinions.com ID:
jsc1973
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Member: John
Location: Raleigh NC
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 6 members
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