DEDICATED TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF COMPUTER ENTHUSISTS
 Home | Forums | Cool Case Gallery |Archive | Reviews | Articles | Guides | Links | VH Gear | Contests | Downloads | Contact
 



  Vantec NexStar MX eSATA Dual HDD Enclosure Review  
 
 
  OCZ Alchemy Series Elixir Keyboard Review  
 
 
  Patriot Viper 2GB DDR3-2000MHz Memory Review  
 
 
  BFG ES800 Power Supply Review  
 
 
  NZXT Cryo LX Notebook Cooler Review  
 
 
  Zalman CNPS9300-AT CPU Cooler Review  
 
 
  Quakecon 2008: Wrap Up  
 
 
  Zalman ZM750-HP Power Supply Review  
 
 
  Norcotek RPC-450 Rackmount Enclosure Review  
 
 
  GIGABYTE EP45-DS3R Motherboard Review  
 
 
  Kingston HyperX 3GB Notebook Memory Review  
 
 


Get prices for...

 
 
Top Products

Motherboards
Intel | Abit
Gigabyte | Asus
Epox | Iwill
MSI | Shuttle
Tyan | Soyo
ECS | ASRock

Processors
AMD | Intel
Compaq

Cases
Antec | Lian-Li
Thermaltake
SilverStone
Coolermaster
ATX | BTX

Graphic Cards
ATI | nVidia

Memory
DDR | DDR2
Corsair | Crucial
OCZ | Patriot

Sound Cards
Creative Labs
Turtle Beach

Hard Drives
Seagate | Hitachi
Western Digital | Maxtor

Monitors
Viewsonic | Dell
Samsung | Apple

CD & DVD Burners
Plextor | Lite On
Sony | LG

 
 

 
Best viewed @ 1024 x 768 and higher

ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD Motherboard Review
Date Published:
08-04-2007
Written By:
Temujin
Edited By:
Diceman
Provided By:
ASRock
Where to Buy:
ASRock
Discuss Article:
VH Forum link
Pages: 1 2 3 4

Installation and Testing:
 


Test System

Installation was simple and easy. When I install a system for the first time for testing or for personal use, I like to reset the CMOS and start from a clean slate so that it can be configured to my personal settings. In the past, some boards wouldn't boot properly without a CMOS clear in the first place. So, between these two reasons, you can cut away any chances of the motherboard being a DOA or reporting false errors. You'll be happy to know that ASRock put together a nice thick manual to help with any installation questions. Most manuals tend to be short and to the point leaving out smaller details. Testing will follow suit as with any previous HTPC motherboards.

Component

Name/Model

Processor

Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo

Motherboard

ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD Motherboard

Memory

Patriot PC2-9200 Extreme

Graphics

Integrated Xpress 1250 Graphics
Geforce 7600 GT PCIE 256MB

Audio

Integrated Realtek 7.1 HD Audio Codec
Bluegears 7.1 HD Theater Audio

Power Supply

600 Watt Spire Rocketeer VI

Operating System

Windows XP Pro (SP2)

Cooling

ASUS Artic Square w/AC5

 


CPUZ

Mainboard

Memory

SPD

It didn't take long for the system to boot up at which point the BIOS was immediately browsed looking at the layout and configurations. After becoming familiar with the settings, most of them are located by functions associated with different components like the CPU, Northbridge, and Southbridge. I think this is actually kind of cool as you learn where each function is supported. Since the system is configured for real HDMI performance, this is exactly how the BIOS was configured. The memory voltages come up short offering a maximum 2.04 volts in the manual settings which means you will get the best results leaving the settings on Auto. At least then, the motherboard can automatically scale up the voltage to remain stable.

Some memory needs more power than a lot of the more budget based motherboards are offering in the BIOS settings. It's really important that this be remedied as soon as possible since not all the memory modules are being read properly by the motherboards. If this happens, the memory will undoubtedly encounter problems and appear to be "unsupported" or "faulty" when in fact it could be fixed with a manual BIOS setting. But, that setting really needs to offer voltages of up to at least 2.5 volts.


Main Page

Advanced Settings

CPU Configuration

Chipset Settings

Performance Settings

Memory settings

Northbridge

Southbridge

PC Monitor

At stock settings, the system was tested for performance, stability, and ease of configurations. This also in turn allowed me to see exactly what functions may or may not have problems working correctly. Connecting the system to my HD monitor was easy as pie using the HDMI adapter. Video performance via the onboard graphics appeared to be perfectly produced in terms of video playback. WinDVD was used to configure and play various movies just to see what performance was like under intense and artistic style graphics. Some times, you don't know what you have till you experiment further to see what it's capable of.


Ghost Rider

Love HDMI Clarity

This is where the 7.1 High Definition Audio really supports what you're watching. There is no point to watching a really good movie these days if you're missing out on the best intense audio ever made. Movies with excellent music can really stand out if you have the right audio and speaker configurations. Using a very good speaker system, sponsored my friends from ComputerSonics, movies like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, We Were Soldiers, and Ghost Rider just had to be tested. The movies all have either good computer generated graphics, good color depth, and excellent sound tracks which is a good way to test the caliber of your HTPC. If the 7.1 HD Audio isn't enough for your own ears, you can always go pick up a Bluegears or Razer audio card and really tweak your HTPC audio out. The preference really remains up to you.


Danger Den HTPC?

Looks Cool!

<< A Closer Look | More Testing >>

 

Got News? Send 'em in!

.







Get prices for...

 
 
Top Products

Motherboards
Intel | Abit
Gigabyte | Asus
Epox | Iwill
MSI | Shuttle
Tyan | Soyo
ECS | ASRock

Processors
AMD | Intel
Compaq

Cases
Antec | Lian-Li
Thermaltake
SilverStone
Coolermaster
ATX | BTX

Graphic Cards
ATI | nVidia

Memory
DDR | DDR2
Corsair | Crucial
OCZ | Patriot

Sound Cards
Creative Labs
Turtle Beach

Hard Drives
Seagate | Hitachi
Western Digital | Maxtor

Monitors
Viewsonic | Dell
Samsung | Apple

CD & DVD Burners
Plextor | Lite On
Sony | LG

 

 - Quiet Computer Fans
 - Quiet CPU Cooling
 - Quiet PC Power Supply
 - Quiet Laptop Cooling
 - Silent Computer Fan
 - Noctua Fans
 - Noctua CPU Fans
 - Noctua NH-U12P Quiet CPU Cooler
 - Noctua NH-C12P Quiet CPU Cooler
 - AcoustiPack PC Sound Proofing
 
Acoustic PC: Quiet Computer Hardware & PC Soundproofing

 - Electronic Components from Made in China
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery Software
 - Raid Recovery
 - Data Recovery Software
 - Data Recovery
 - Computer Forensics
 - RAID Data Recovery
 - Computer forensic
 - Shopbot Canada
 - Data Recovery
 - Raid Data Recovery
 - MjM Data Recovery Ltd
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery
 - Data Recovery Services
 - IPDRA.org
 - Computer Forensics
 - Computer Repair
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Virtual-Hideout LLC.
All other trademarks and copyrights on this site are property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.