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ASRock N7AD-SLI Motherboard Review

Date Published:
03-10-2009

Written By:
Tulatin

Edited By:
Diceman

Provided By:
ASRock

Where to Buy:
ASRock

Discuss Article:
VH Forum link

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Introduction:

ASRock N7AD-SLI Motherboard

Of the computing marketplace, there are always niches to fill. Sure, the budget user has their darling and the enthusiast simply empties their wallet, but what ever happens to those users who want something eclectic, that has certain features, but not others - often things that are in no way offered by a chipset, motherboard, or manufacturer. Call me crazy, but it seems that for the bulk of it, the engineers of ASRock take delight in producing an uncommon product. Whether it's a 945 board that fully supported SLI, a 680i board that sported 45nm CPUs, or the simply odd layout of their backplate, ASRock's boards are always eye-catching, to say the least. Though there are reviews of their products in the month coming, what we'll have to settle for today is the 740i - a motherboard that offers a thick feature set for the Intel platform, at a reasonable price. Let's dive in.

Features & Specifications:

LGA 775 for Intel^® Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Quad / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium^® Dual Core / Celeron^® Dual Core / Celeron^®, supporting Penryn Quad Core Yorkfield and Dual Core Wolfdale processors
ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
NVIDIA^® nForce 740i SLI Chipset
Supports FSB 1600/1333/1066/800/533MHz
Supports Dual Channel DDR2 800/667 x 4 DIMM slots, maximum capacity up to 16GB

Supports NVIDIA^® SLI™
2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode)
6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD) and NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
1 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connector
1 x USB/WiFi header
Supports ASRock Instant Boot
Supports Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner , Intelligent Energy Saver, Extra ESD Protection
7.1 CH Windows^® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection, supports DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
Windows^® Vista™ Premium 2008 Logo Ready
Free Bundle: 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card, ASRock SLI Switch Card
ASRock 1394_SPDIF I/O: 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port, 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port, 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED, 1 x IEEE 1394 Port, 1 x eSATAII Port

General
CPU	- LGA 775 for Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Quad / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® Dual Core / Celeron® Dual Core / Celeron®, supporting Penryn Quad Core Yorkfield and Dual Core Wolfdale processors- Supports FSB 1600/1333/1066/800/533 MHz- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology- Supports EM64T CPU
Chipset	- NVIDIA® nForce 740i SLI
Memory	- Dual Channel DDR2 memory technology- 4 x DDR2 DIMM slots- Supports DDR2 800/667 non-ECC, un-buffered memory- Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB**Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® XP and Windows® Vista™. For Windows® XP 64-bit and Windows® Vista™ 64-bit with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.
BIOS	- 8Mb AMI BIOS- AMI Legal BIOS- Supports "Plug and Play"- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events- Supports jumperfree- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support- CPU, DRAM, NB, VTT Voltage Multi-adjustment- Supports Smart BIOS
Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics	- n/a
Audio	- 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection- DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
LAN	- Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s- Giga PHY RTL8211CL- Supports Wake-On-LAN
Expansion / Connectivity
Slots	- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode)- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots- 2 x PCI slots- Supports NVIDIA® SLI™
Connector	- 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1, RAID 5, JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions- 1 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connector (shared with 1 SATAII port)- 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)- 1 x Floppy connector- 1 x IR header- 1 x COM port header- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header- 1 x IEEE 1394 header- CPU/Chassis FAN connector- 24 pin ATX power connector- 8 pin 12V power connector- SLI/XFire power connector- CD in header- Front panel audio connector- 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports)- 1 x USB/WiFi header
Rear Panel I/O	ASRock 1394_SPDIF I/O- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port- 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port- 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports- 1 x eSATAII Port- 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)- 1 x IEEE 1394 Port- HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Other Features / Miscellaneous
Unique Feature	- ASRock OC Tuner- Intelligent Energy Saver- Instant Boot- Hybrid Booster:- CPU Frequency Stepless Control- ASRock U-COP- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
Support CD	- Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version)
Accessories	- 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card- 1 x ASRock SLI/XFire Switch Card- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield- Floppy/ATA 133 Cables- 2 x SATA Data Cables (optional)- 1 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cable (optional)
Hardware Monitor	- CPU Temperature Sensing- Chassis Temperature Sensing- CPU Fan Tachometer- Chassis Fan Tachometer- CPU Quiet Fan- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore
Form Factor	- ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 8.2-in, 30.5 cm x 20.8 cm- All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)
OS	- Microsoft® Windows® XP / XP 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit compliant
Certifications	- FCC, CE, WHQL

Aright then. With that monster well and out of the way (Largely due to the effectiveness of Firefox Extension Table2Clipboard), it's good and time to get on to the real content of this review!

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