ASrock motherboards

Peto · 05-09-09, 11:13 PM

Do any of you have any experience(s) with ASrock? I'm thinking about checking this one out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157156

If any of have info regarding this company, I'd appreciate your input. I'm always looking to add a new manufacturer to my list but am always leery of that 1st purchase

...

Thanks!!!

Bubblehead Nuke · 05-09-09, 11:58 PM

I have used Asrock products in the past and I have found them to be very well made products.

Asrock and Biostar are my boards of choice nowadays. Both companies products are underrated and good values.

Arclight · 05-10-09, 06:16 AM

Had a few; all good quality, though simple/basic boards.

Good boards for average user, typically not geared to gamers/enthusiats. Don't expect a plethora of memory tweaks in the BIOS, and that one lacks support for 1200mhz DDR2, for example, but obviously not an issue unless you're going to do some extreme stuff.

Are you looking for a board with integrated graphics? If you plan on using add-in card, IMHO would be better without integrated.

Peto · 05-10-09, 09:36 AM

Thank you for the responses

!!!

You've both confirmed what I was thinking--good boards with less bells and whistles. Fewer BIOS options can be a good thing with some customers

.

I prefer boards without integrated graphics myself--why pay for a chip I'll never use. I'm not too concerned with being limited to DDR2 1066 in this case. I seldom buy leading edge gear unless it's a specific customer request. Nice to keep the cost down and still build a rig that can run anything I throw at it.

Thanks Again!

Arclight · 05-10-09, 10:00 AM

Yep, great boards to recommend or use for built for people who just browse the web and keep track of their finances, and want to keep the cost down. People who don't know what a BIOS is, and shouldn't mess with it if they did.

Honestly, my board supports DDR2 1200, I have a 1066 kit and run it at 800 to keep it in sync with CPU. Also better timings at that speed, meaning reduced latency. Just ordered new kit of 800mhz memory, going from 2x1GB to 2x2GB. Ehr... point is you don't need 1200 support, even for gaming rigs.

Bubblehead Nuke · 05-10-09, 04:15 PM

I don't know about the lack of bells and whistles thing.

I recently built a new AMD system. Here is a rundown of the basics:

Biostar TA790GX XE motherboard
AMD 7750 BE dual core
4 gigs of G-Skill 1066 memory.

I use the onboard graphics (HD3300) and it is pretty dang good. It is better than the Nvidia 7600GS I was using in the old build. I went cheap becuase I was transitioning out of AGP and such and I do not have a lot of the more modern hardware around. I needed a board that had on-board graphics that were usable. It was so good I have decided to forstall the graphics card purchase till I really need it. I was able to play everything before on the old rig, and on the new rig things are even better. The moral, do not discount on-board graphics. They have come a LONG way from the intel days. One caveat: Makes SURE that you get a motherboard with the 'Sideport' memory.

Anyway, I have overclocked the 7750 to 3.5Ghz with no problems. With the 750 southbridge (using ACC) I was able to active the 2 other cores in the 7750BE. Granted, with all 4 cores going I had to back the clock down to 2.6Ghz to keep things stable. I use the BIOS CPU profiles to keep my setting staright. I can boot and choose what I need for proccessing power.

I would say that this Biostar is an enthusist board. Granted, I made a decision to NOT have dual PCI-e slots, but I figure if I need to, I can always get a X2 card.

I have also played around with a few other makes of boards that use the 790gx/700 or 750 southbridge. I was greatly impressed with all of them. If Asrock had a uATX board available w/sideport, I would have purchased that one first.

Arclight · 05-10-09, 04:51 PM

Honestly wouldn't know about Biostar, was refering to Asrock only. Don't even think you find Biostar boards around here.

Did some reading on Asrock, and it seems they're upping the ante, trying their hand at enthusiast boards. Their products look interesting, but they have yet to prove themselfs in this segment. My main concern still goes to BIOS features; I know Asrock boards to have simple/basic BIOS, so introducing new features may cause bugs. Personally I'm not too trusting of boards that need 15 BIOS updates (*cough* Asus) to work out the kinks.

Still, if Asrock can get it right they can take their fair share of the market. A lot of people are familiar with the brand and happy with what they deliver.

Also, Asrock is Asus subsidiary. Would make more sense to look to Asus for enthusiast boards, and leave Asrock to budget solutions. Asrock moving into enthusiast territory may be Asus ploy to cash in on the good name.

Task Force · 05-10-09, 05:43 PM

I have never seen a board that does 3 sli. Ive heard of them, but never seen them.

Bubblehead Nuke · 05-10-09, 06:21 PM

I was looking at the Asrock motherboard manual and its BIOS settings. They are basically the same except for some layout differences to my Biostar. They have the same chipset so I would presume similar performance.

I did not know that Asrock is part of ASUS. That suprised me. ASUS boards I have found to be tempermental. Sure, you can get some speed out of them, but they do not seem too stable once you get out of the stock settings. I have some of their older stuff here and they worded well as long as you did not press them hard. Asrock on the other hand seeem to enjoy being hammered.

Mind you, I am not knocking Asus. My last build was an Asus a7v400-MX and it worked well for YEARS. I kept upgrading it till it was basically max'd out. Now it is the kids machine and I expect to get a decade of use out of it. It just keeps on going.

MSI now.. well, I have learned to hate thier stuff. Never had anything but trouble out of them.

Arclight · 05-11-09, 08:26 AM

MSI boards are kind of finicky; you can overclock the *** out of them, but you have to get it right. 0.05 volt too little for the northbridge and it's not going to be stable. Nice boards for the hardcore users, but a pita for most. Asus is much the same (temperamental, as you say), but on top of that you're always better of making sure you have the latest BIOS.

Offcourse it all varies from board to board, but those are my global impressions as a brand.

Asus vs Asrock thing, well... Asrock was created by Asus to compete in the entry-level market, without risk of tarnishing their name by selling boards with cheap components. I would always suggest looking to MSI, Asus and Gigabyte (primarily) for high-end solutions first, untill Asrock establishes themselfs as reliable in the enthusiast market. But if Asrock starts selling expensive boards, they will presumably be using more expensive parts, making them a viable option.

Asrock is (or was) about price to performance, not quality and extensive BIOS.

Quote:

ASRock is not just concentrating on performance and price either; quality improvements ranging from board components to BIOS/Software features to improved customer service are at the forefront of their business directives this year.

05-09-09, 11:13 PM	#1
Peto Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The details of my life are quite inconsequential Posts: 1,049 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	ASrock motherboards Do any of you have any experience(s) with ASrock? I'm thinking about checking this one out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157156 If any of have info regarding this company, I'd appreciate your input. I'm always looking to add a new manufacturer to my list but am always leery of that 1st purchase ... Thanks!!! __________________ If your target has a 30 degree AOB, the range from his base course line equals the current range divided by 2.

05-10-09, 06:16 AM	#3
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Had a few; all good quality, though simple/basic boards. Good boards for average user, typically not geared to gamers/enthusiats. Don't expect a plethora of memory tweaks in the BIOS, and that one lacks support for 1200mhz DDR2, for example, but obviously not an issue unless you're going to do some extreme stuff. Are you looking for a board with integrated graphics? If you plan on using add-in card, IMHO would be better without integrated. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

05-10-09, 09:36 AM	#4
Peto Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: The details of my life are quite inconsequential Posts: 1,049 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	Thank you for the responses !!! You've both confirmed what I was thinking--good boards with less bells and whistles. Fewer BIOS options can be a good thing with some customers . I prefer boards without integrated graphics myself--why pay for a chip I'll never use. I'm not too concerned with being limited to DDR2 1066 in this case. I seldom buy leading edge gear unless it's a specific customer request. Nice to keep the cost down and still build a rig that can run anything I throw at it. Thanks Again! __________________ If your target has a 30 degree AOB, the range from his base course line equals the current range divided by 2.

05-10-09, 10:00 AM	#5
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Yep, great boards to recommend or use for built for people who just browse the web and keep track of their finances, and want to keep the cost down. People who don't know what a BIOS is, and shouldn't mess with it if they did. Honestly, my board supports DDR2 1200, I have a 1066 kit and run it at 800 to keep it in sync with CPU. Also better timings at that speed, meaning reduced latency. Just ordered new kit of 800mhz memory, going from 2x1GB to 2x2GB. Ehr... point is you don't need 1200 support, even for gaming rigs. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

05-10-09, 04:51 PM	#7
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Honestly wouldn't know about Biostar, was refering to Asrock only. Don't even think you find Biostar boards around here. Did some reading on Asrock, and it seems they're upping the ante, trying their hand at enthusiast boards. Their products look interesting, but they have yet to prove themselfs in this segment. My main concern still goes to BIOS features; I know Asrock boards to have simple/basic BIOS, so introducing new features may cause bugs. Personally I'm not too trusting of boards that need 15 BIOS updates (cough Asus) to work out the kinks. Still, if Asrock can get it right they can take their fair share of the market. A lot of people are familiar with the brand and happy with what they deliver. Also, Asrock is Asus subsidiary. Would make more sense to look to Asus for enthusiast boards, and leave Asrock to budget solutions. Asrock moving into enthusiast territory may be Asus ploy to cash in on the good name. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

05-09-09, 11:58 PM	#2
Bubblehead Nuke XO Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 435 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	I have used Asrock products in the past and I have found them to be very well made products. Asrock and Biostar are my boards of choice nowadays. Both companies products are underrated and good values.

05-10-09, 04:15 PM	#6
Bubblehead Nuke XO Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 435 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	I don't know about the lack of bells and whistles thing. I recently built a new AMD system. Here is a rundown of the basics: Biostar TA790GX XE motherboard AMD 7750 BE dual core 4 gigs of G-Skill 1066 memory. I use the onboard graphics (HD3300) and it is pretty dang good. It is better than the Nvidia 7600GS I was using in the old build. I went cheap becuase I was transitioning out of AGP and such and I do not have a lot of the more modern hardware around. I needed a board that had on-board graphics that were usable. It was so good I have decided to forstall the graphics card purchase till I really need it. I was able to play everything before on the old rig, and on the new rig things are even better. The moral, do not discount on-board graphics. They have come a LONG way from the intel days. One caveat: Makes SURE that you get a motherboard with the 'Sideport' memory. Anyway, I have overclocked the 7750 to 3.5Ghz with no problems. With the 750 southbridge (using ACC) I was able to active the 2 other cores in the 7750BE. Granted, with all 4 cores going I had to back the clock down to 2.6Ghz to keep things stable. I use the BIOS CPU profiles to keep my setting staright. I can boot and choose what I need for proccessing power. I would say that this Biostar is an enthusist board. Granted, I made a decision to NOT have dual PCI-e slots, but I figure if I need to, I can always get a X2 card. I have also played around with a few other makes of boards that use the 790gx/700 or 750 southbridge. I was greatly impressed with all of them. If Asrock had a uATX board available w/sideport, I would have purchased that one first.

05-10-09, 05:43 PM	#8
Task Force Rear Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SPACE!!!! Posts: 10,142 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	I have never seen a board that does 3 sli. Ive heard of them, but never seen them. __________________ Task Force industries "Taking control of the world, one mind at a time"

05-10-09, 06:21 PM	#9
Bubblehead Nuke XO Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 435 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	I was looking at the Asrock motherboard manual and its BIOS settings. They are basically the same except for some layout differences to my Biostar. They have the same chipset so I would presume similar performance. I did not know that Asrock is part of ASUS. That suprised me. ASUS boards I have found to be tempermental. Sure, you can get some speed out of them, but they do not seem too stable once you get out of the stock settings. I have some of their older stuff here and they worded well as long as you did not press them hard. Asrock on the other hand seeem to enjoy being hammered. Mind you, I am not knocking Asus. My last build was an Asus a7v400-MX and it worked well for YEARS. I kept upgrading it till it was basically max'd out. Now it is the kids machine and I expect to get a decade of use out of it. It just keeps on going. MSI now.. well, I have learned to hate thier stuff. Never had anything but trouble out of them.