Asrock 775 Dual VSTA Incompatible with Nvidia 8800 series

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yevaud

Gawd
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
969
Hey, just a heads up for others that may have this mobo. It will not work with any 8800 series nvidia pci-e card. No explanation was given by the Asrock tech support, full email follows:
Dear ASRock America Customer,

Sorry, nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS PCIe graphics card is not compatible with 775Dual-VSTA. Please try with another (model) graphics card.

ASRock America Technical Support
Email: [email protected]

Nvidia has allowed X4 functionality on 8800 series cards with latest driver update. Card now works on Asrock 775 Dual VSTA motherboard. See end of thread.
Nvidia has broken native X4 functionality again on 8800GT cards. Bios flash required to workaround
 
That's sort of strange given any PCIe card should work in a PCIe slot.
 
Via chipset with some real hoops jumped thru to make it work with all the different levels of technology. What really is a bitch is that on the product page they make no mention of issues with video card compatibiliy but in the manual: (Gotcha!!! :mad: )

6. For the information of the compatible PCI Express VGA cards, please refer to the “Supported PCI Express VGA Card List for PCI Express Graphics Slot” on page 10. For the proper installation of PCI Express VGA card, please refer to the installation guide on page 19.

1.4 Supported PCI Express VGA Card List for PCI
Express Graphics Slot
(for Windows® 2000/XP/XP 64-bit/VistaTM)
Graphics Chip Model Name
Vendor n-VIDIA
ASUS Extreme N6200GE/TD
ASUS Extreme N6200TC256/TD
ASUS Extreme N6800GT
ASUS Extreme N6800/TD
ALBATRON PC6600GT
GIGABYTE GV-NX66128D
Inno3D GeFORCE 6600 LE
LEADTEK PX6200 TC/TDH
MSI PCX 5750-TD128E
SPARKLE GeFORCE 6200TC

ATI
ASUS Extreme AX700PRO/TVD
ABIT RX600XT-PCIE
GECUBE Radeon X850XT 256M

For the latest updates of the supported PCI Express VGA card list for PCI Express Graphics slot, please visit ASRock website for details.
ASRock website: http://www.asrock.com/support/index.htm
 
Ahahahahahahaha

"Sorry, nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS PCIe graphics card is not compatible with 775Dual-VSTA. Please try with another (model) graphics card."

Riiiiiiight.
 
yevaud said:
Sorry, nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS PCIe graphics card is not compatible with 775Dual-VSTA. Please try with another (model) motherboard.
Click to expand...
Fixed. :)
 
LOL @ GilmourD - I was thinking the same thing.

I've tried every method, from disabling video acceleration in the control panel, booting into safe mode, driver cleaner, disable onboard sound, etc, etc. I can get the new drivers installed in safe mode, but when I reboot into normal startup, it goes into a reboot cycle.

How ironic that the mobo that proudly claims "First for windows Vista" is incompatible with the first video cards that are made for Vista.

I guess I was expecting too much out of a $56 mobo- if that is possible.

Now I'm looking at this 8800gts, and wondering if it's worth another $250 for a 680i mobo, plus another $200 plus for 2gb of decent ram. Right now, I'm just tempted to send the 8800gts back and pay the restocking fee. :(
 
$250 for a 680i mobo? I'd hardly call that a deal. Find yourself a good mobo for $150. They exist.
 
Latest email from Asrock support simply says:

Dear ASRock America Customer,

The nVIDIA 8800GTS is not compatible with VIA chipset.



ASRock America Technical Support
Email: [email protected]

So onward to VIA tech support for their response. The VIA PT880 Pro chipset passed PCI-express certification, according to their website HERE.
 
Cyrilix said:
$250 for a 680i mobo? I'd hardly call that a deal. Find yourself a good mobo for $150. They exist.
Click to expand...

Yes there are very good P965 chipset based mobos for < $150. Asus P5B-E and Gigabyte DS3, for example.
 
ShinaKitsune said:
Why would you want to run a g80 at x4 anyways?
Click to expand...

Because that's what my motherboard has? :confused:

You're saying that it would not be an upgrade vs. a 6800GT on AGP8x? I understand that it wouldn't be as fast as on a 16 lane PCI-e slot, but we're talking maybe 10% hit here DOA.
 
Having the same issues with my 8800gtx, this is what they sent me today:

Dear ASRock America Customer,

We are working on this with VIA chipset manufacture. We will inform you if
there is any improvement on this issue.

ASRock America Technical Support
Email: [email protected] <[email protected]>
 
bluescreen said:
[snip]
We will inform you if there is any improvement on this issue.
[/snip]
Click to expand...
...if there is improvement...
...IF there is improvement...

Boy, they sound optimistic, don't they? :mad:
(No, I don't have a VIA board, and it's for exactly this reason. I swore off of VIA years ago.)
 
bluescreen said:
Having the same issues with my 8800gtx, this is what they sent me today:

Dear ASRock America Customer,

We are working on this with VIA chipset manufacture. We will inform you if
there is any improvement on this issue.

ASRock America Technical Support
Email: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Click to expand...

Thanks, bluescreen. I hope these guys get it fixed soon. I was going to jump on the 680i bandwagon, but what I've read recently gives me pause. The ASRock was meant to hold me over until a stable high end board is released, and it looks like the wait is still on.

I got a response on the VIA board that says basically that "It's not a VIA problem" and that there would be no fix in a driver from VIA. I wonder if anyone has been able to get an 8800 series card to work in an X4 Pcie slot of any kind. The 7900gtx was able to work with it, as was the 1900 series by ATI. I guess this could be a limitation of the 8800 series itself, but I sure hope not.
 
I'd think, with a fast CPU ala Conroe... The amount of bandwidth available in a 4x slot would be really low anyways...

I mean, this card, and those cpus can process SO MUCH data a second, much more than the 4x bus width.
 
loxety said:
which 775 cpu is the OP using?
Click to expand...

I'm using a C2D E6400, overclocked to 2.4 on a 300FSB. Much faster than my northwood 2.4c @ 3.0 with the same ram and video card.

Still waiting for a fix, Asrock/Nvidia/VIA. How about it?
 
Sorry if this is a bit OT but do you know if this board is incompatible with just the 8800 series or with all the (future) 8x00 series as well?
 
From what I've been able to determine, any video card is compatible so long as the video card has passed pci-sig qualification. The 8800 series doesn't pass this qualification, and in my opinion, shouldn't have the "PCI-express" logo on the box.
Maybe the 8900 series will be fixed so that they can pass this industry standard qualification, but we will have to wait and see.
 
I didnt see this thread until after I ordered a new 8800 GTS 640MB last night. Has anyone managed to make the 8800 cards work on the ASRock 775 VSTA Dual?:confused:
 
yevaud said:
From what I've been able to determine, any video card is compatible so long as the video card has passed pci-sig qualification. The 8800 series doesn't pass this qualification, and in my opinion, shouldn't have the "PCI-express" logo on the box.
Click to expand...
The G80 is on the "PCI-SIG Integrators List" and shows that it has passed compliance.

Pong: the ball now passes back to VIA's court since the incompatibility is particular to that chipset. :p
 
pxc said:
The G80 is on the "PCI-SIG Integrators List" and shows that it has passed compliance.

Pong: the ball now passes back to VIA's court since the incompatibility is particular to that chipset. :p
Click to expand...

Linky? Is there a Via thread somewhere where I can check the status? I ordered a 8800GTS 640MB for my asrock 775 vsta dual this morning (before I saw this thread and others). Should I cancel my order i wonder?
 
I spoke to a EVGA technical rep. He told me that it was a limitation of the via chipset on the ASRock motherboard. Will VIA fix it ? They must have known about this for some time now since the 8800 series cards came out more than a couple of months ago
 
I was less than optimistic earlier in the thread, and I'm just as dubious now. It's a high-end card, presumably to be used with a high-end CPU. They don't expect you to cripple it with a budget board.

And no, VIA never fixes shit. Not one of their P3 chipsets was fully compatible with Radeons, and we're talking about a four-year span. :mad: I even had to scrap one of my P4's because the onboard VIA RAID controller- yes, RAID!- didn't play nice with an X700. This was on an Intel 915 chipset with a PCIe (supposedly point-to-point) video card. Gigabyte 8I915P Duo Pro, look it up.
 
Okay, so a few days ago I see that the 8800gtx is now on the supported list on Asrocks' website for the 775 Dual VSTA. I grabbed a set of the 158.22's and went after it yesterday evening. What a nightmare- I kept getting the NV4_Disp.dll bluescreen over and over, but I was making progress over my last attempt, because I could actually get into windows (non-safe mode) for a few seconds before the crash. I figured out it was dying when it was loading the new nvidia control panel.

Make a long story short, after uninstalling everything I could think of that might conflict with the display driver- No Luck. Then I decided to get rid of my OC (I know, should've done it first) and here I am.

THE 158.22 Forceware driver for WinXP fixes the problem with 8800 series and the Asrock 775 Dual VSTA mobo.

I can now start using the video card I bought back in November of 2006! Whooot!!

Now for some benches, we'll see how stable it is.
 
My current rig uses an ASRock mobo.

With the issues I had getting everything installed, I can tell you I'm never using another of their boards.
 
GilmourD said:
Fixed. :)
Click to expand...

Nice.

yevaud said:
LOL @ GilmourD - I was thinking the same thing.

I've tried every method, from disabling video acceleration in the control panel, booting into safe mode, driver cleaner, disable onboard sound, etc, etc. I can get the new drivers installed in safe mode, but when I reboot into normal startup, it goes into a reboot cycle.

How ironic that the mobo that proudly claims "First for windows Vista" is incompatible with the first video cards that are made for Vista.

I guess I was expecting too much out of a $56 mobo- if that is possible.

Now I'm looking at this 8800gts, and wondering if it's worth another $250 for a 680i mobo, plus another $200 plus for 2gb of decent ram. Right now, I'm just tempted to send the 8800gts back and pay the restocking fee. :(
Click to expand...

Yes you were expecting too much. Forgive me for sounding mean, but what the hell are you doing putting a 8800GTS on a $56 motherboard? Especially one based on a VIA chipset.

Cyrilix said:
$250 for a 680i mobo? I'd hardly call that a deal. Find yourself a good mobo for $150. They exist.
Click to expand...

You can get a EVGA 650i Ultra mobo for $100 or a 680i SE SLI for $169.99 I belive. Also there are several P965 Express boards around the $150 range as well.

yevaud said:
Latest email from Asrock support simply says:

Dear ASRock America Customer,

The nVIDIA 8800GTS is not compatible with VIA chipset.



ASRock America Technical Support
Email: [email protected]

So onward to VIA tech support for their response. The VIA PT880 Pro chipset passed PCI-express certification, according to their website HERE.
Click to expand...

This is a VIA chipset we are talking about. Why anyone would pair a high end video card with a low end motherboard is beyond me.

yevaud said:
Because that's what my motherboard has? :confused:

You're saying that it would not be an upgrade vs. a 6800GT on AGP8x? I understand that it wouldn't be as fast as on a 16 lane PCI-e slot, but we're talking maybe 10% hit here DOA.
Click to expand...

It might be, but you still wouldn't realize the full performance potential of the card. It's going to be more of a 10% hit and the 8800's need x8 slots really.

Arcygenical said:
I'd think, with a fast CPU ala Conroe... The amount of bandwidth available in a 4x slot would be really low anyways...

I mean, this card, and those cpus can process SO MUCH data a second, much more than the 4x bus width.
Click to expand...

I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I believe you are right.

shilent said:
I found this: http://www.theinq.com/default.aspx?article=36577

They're saying that the 8800 won't work in PCIe 8x or slower.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured.

First off, let me start out by saying this type of thing is unfortunate, and I feel bad for people who have to go through this sort of thing. On the realistic side, what the hell did you expect? We are talking about a $60 motherboard that uses a chipset from the Kia of chipset makers. Seriously, I know not everyone has $2000+ for a computer, but come on. I'd think that if you can afford even an 8800GTS 320MB that you'd be able to afford a better motherboard to go along with it. You get what you pay for, why is it that some people have a hard time learning this lesson? There are places in a system you can safely cut corners and still have a machine that is reliable and performs well. The motherboard is not such a corner to be cut. You are talking about one of the most fundamental components in the system. It is the cornerstone on which a machine is built. Without it and a solid power supply you have nothing.
 
Apallohadas said:
Good thing Dan's pulling punches today...

(everyone hide the knives and silverware QUICK!!!)
Click to expand...

Sorry, I am just opinionated as hell about everything, but $56 motherboards with $300 video cards is like having a $50,000 Lincoln Navigator in front of a $400 a month all bills paid apartment. Or like having $3,000 in wheels and tires on a 1986 Buick Regal that has 300,000+ miles on it with the paint falling off in sheets, burning oil, blowing smoke, and a laundry list of other issues.

Glad to see some of the issues getting resolved on this though.
 
Good to see that you problems fixed. Post some 3Dmark scores. Im curious to see how your set-up performs.
 
Dan_D said:
Sorry, I am just opinionated as hell about everything, but $56 motherboards with $300 video cards is like having a $50,000 Lincoln Navigator in front of a $400 a month all bills paid apartment. Or like having $3,000 in wheels and tires on a 1986 Buick Regal that has 300,000+ miles on it with the paint falling off in sheets, burning oil, blowing smoke, and a laundry list of other issues.

Glad to see some of the issues getting resolved on this though.
Click to expand...

Lol, just poking fun with ya :) But I agree and you're completely correct.

I recently picked up an 8800 GTX and my motherboard is about as useful as teets on a bull.

Well the proc as well. But when the Q6600 comes out...
 
Okay...let me preface this with saying I'm not a 3dmark lover and I recognize it has no bearing on real world gaming performance. Having said that, it can be useful to compare before and after.

my 3dmark 05 score went from 5109 (with 6400 C2D @2.4Ghz & 6800GT) to 11,546 (with C2D @ stock & 8800GTS).

my 3dmark 06 score went from 2602 (with C2D @2.4Ghz & 6800GT) to 7118 (with C2D@ stock & 8800GTS)

If there are any other benches you guys want to see, let me know.

Full System Specs:
Mobo- Asrock 775 Dual VSTA @ stock FSB
CPU- Core2Duo E6400 (stock)
GPU- eVGA 8800GTS 640mb (stock)
RAM- 1gb Corsair PC4000PRO (ddr1)
About a TB of HDD R0(seagate 320's)
Westinghouse 37w3 LCD @ native 1920x1080p

And Dan_D, no offense taken, but I am glad I didn't waste any money on a (glitchy) 680i mobo, and a bunch of DDR2 ram. I'll skip the whole DDR2 gen and go straight to DDR3 when I upgrade this mobo (late 08). and hopefully get a mobo that supports peryn and C2D/C2Q. This mobo has been nothing but stable for me...Nvidia seems like the culprit in not allowing the 8800 to work on a x4 pcie slot until they decided it was time to make it right with the release of their mid and low end DX10 cards.
 
So, just to make sure, is your videocard still working with the asrock dual vsta 775 in windows xp ?
 
yevaud said:
but I am glad I didn't waste any money on a (glitchy) 680i mobo, and a bunch of DDR2 ram. I'll skip the whole DDR2 gen
Click to expand...
I <3 DDR2. 4GB of it @860MHz went into my main system for ~$130.
 
I don't see why a $56 motherboard SHOULDN'T work with a $300 video card.

Maybe the $56 board is $56 because it doesn't have firewire, sata raid, support SLI (one pci-e x16), is microatx, etc. Not everyone needs all that stuff.

My sti ($37k sticker) has the interior of a $12k car. The car overall works fine and I don't care about the interior because when you are driving an STi you shouldn't be bored enough to notice the interior :)

IF the 8800GTS is pci-e compatible and the pci-e spec says that a card should "fall back" to slower speeds if stuck in a slower slot(I don't know if it does or not), then it SHOULD work, albeit slower.

I have had boards based on amd, via, intel and nvidia chipsets.

All have given me problems on some models and all have worked fine on some models of board.
 
Tork64 said:
So, just to make sure, is your videocard still working with the asrock dual vsta 775 in windows xp ?
Click to expand...

Yes, works great. No problems. Driving my 37w3 with aplomb. Yes, I am still using XP.

I really, really think Nvidia couldn't help but fix it when they released their mid/low range cards, because these would have to work in a pci-e x4 slot (target market after all). Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I believe that the X4 functionality of the 8800 series was broken deliberately to drive sales of 680i mobos to the enthusiast crowd. After all, an nvidia driver update fixed it- without a bios update or chipset driver update for my mobo
 
This thread was really helpful to me when I bought my 8800 GTS (Inno 3D 8800GTS 640MB) and tried to make it work on my Asrock mobo. So I thought I would share my experiences in case it helps someone else.

My System Specs
Upgraded from AGP 6800 128MB to PCI-E 8800GTS 640MB on:
Asrock 4CoreDUAL VSTA 775
2GB DDR
Win XP Pro SP2
Antech 400W PSU with 19A on 12V rail (yes really 19A, and no, not Antec)

What I did...
  • Checked Asrock site for compatibility, saw the 8800 on there, so I bought one.
  • Installed 8800, booted, got POST OK and everything prior to the the WinXP Logo. The logo actually appeared once, before fading into nothing (this lead me to believe it was a power issue). The system was booting fine, as I could see from HD activity and I could power down safely with the power button.
  • I checked the net for issues and found this thread and a few similar other ones. So upgraded my drivers, hoping this would solve the problems.
  • Same problem: PC booted, then I got a black screen instead of a WinXP logo or login screen
  • Checked for power requirements for the 8800 and realised my PSU was (apparently) horribly under-powered.
  • Bought the Corsair HX520W (delivers up to 40A on the 12V rail)
  • Installed
  • Same problem exactly. Black screen after post but PC running fine.
  • Removed PSU and went back to cheap 400W one.
  • Installed Vista on a different HD... Everything is fine.
  • Scratched head
  • Installed XP on a different HD... Everything is fine.

TO SUM UP:
My 8800GTS 640MB works fine on XP and Vista with a 19A 400W PSU on the Asrock 4CoreDual VSTA 775. BUT only after a full OS reinstall. If you're having problems after an upgrade. Try a reinstall. Don't waste £75 on a fancy PSU you don't need, like I did.

I hope this helps someone!
 
i see you make no mention of using driver-cleaner when switching from the 6800 to the 8800 (which would explain the trouble you had and why a fresh install worked) and that you're powering the 8800 with a PSU that supplies only 19A on the 12V rail.

yikes. :eek:

i hope you put the corsair back in.
 
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