# ASRock Innovates Socket 939 Motherboard with AMD 785G Chipset



## btarunr (Sep 28, 2009)

This creation by ASRock is bound to surprise you. The motherboard specialist used a present-generation AMD 785G + SB710 chipset to drive a socket 939 motherboard, called the ASRock 939A785GMH128M. That's right, socket 939, supporting some of the oldest processors in the Athlon 64 and Sempron 64 series. The socket 939 CPU is powered by a 5-phase power circuit. It is wired to four DDR memory slots, supporting dual-channel DDR memory at speeds of up to DDR-400 MHz. 

The AMD 785G chipset packs an ATI Radeon HD 4200 class integrated graphics processor with 128 MB SidePort memory, while the SB710 southbridge provides 5 internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA port. The expansion slots on this micro-ATX motherboard include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, one PCI-E x1, and two PCI slots. The IGP connects to its displays using DVI-D, HDMI, and D-Sub. 8-channel audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it. There is no word on the availability or pricing as yet.





*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Fitseries3 (Sep 28, 2009)

are you serious?


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 28, 2009)

Hey there are still many 939 Users out there, so get over it.


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## MrMilli (Sep 28, 2009)

Handy for SI's as a replacement board.


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## JrRacinFan (Sep 28, 2009)

Now this is very very interesting ....

You are probably looking at one of the best s939 overclocking boards now. What I find even more interesting is how they used the 785G to incorporate a 16x2.0 slot for 939 users. 

Very innovative.


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## soldier242 (Sep 28, 2009)

yeah i am using S939 in my barebone, but seriously they didn't need to build a new board for that

is there some market for this?


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## bogmali (Sep 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hey there are still many 939 Users out there, so get over it.



AMEN


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## DaJMasta (Sep 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hey there are still many 939 Users out there, so get over it.



But how many are looking to upgrade and keep their processor?  Even the highest end X2 on a system like that would perform like a $65 or so dollar chip now (I'm pretty sure the X2 Regor would trash them clock for clock), and while you may have some DDR lying around, it's quite cheap to move up that.

So while it's interesting, and shows the flexibility of AMD's chipset architecture - when could it be cost effective to go with this as an upgrade?


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## mechtech (Sep 28, 2009)

Well it is nice to see though, within my family there is 4 s939 builds, so if a mobo does die at least I may have a replacement, instead of a mobo, ram and cpu.


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## cdawall (Sep 28, 2009)

i wonder how it will clock...


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## TheLaughingMan (Sep 28, 2009)

Well it is mATX and a very well built board.  Considering the 785G....I say they are shooting for people with 939 AMD's and DDR laying around to build a budget HTPC out of this thing.

I may actually know two people who would be interesting in this if the price is right....say $70 to $85.


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## Spectrobozo (Sep 28, 2009)

yes... this can make sense to some users, let's say the guy have a 939 PC, with a 939 cpu + ddr1 and a old AGP vga, the motherboard stops working, so he can buy this thing and put the system working again, and with lower power consumption and a more modern "gpu" (with dx9c, DX10 and UVD2)...


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Sep 28, 2009)

Im still running 2 939 boards,  I already bought a 4350 for one but for the other this would be great.  they are also getting old and chipset fans are taking a crap and what not.  I use one for htpc and one for wifes work computer.  both have the old 165 and 170 opterons in them.  If these arent too pricey I might have to get one or even two.


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## mdm-adph (Sep 28, 2009)

Give me a Socket 754 board with a 785G chipset and we have a deal.


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## erocker (Sep 28, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Give me a Socket 754 board with a 785G chipset and we have a deal.



I have three unused s754 chips that would love that! Either way this is a great idea. Instead of selling off your old CPU or throwing it out, give it new life in your living room.


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## mdm-adph (Sep 28, 2009)

erocker said:


> I have three unused s754 chips that would love that! Either way this is a great idea. Instead of selling off your old CPU or throwing it out, give it new life in your living room.



Man, I know -- did a lot of people go straight from s754 to AM2?  Because I never bought anything that was s939, but I've got several s754 chips.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 28, 2009)

Ya after my new machine is built im thinking of retiring the DFI LP NF2 Ultra-B with Athlon XP-M 2500 since I can't push it further than 2.2GHz (anything higher crashes- probably chipset/vrm cooling related) and Dropping in a 939 Board and CPU.


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## tonyd223 (Sep 28, 2009)

media pc? get the price right and it should be chaeper than a HDMI equipped graphics card - and it's got SATA ports - so my old 4200X2 can find a home other than the Asrock 939Dual it's currently on.

So, a good idea but only if the price is right... £30-ish


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## TheLaughingMan (Sep 28, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Man, I know -- did a lot of people go straight from s754 to AM2?  Because I never bought anything that was s939, but I've got several s754 chips.



I honestly, don't know, but the 939s were great chips. the 939 6400 Black held onto several memory bandwidth/latency titles until triple channeling came along.  That chip was a monster.

Please ignore....incorrect information. No excuse, that was just a fail.


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## tonyd223 (Sep 28, 2009)

that chip was DDR2 and it's an AM2 chip not 939??????


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## devguy (Sep 28, 2009)

Those of you with the infamous Opteron 1xx serious chips, this is your dream come true!

I skipped every two generations of sockets on AMD.  My first socket (excluding slots) was the K7 (XP).  Then, I skipped s754 and went to s939.  Finally, I've skipped AM2 and went to AM2+.  I'll probably skip AM3 and wait it out for AM3+ (if there'll be such a thing)!


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## newtekie1 (Sep 28, 2009)

DaJMasta said:


> But how many are looking to upgrade and keep their processor?  Even the highest end X2 on a system like that would perform like a $65 or so dollar chip now (I'm pretty sure the X2 Regor would trash them clock for clock), and while you may have some DDR lying around, it's quite cheap to move up that.
> 
> So while it's interesting, and shows the flexibility of AMD's chipset architecture - when could it be cost effective to go with this as an upgrade?



Upgrades aren't the only reason people buy computer parts.  Replacement of failed parts is a huge market, and this fits in the market perfectly.

Socket 939 rigs were great, and still offer very acceptable performance today, especially for most home users that don't play games.  The problem is that the parts tend to fail after so long, motherboards being a notorious failure point that is usually difficult to find a replacement for on EOL hardware, and even harder to find a cheap and good replacement.

The fact that s939 was the short period where AMD actually performed better than Intel, and many system integrators started switching to using AMD.  There was a relative flood of s939 Pre-builts hitting the market.  Pre-builts with weak motherboards, that tend to blow caps after 3-4 years of use... I still see one of two of these in my shop a week...

So this gives people the option to replace just the failed motherboard, and keep the good processor and RAM, instead of replacing the whole machine.  People don't like replacing the entire machine if they don't have to, especially when the current machine still fills the need.



mdm-adph said:


> Man, I know -- did a lot of people go straight from s754 to AM2?  Because I never bought anything that was s939, but I've got several s754 chips.



I don't know, I skipped 754 and went straight from Socket A to 939.  Man, I still miss that 939 machine...Operon 148, 2GB DDR-500, x800GTO2...the glory days!!!  Probably still my favorite build.


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## mtosev (Sep 28, 2009)

nothing new for ASRock as they also made a new S478 mobo.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P4i945GC&s=


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## DaMulta (Sep 28, 2009)

Well I guess people that spent the BIG BUCKS on the fast 939 don't want to give them up just yet....but still lol


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## suraswami (Sep 28, 2009)

hopefully they have a way to enable ACC and make sempron single core to a dual-core proc or increase the cache to full size etc lol.


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## Disparia (Sep 28, 2009)

Well, I do have an Athlon X2 3800+ just sitting here... probably don't have more than 1GB of DDR though.


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## Shyska (Sep 28, 2009)

This is great news and just in time to replace my A8n-e 
AND I'll get to test my theory of poor overclocking of the old Asus board. And even better - I'll do that by saving (not spending)! 

I love it


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 28, 2009)

Ya i was really thinking about a FX57/60 and Or an Opteron, Get 2 More Gigs PC 4000 Mushkin Redline, and a AGP 939 Mobo, as an upgrade to the Current machine, after the new one is built.



newtekie1 said:


> Upgrades aren't the only reason people buy computer parts.  Replacement of failed parts is a huge market, and this fits in the market perfectly.
> 
> Socket 939 rigs were great, and still offer very acceptable performance today, especially for most home users that don't play games.  The problem is that the parts tend to fail after so long, motherboards being a notorious failure point that is usually difficult to find a replacement for on EOL hardware, and even harder to find a cheap and good replacement.
> 
> ...


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## hat (Sep 28, 2009)

...
Now if only there was some form of availability for s939 processors


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## ucanmandaa (Sep 28, 2009)

Might change my A8V-E with one of these... wonder if it will clock my old 4200+ x2 higher than A8V-E (2.75ghz)


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## tonyd223 (Sep 28, 2009)

939 processors are available - ebay! and also in the old machine in the attic / under the bed / in the wardrobe / in a cupboard at work...

(amazing how much old tech is just lying around at work not being used...)


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## Jstn7477 (Sep 28, 2009)

suraswami said:


> hopefully they have a way to enable ACC and make sempron single core to a dual-core proc or increase the cache to full size etc lol.



ACC was introduced with Phenom I/II, two socket revisions after 939. Also, AMD didn't make single core processors out of bad dual core processors back then.


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## WarEagleAU (Sep 28, 2009)

Sweet, seeing as the mobo in my old computer (was my sisters computer but I got it back now) is trashed that the 3800+ is still good as well as the ram, I think I have me a budget HTPC!!!! which will be just fine as I wont game with it. SWEET!


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## Wile E (Sep 28, 2009)

This is an absolutely great idea for those that have some 939 stuff laying around unused.


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## HELLSPAWNPR (Sep 28, 2009)

Awsome i have a 939 4800+ X2 and 2X 1GB of OCZ platinum ddr500,


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## Polarman (Sep 28, 2009)

Jizzler said:


> Well, I do have an Athlon X2 3800+ just sitting here... probably don't have more than 1GB of DDR though.



My wife could use that! She's still on a 939 with a crummy single core cpu. PM me if you're willing to part with it.


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## LittleLizard (Sep 28, 2009)

typical from asrock. weird solutions that no other manufacturers make to common problems


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 28, 2009)

If I didn't have 2 ATX & one Shuttle 939 motherboard, this would be an awesome board for to build a media PC in.


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## Melvis (Sep 28, 2009)

and the S939 lives on


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## D4S4 (Sep 28, 2009)

couple of good ddr sticks and socket 939 would still pwn in memory latency tests, and the memory bandwidth would be well over 90% of theoretical value... i miss my s939 abit kn8 ultra... R.I.P.


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## pentastar111 (Sep 28, 2009)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hey there are still many 939 Users out there, so get over it.


 I'm still using a 939 socket 4200X2. It's not as fast as the gaming rigs I have built, but it is like a trusty old truck...Always fires up and runs.


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## Wile E (Sep 28, 2009)

D4S4 said:


> couple of good ddr sticks and socket 939 would still pwn in memory latency tests, and the memory bandwidth would be well over 90% of theoretical value... i miss my s939 abit kn8 ultra... R.I.P.



Not really. That was true early in DDR2 and DDR3 development, but now they both outperform DDR1 in both latency and bandwidth.


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## cdawall (Sep 28, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Man, I know -- did a lot of people go straight from s754 to AM2?  Because I never bought anything that was s939, but I've got several s754 chips.



that what i did s754 was an ugly beast but it helds it own back in the day


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## DaJMasta (Sep 28, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Upgrades aren't the only reason people buy computer parts.  Replacement of failed parts is a huge market, and this fits in the market perfectly.
> 
> Socket 939 rigs were great, and still offer very acceptable performance today, especially for most home users that don't play games.  The problem is that the parts tend to fail after so long, motherboards being a notorious failure point that is usually difficult to find a replacement for on EOL hardware, and even harder to find a cheap and good replacement.
> 
> ...



I think it will all come down to price point, because right now you can get these two
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.245404
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820159019

For $108 (with 20 in rebates) and get a 2GB,  2.7GHz Phenom II based chip, and a motherboard (albeit a really cheap one.  It doesn't have the options that this board has, but at $88 you get a machine that will beat any single core 939 board - so unless you've got a dual core (and it would only be worth it with a 4200 or better for most apps) - this package would actually be faster.  Now there's a chance that this board will come in under $88, but it is a specialty part in a niche market, and considering the lowest priced 785G board on newegg is only $18 less than that combo, they don't have much margin for a competitive price.

Now if you have 4GB of DDR2 and an X2 and are absolutely strapped for cash when your motherboard fails, this is an option.... but I don't see it being that spectacular of an option when you can get a similar setup for maybe $30 more with more in terms of features, performance, and lower power consumption, while for $60 more than the cost of the board you can get at least one more core and all the tech benefits.

It is always interesting to see what ASRock brings to the table though, they offer a lot in terms of broad processor support.


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## indybird (Sep 29, 2009)

Why couldn't have put DDR2 or 3 in it!?  My friend has a great 939 X2, but a somewhat broken and outdated motherboard.  He also doesn't to spend much money at all cause hes stopped caring about computers :shadedshu

Oh well...

-Indybird


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 29, 2009)

Depends on the motherboard, because 1, 939 has a DDR Memory controller, 2 AM2 uses DDR2, 3 AM3 uses DDR2 and 3


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## Wile E (Sep 29, 2009)

indybird said:


> Why couldn't have put DDR2 or 3 in it!?  My friend has a great 939 X2, but a somewhat broken and outdated motherboard.  He also doesn't to spend much money at all cause hes stopped caring about computers :shadedshu
> 
> Oh well...
> 
> -Indybird



Because the cpu has the memory controller, not the chipset. It is not possible to run DDR2 or 3 on a 939 cpu. The cpu can only run DDR1.


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## szulmizan (Sep 29, 2009)

I still have the FX-60 with Asus A8N32-SLI + OCZ Platinum 2GB.. its worked great.. b4 built my Ci7.. still thinking do i have to sell it or keep it for my media system.. really love this PC.. it served me for 3 years b4 building new system..

The new motherboard will keep the S939 alive.. ASRock Rocks...


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## Melvis (Sep 29, 2009)

szulmizan said:


> I still have the FX-60 with Asus A8N32-SLI + OCZ Platinum 2GB.. its worked great.. b4 built my Ci7.. still thinking do i have to sell it or keep it for my media system.. really love this PC.. it served me for 3 years b4 building new system..
> 
> The new motherboard will keep the S939 alive.. ASRock Rocks...



Love ya system you got there, i have a soft spot for 939's / FX's

If you ever want to sell that ummm FX-60 ehem


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Sep 29, 2009)

My 939 Opty was 100 MHz faster clock for clock than first gen AM2 procs... and my value select ddr1 scored 5.9 in vista. When I switched from that system to a 3.5 GHz core 2 there was no performance increase noticeable in games, particularly in gpu dependent games like crysis. So for people with the right processor oc'd far enough 939 should still provide relevant performance.


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## I see SPY! (Sep 29, 2009)

On one hands it seems a bit pointless, but on the other side it is kinda cool for people who have some old equipment around. Instead of getting dust, they can put it to use. Maybe make a build for younger brother/girlfriend/father, as long as they don't need it for heavy stuff. It's just a question of how much it costs...


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## szulmizan (Sep 29, 2009)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> My 939 Opty was 100 MHz faster clock for clock than first gen AM2 procs... and my value select ddr1 scored 5.9 in vista. When I switched from that system to a 3.5 GHz core 2 there was no performance increase noticeable in games, particularly in gpu dependent games like crysis. So for people with the right processor oc'd far enough 939 should still provide relevant performance.


yup agreed.. playing game like crysis will need good GPU.. my previous system almost scored 5.9 in vista, except my cpu scored 5.5 (bcoz it is dual core) which is for me much better than the other newer processor.


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## Yukikaze (Sep 29, 2009)

This is very, very interesting. I have two friends running S939 systems and one of the systems is being kept alive only capacitor transplant. This might be exactly what the doctor ordered !

Great idea !


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## Steevo (Sep 29, 2009)

I still ahve a Xfire capable 939 board downstairs i bought off fleabay for the other thigns that came with it. Sold my 2Gb 1t kot to work for $40 OCZ Platinum 400's with micron chips.......


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## Jstn7477 (Sep 29, 2009)

While this does look like a cool board for those retro s939 processors (own an X2 4200+ 90nm Toledo myself), there are some drawbacks. The DDR-400, while having low latency, is rather slow for advanced IGP (although the IGP does have that 32bit Sideport memory IC). Also, 939s are Hypertransport 1.0 compliant. This is also a bottleneck for the IGP. I'm pretty sure that if you use an old AM2 HT 1.0 on a 780G board, the HD decoding ability (UVD) of the 780G is disabled, due to the slower, older revision HT. It might be the same case for this board, unless the Sideport RAM magically fixes the inherent bandwidth issues. Just my $0.02.


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## human_error (Sep 29, 2009)

Now that's done it! I've been looking for a 939 board to turn my 4400+ and 4gb ddr into a small home server/HTPC and this is perfect!

No need for a dicrete graphics card so i can make this silent with low heat output, and stick in a few TB of HDD space to backup my main rig


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## Mussels (Sep 29, 2009)

.... wtf!?!?


i'm sure a million small businesses started crying tears of joy, but otherwise... no deal.


DDR1 ram is so expensive, finding 1-2GB of ram for that alone would make it cost more than a DDR2 variant of the board and ram combined.


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## Wile E (Sep 29, 2009)

Mussels said:


> .... wtf!?!?
> 
> 
> i'm sure a million small businesses started crying tears of joy, but otherwise... no deal.
> ...



Not if you already have it laying around from an old build. I think that is what this is targeted towards. 

ASRock has always tried to fill small niches with some of their products. They have many boards mixing both old and new parts to try to help a builder be able to recycle parts, but also move forward somewhat.


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## Zubasa (Sep 29, 2009)

Mussels said:


> .... wtf!?!?
> 
> 
> i'm sure a million small businesses started crying tears of joy, but otherwise... no deal.
> ...


My 4200+  and my 3200+ are doing their little dance of joy.


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## pmrdij (Sep 29, 2009)

devguy said:


> Those of you with the infamous Opteron 1xx serious chips, this is your dream come true!



crap and i sold my 4GB worth of Mushkin Redline DDR500's four months ago!  on the upside i still have my 165 that got up to 2.7GHz on my DFI NF4 SLI-DR Expert that died on me earlier this year.  this just answered the call for the upcoming bedroom system!

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## laszlo (Sep 29, 2009)

i won't change also my 939 rig ;the point is i can play all new titles;i'll change only when something die or i won't have enough fps.

just wonder if this board can be used in crossfire x...


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## Mussels (Sep 29, 2009)

laszlo said:


> just wonder if this board can be used in crossfire x...



it can, following the same rules as all over 780/785G boards.
(which means only with a select few, entry level cards)


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## mandis (Sep 29, 2009)

WTF???
Time to digg out my trusty s939 4400+
This is awesome!!!!!


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## FreedomEclipse (Sep 29, 2009)

words cannot simply express how fucking awesome this phenominal item of *WIN* that ASROCK has pulled out from the depths of hell.

this is a great idea, Kudos to ASROCK.

I still got 3 939 procs lying around & with THIS i can get the running again & with PCI-E graphics too!!!

boy Im gonna have a field day getting my 3000+ & Fx55 back up & running. not to mention being about to give my working X2 3800+ (@2.66Ghz) rig a facelift.

but despite all that, Im guessing the 939 cpus will serverely bottleneck higher end PCI-E graphics cards

----------------------

On that note - its a shame DDR400 (PC3200) is so expensive now..... its around £60-80 here in the UK for a 2x1Gb Corsair/OCZ value ram kits.... *sigh*

My 2x2Gb DDR2 1600's didnt even cost me £40......

(I use to own a set of Elixer value ram that clocked to 480Mhz on 3-3-3-8 for around £20 a 1Gb stick)


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## tonyd223 (Oct 12, 2009)

*Asrock 939 mobo*

ok, enough chatter - when's it available in the UK and from where?


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