Monday, January 12th 2009

ASRock Core i7 ''SuperComputer'' Motherboard Announced

Jan 12th, 2009 14:11 Discuss (51 Comments)

First unveiled in November of last year here, ASRock's "SuperComputer" motherboard has finally made it to retail. Click here for further details.

Features and Specifications
- Intel Socket 1366 Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition / Core i7 Processor Supports Intel Dynamic Speed Technology
- System Bus up to 6400 MT/s; Intel QuickPath Interconnect
ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Intel X58 + ICH10R Chipsets
- Supports Triple Channel DDR3 2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333(OC)/1066 (6 x DIMM slots), non-ECC, un-buffered memory, Max. capacity up to 24GB
- Supports DDR3 ECC, buffered memory with Intel Workstation 1S Xeon processors 3500 series
- Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
- 4 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (blue @ x8 / x16 mode, orange @ x8 / N/A mode) (Double-wide slot spacing between each PCI-E slot)
- Supports ATI CrossFireX, Quad CrossFireX
- Supports NVIDIA Quad SLI, 3-Way SLI and SLI
- Supports NVIDIA Tesla Personal Supercomputer with three Tesla and one Quadro graphics cards
- Dual GLAN with Teaming function : 2 x PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID10, RAID 5 and Intel Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions * 2 SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors can be used as eSATAII connectors
- Supports 2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
- Supports ASRock Instant Boot
- Supports Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner, Intelligent Energy Saver
- 7.1 CH Windows Vista Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection, supports DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec), DTS (Digital Theater Systems) support
- Windows Vista Premium 2008 Logo Ready
- Free Bundle: 2 x ASRock XFire_Bridge_3S Cards, 1 x ASRock SLI Bridge, 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card, 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge Card
- I/O Panel : 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port, 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port, 7 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports (1 USB 2.0 port shared with eSATAII port), 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED, 1 x IEEE 1394 Port

Source: ASRock

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51 Comments on ASRock Core i7 ''SuperComputer'' Motherboard Announced

#26

Assimilator

I see a lot of whiners in this thread - have any of you actually READ the specs of this board? It's got pretty much everything USEFUL that the other X58 boards have, and a decent and clean layout to boot. This is the first X58 board - apart from the MSIs - I'd consider buying, purely because the engineers have evidently put some thought into its design.

Yeah, it may not have the fancy-pants cooling solutions of the high-end boards, but seriously... if this board comes in at a lower price than other X58 boards, and can overclock decently, what's wrong with it? Personally, I can't wait to see a review of this mobo.

#27

Assimilator

Also, Biostar - another "low-end" board manufacturer - currently holds the FSB world record with their IPower P45 mobo. Don't write off these smaller manufacturers just because they used to have a bad reputation - they are steadily improving their products and if they can continue to do that, while not charging ridiculous price premiums, they may just be able to shock the big boys some day.

#28

lollerskater69

AssimilatorAlso, Biostar - another "low-end" board manufacturer - currently holds the FSB world record with their IPower P45 mobo. Don't write off these smaller manufacturers just because they used to have a bad reputation - they are steadily improving their products and if they can continue to do that, while not charging ridiculous price premiums, they may just be able to shock the big boys some day.

#29

DrPepper

The Doctor is in the house

r9+10 on worst brand ever :D (PChip and Soltek are also)
The guy at Asrock that designs color of the board is telling us something - THAT IS COLOR BLIND :D

Asus probably designed the board and are selling it to a niche market under the brand asrock.

#30

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing

tcorbynASrock sucks! When was the last time they made anything worth spending more than a tenner on? They got some balls calling one of their motherboards "supercomputer".... :shadedshu

Asrock dual sata S939 AGP and PCI-E slots, and with a bit of modding, a reasonable overclocker as well amazingly....thats the only one I can think of.

#31

[I.R.A]_FBi

AssimilatorI see a lot of whiners in this thread - have any of you actually READ the specs of this board? It's got pretty much everything USEFUL that the other X58 boards have, and a decent and clean layout to boot. This is the first X58 board - apart from the MSIs - I'd consider buying, purely because the engineers have evidently put some thought into its design.

Yeah, it may not have the fancy-pants cooling solutions of the high-end boards, but seriously... if this board comes in at a lower price than other X58 boards, and can overclock decently, what's wrong with it? Personally, I can't wait to see a review of this mobo.

But ... they so called whiners are speaking about their track record, does one board which hasnt even stood the test yet able to erase asrocks history?

#32

JoJoe

In my experience, ASRock boards are steals. You get great features and performance for what you pay for one. My 939DUAL-SATA2 is still running strong and it saved me a lot of money with the upgrade paths it made available.

If you're into more than light OCing, yeah, you probably should go for something else, but you'll be paying a premium for that.

#33

JrRacinFan

Served 5k and counting ...

J-ManWorst brand ever.

r9+10 on worst brand ever :D (PChip and Soltek are also)
The guy at Asrock that designs color of the board is telling us something - THAT IS COLOR BLIND :D

If you don't have anything nice to say ....

Asrock(subsidiary of Asus) is at least attempting to make a name for itself. I know they aren't the best brand but their failure rate is lower than ECS. I give Asrock a big thumbs up for at least making an effort to get back into the midrange budget corner of the market.

JoJoeIn my experience, ASRock boards are steals. You get great features and performance for what you pay for one. My 939DUAL-SATA2 is still running strong and it saved me a lot of money with the upgrade paths it made available.

If you're into more than light OCing, yeah, you probably should go for something else, but you'll be paying a premium for that.

Thank you for this. I still own an Asrock K7VT4A+ (EDIT: Which I must add was considered high-end in its prime), has an Athlon 1.2Ghz installed and has not been used in a while. Which very soon will be installing Windows 7 on it to use as a media box.

#34

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing

Really you just have to keep things in perspective, generally, with the odd exception they are budget boards at budget prices in comparison to other manufacturers offering the same or more "bells and whistles", their odd one or two more expensive boards are only that because they offer most of what the competition does but sadly they dont have many overclocking options but thats because Asus dont want them to steal anything from their main enthusiast brands.....these are simply "mainstream" boards for the mainstream market, most of us here are not mainstream but enthusist users so most of us wouldnt be seen dead with an Asrock board in our case, however these are for the masses and do pretty well from it.

#35

LittleLizard

1- asrock WAS crap BUT now is a very good company. did u see the p45r2000-wifi, that mobo kick ass altough is dirt cheap (well, the layout sucks but somethin is somethin )

2 - that is the fanciest looking asrock ever :rockout:

#36

spearman914

By the sound of it, i think it will be a good board . Waiting for benchmarks, if possible...

#37

[I.R.A]_FBi

JrRacinFanIf you don't have anything nice to say ....

Asrock(subsidiary of Asus) is at least attempting to make a name for itself. I know they aren't the best brand but their failure rate is lower than ECS. I give Asrock a big thumbs up for at least making an effort to get back into the midrange budget corner of the market.

Thank you for this. I still own an Asrock K7VT4A+ (EDIT: Which I must add was considered high-end in its prime), has an Athlon 1.2Ghz installed and has not been used in a while. Which very soon will be installing Windows 7 on it to use as a media box.

I dont have good things to say for asus either ...

#38

thebeephaha

[I.R.A]_FBiI dont have good things to say for asus either ...

My Striker Extreme has been replaced 4 times. Asus isn't what it used to be.

I think the board looks nice and the slot layout is perfect for my needs. more than one regular PCI. I am in heaven.

#39

OnBoard

Tatty_OneAsrock dual sata S939 AGP and PCI-E slots, and with a bit of modding, a reasonable overclocker as well amazingly....thats the only one I can think of.

Compatibility with that board was terrible. My GPU didn't work, my memory didn't work and it didn't like my PSU either. Swapped it to ABIT nForce 4 Ultra board and no problems what so ever with the above components.

But the ULI chipset in it was great. Just lacked mem voltage and a better bios. Modders loved those as it would overclock great and cost next to nothing so even with hardmods braking it it wasn't really a loss.

Wasn't a good everyday board, but got me though the AGP to PCI-E change. Oh and I owned it straight from the start, got to try first 5 bioses and none were that great.

---

This board on the other hand is really welcome. Now I'm sure it can't be 50$ like 939Dual-SATA2 in it's time, but it'll be priced lower than any other i7 board and those are too expensive, so how can it be a bad thing?

And if you have owned ASRock boards in the past you can see that this looks nothing like one. If it didn't read ASRock in it you couldn't tell.

#40

stasdm

First 3-way SLI w/o nVIDIA 200 chip!!!!:rockout:

#41

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing

thebeephahaMy Striker Extreme has been replaced 4 times. Asus isn't what it used to be.

I think the board looks nice and the slot layout is perfect for my needs. more than one regular PCI. I am in heaven.

In contrast, I have had 3 problem free Asus boards the P5N-E SLi 650i, the P35 deluxe wifi and my current board, having said that, my personal preference will always be for Gigabyte and probably my best ever board was the Gigabyte x38 DQ6.

#42

InnocentCriminal

Resident Grammar Amender

Gam'sterComing from asrock the boards pretty well layed out tbh and its a budget brand, Aslong as it comes with a budget price....its win....i guess.

The layout is the biggest thing that appeals to me, not everyone can afford the most expensive i7 board and if this is priced well and can compete with Gigabyte's UD3R in performance then it'd be a very good base for a cheap i7 rig.

#43

steelkane

I've seen Asrock, Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Foxconn, Soyo, Ecs, Abit, Biostar, Dfi, evga, xfx, bfg, pcchips, All go bad, It doesn't really matter who makes the dam board, they all have warranty, some last & some fail, It's been like that for me since, 1994. Do you think you could make a 1000 motherboards & have them all work, I can't, As far as this Asrock i7 board goes, I would try it. It looks good, & it's a Motherboard.

#44

Binge

Overclocking Surrealism

not a big fan of this board. Too many PCI-E slots and not enough power to back it up.

#45

Gam'ster

InnocentCriminalThe layout is the biggest thing that appeals to me, not everyone can afford the most expensive i7 board and if this is priced well and can compete with Gigabyte's UD3R in performance then it'd be a very good base for a cheap i7 rig.

Your right there if it is priced with budget in mind ill even take a second look at it, so for this its £160 or less and its got the UD3R beat by price....lets hope so:)

#46

Unregistered

All the last 3 asus boards i have had,were good clockers and supremely reliable.

Asrock aint that bad,they are cheap and reliable.You pays yer money,yer makes yer choice.If you buy cheap you get cheap.You cant really compare asrock to higher end boards.Asrock are for the budget market,and are good for just that.

#47

mitsirfishi

in my opinion they arnt as bad as people knock them off for ive had a couple of asrock boards yes they might not look as good as the asus,gigabyte and various top end boards and dont go as crazy cooling but basing of the asrock x48 twinturbo was able to achieve 540fsb on one of the reviews cant be that bad only down side is that you get the low medium high highest for voltage settings but the asrock higher end boards do offer good value for money im thinking of getting one if they clock within reason of some of the higher end boards its like trying to compare a rover to a bmw you pay for what you get nothing wrong with a rover its just not finished off aswell.

#48

steelkane

Nice location for the USB, F/W, & Front Panel Headers. If only they put the FPA there too.

#49

Hayder_Master

sorry did they have problem with doing good cooling

#50

InnocentCriminal

Resident Grammar Amender

hayder.mastersorry did they have problem with doing good cooling

Don't forget this isn't a high-end enthusiast board, they're trying to keep costs down so that an i7 platform can be affordable. Once reviews of the board start popping up we'll see how well the chipset cooling stands up.

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ASRock Core i7 ''SuperComputer'' Motherboard Announced

51 Comments on ASRock Core i7 ''SuperComputer'' Motherboard Announced

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