Packaging & Content:

Front

RoHS

Hardware

Software

    ASRock likes to put small, little billboards on the front of the retail box that show what type of features are on the AliveNF7G-HDready motherboard. On the back of this particular box, ASRock mentions about the RoHS standards and how ASRock is keeping up to date with being green, thus helping protect the planet. The contents included with the AliveNF7G-HDready are one SATA2 cable, IDE and FDD ribbon cables, Molex to SATA power adapter, serial plug on a PCI bracket, and software CD and manual.

Motherboard Layout:

Full Board

AM2 CPU Socket

    Following my simple routine in reviewing motherboards, I will begin with the CPU socket and work my way around the motherboard. The CPU socket is AM2 (of course,) close to the ZIFF socket. The socket is just about in the center of the motherboard, and once again off to the left is the power header.

    On the right side of the socket are four DDRII DIMM slots. A total of 16GB can be used on this motherboard, with the colored slots representing the dual channel for the RAM. Next to the DIMM slots is the dying breed of connections, "The IDE". Only one IDE header is on the motherboard.

    Moving down to the bottom right, four SATAII connectors are present and each is colored red. Below the SATAII plugs are four USB2.0 headers and the front panel I/O header. Off to the left under the heatsink is the NVIDIA GeForce 7050/nForce 630A MCP Chipset. This chipset is loaded with too many features to list them all in this review. Instead, I will point out some of the main features and everything else can be read on the website.

• MPEG-4-AVC, MPEG2, VC-1

• PureVideo

• Pixel Shader 3.0

PCI Slots

FDD, IEEE, Audio

Still too Close

    Now on to the lower right of the board. This is where the PCI slots are at, consisting of two PCI slots, one PCIe X16, and one smaller PCIe X1 slot. Hiding below the PCI slots is the hardly-used Floppy connector. On the right side of the FDD header is the IEEE header, and to the left side is the front panel auto header.

VGA,DVI,PS2,Parallel

LAN,IEEE,USB,Audio

Super I/O

    Lastly, the upper right is mainly the motherboard rear I/O panel. On the back side, here we have the PS/2 ports and a parallel port. Below the port are the built-in monitor connections: one VGA and DVI. Next are four USB ports, one LAN and IEEE port, and the audio connections for the 7.1ch HD sound system. Behind the rear panel I/O is the Hardware Monitoring Controller, Winbond W83627EHG-A, which can handle these functions: Multi-I/O, UART, infrared, parallel port, keyboard controller, game port, MIDI port, and general purpose I/O ports.

Got News? Send 'em in!