ASRock is ready with its latest performance motherboard based on the upcoming Intel Z68 chipset, the ASRock Z68 Extreme4. The Z68 chipset combines the overclocking features of P67 with integrated graphics support of H67, and adds a few more features such as SSD boost. The Z68 Extreme4 uses a V8 power phase design for the CPU socket, the board supports dual-DDR3 memory with memory multipliers supporting DDR3-2133 MHz. The onboard display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, HDMI 1.4a, and DisplayPort. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16 (x16/NC/x4 or x8/x8/x4), two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI.

The "4" in Extreme4 denotes four each of USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s ports. There are two SATA 6 Gb/s from the PCH, and two from an additional controller; and two EtronTech USB 3.0 controllers that drive two ports on the rear panel, and two by internal headers (for front-panel or bracket). The Z68 Extreme4 features a new GUI-driven UEFI BIOS that allows booting from volumes over 3 TB in capacity. Other connectivity features include 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output and THX TruStudio Pro, eSATA 3 Gb/s, Firewire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. There are a few nice overclocker-friendly touches such as high DRAM multipliers, rear clear CMOS, and power/reset buttons on board. ASRock's new board will reach stores in mid-May.

ASRock seems to be in a hurry to be out with the first socket AM3+ motherboard that supports AMD's next-generation "Zambezi" Fusion Black processors, and so again put its creativity to use. The company designing a new motherboard based on the AMD 890FX + SB850 chipset instead, called the ASRock 890FX Deluxe5. The selling point with this board is the ability to have an AM3+ as early as possible, with capability to accommodate AM3+ processors as they come. For now, ASRock's idea in the public domain is only in the form of a layout drawing.

The typically-sized ATX motherboard from ASRock makes use of AMD's 890FX + SB850 chipset. The CPU socket is compatible with existing socket AM3 Phenom II and Athlon II processors, and future Fusion Black processors. This isn't particularly an advantage, because every AM3+ motherboard in the future based on 990FX will retain support for AM3 processors. On the other hand, 990FX motherboards could also embrace UEFI, something this board seems to lack prima facie.

ASRock released a nifty little software utility that steps up USB transfer rates. The ASRock XFast USB utility is also able to speed up USB 3.0 flash drives, which are well within the 5 Gb/s theoritical maximum of the interface. OCWorkbench did a "before and after" test of the utility as part of its Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 review. The portable SSD managed transfer rates of 156 MB/s before using the utility, which then jumped up to 241.32 MB/s after using it. SiSoft SANDRA was used for measurements. More tests can be found here.

Underdog, low-end, and ASUS-spinoff are some of the terms commonly associated with ASRock. Unbeknownst to many, ASRock has climbed up to the spot of the third largest PC motherboard vendor in terms of sales volumes. In its rather surprising ascent, ASRock displaced MSI and ECS. In terms of annual sales figures, ASUS emerged as the highest grossing motherboard vendor with 21.6 million units sales in calendar year 2010, followed by Gigabyte with 18 million units. Although Gigabyte showed strong prospects in 2010, at one point even matching top rival ASUS in terms of sales, the company slipped by competitive pricing by ASUS. ASRock currently has about 75-80% of its motherboard shipments mid-range and high-end models with price points at around US$50. Despite the company selling motherboards with a rather cheap price, its gross margin was still able to maintain at above 18-19%. ASRock currently offers motherboards for both AMD and Intel platforms, in all market segments, value-thru-enthusiast.

Better late than never. ASRock finally unveiled its mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD Brazos platform, featuring AMD Fusion "Zacate" E-350 accelerated processing unit (APU). The APU integrates two x86-64 processing cores based on the "Bobcat" architecture with a DirectX 11 compliant AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics processing core. The ASRock E350M1 is a typical mini-ITX embedded platform motherboard. The board draws power from a standard 24-pin ATX power connector (20-pin will do), though from the looks of it, the same PCB can be reconfigured to have a 2-pin 12V DC power external input for use in some very tight cases.

The APU is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, the lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical 2.0 x4). The E-350 APU and Hudson M1 chipset have separate heatsinks, the one over the APU is ventilated by a small fan. The chipset gives out four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Other connectivity features include 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, mouse/keyboard combo PS/2, and a number of USB 2.0 ports.

Long time Fatal1ty brand partner OCZ Technology showed off its latest range of DDR3 DIMM modules carrying the Fatal1ty Profess1onal badge. The module uses OCZ's Blade 2 series heatsink, which makes it slightly taller than conventional modules, and helps keep the module cool at high voltages. It is expected to be available in DDR3-1600 speeds, and optimized for Intel Sandy Bridge processors. Here, it's pictured on ASRock's P67 Fatal1ty motherboard.

ASRock is known to mix and match sockets and chipsets to come up with some interesting hybrids that give users access to latest features offered by the chipset. A recent example of this is a socket 939 motherboard based on the AMD 785G chipset (read here), which gives users of socket-939 Athlons access to a fast IGP and PCI-Express 2.0. The company's latest such innovation is the P67 Transformer. This is a socket LGA1156 motherboard, it supports existing Core i5/Core i7 "Lynnfield", and Core i3/Core i5 "Clarkdale" processors, but is based on the Intel P67 Express chipset. The board gives users access to some advanced features of the P67 chipset, but won't support LGA1155 processors.

So what's in it for you? Well, the P67 PCH embeds a PCI-Express 2.0 hub compared to P55/H55, which pack an older PCI-Express 1.1 hub. The older hub is known to heavily bottleneck devices such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers that use only a single PCI-E lane (since PCI-E 1.1 has 250 MB/s per direction bandwidth, compared to 500 MB/s on the PCI-E 2.0). So significant is this bottleneck, that some motherboard designers even used bridge chips that convert the P55's PCI-E 1.1 x4 port to two PCI-E 2.0 x1, for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers. The PCI-E x16 slots however, are wired to the processor and are Gen 2. ASRock's board hence gives you two USB 3.0 and two SATA 6 Gb/s with an alleviated bus bottleneck.

ASRock unveiled its socket LGA1155 motherboard lineup in grand style, showing off eight models, including four value-thru-enthusiast grade motherboards based on the Intel P67 chipset, and four essential-thru-mainstream motherboards based on the Intel H67 chipset. The series is topped by the P67 Extreme6, which packs no less than six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four external and two internal USB 3.0 ports, three PCI-Express x16 slots, 18-phase CPU VRM making use of high-grade capacitors, and a huge set of connectivity features. Next up is the P67 Extreme4, which is a notch lower than the Extreme6, but it still gives you four SATA 6 Gb/s and four USB 3.0 ports (two external, two internal via header), the same expansion slot layout as the Extreme6, and a slightly slimmer connectivity feature set.

The two Extreme boards are trailed by mid-range ones, starting with the P67 Pro3. The P67 Pro3 has a simple layout and offers not much more than the chipset's feature-set. There are two SATA 6 Gb/s and two USB 3.0 (rear) ports, expansion slots that include just one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, three PCI-E x1, and three PCI. The CPU is powered by an impressive (for this category) 10-phase VRM. Further down the line is the P67 Pro, which is further slimmed down. It does away with USB 3.0 but retains SATA 6 Gb/s. A simpler 4+1 phase CPU VRM is used. Most other features are the same as the Pro3.

Without making much noise, ASRock introduced its latest compact PCs, the Vision 3D 135B. Original name aside, the 135B is essentially a mobile-on-desktop system, that is powered by the Intel Calpella mobile platform. At the center of this is a Core i3 370M dual-core processor clocked at 2.40 GHz, and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M DirectX 11 compliant GPU that packs 96 CUDA cores and dedicated memory. There's 4 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1066 MHz memory on board. Apart from these, there's 500 GB of storage, a Blu-ray + DVD-RW slot-in combo drive, and connectivity that includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, 8-channel HD audio, and display outputs that include DVI and HDMI. The unit itself measures 200(W) x 70 (H) x 200 (L) mm, and comes in matte black and silver options. ASRock did not give out a price.

Innovative motherboard maker ASRock seems to be liking designing high-end motherboards - a lot. The latest model in the works is a socket LGA1366 motherboard based on the Intel X58+ICH10R chipset, called the ASRock X58 Extreme6. This motherboard provides no less than six SATA 6 Gb/s and six USB 3.0 ports, a large step beyond the chipset's original specifications. ASRock is achieving this using three NEC µPD720200 2-port USB 3.0 and three Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, some of which are connected to the system over a PLX PEX8613 PCI-Express 2.0 switch chip. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports are internal, and color-coded white, next to the six SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the southbridge, while four out of six USB 3.0 ports are on the rear-panel (color-coded blue), and two ports are via an internal header, that connects to USB 3.0 case front-panels or expansion brackets.

Apart from this 'unique' feature set, the ASRock X58 Extreme6 is fairly standard, with six-core processor support out of the box, an 8-phase VRM that powers the CPU, six DDR3 DIMM slots for triple-channel memory, expansion slots that include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 with 3-way SLI and CrossFire support, two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI, 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, a gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, eSATA, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Exclusive features include THX TruStudio Pro support, debug LEDs, OC DNA, ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash, and OC Tuner. One can expect the board to be out soon.

ASRock is known for innovations in the motherboard industry that are borderline-wacky and defy the norm. For example, the socket AM2 motherboard based on the six year old NVIDIA nForce 3 chipset that supports Phenom II series (read here), or a socket 939 motherboard based on the more recent AMD 780G chipset (originally meant for AM2+/AM3 platforms) called the 939A785GMH-128M, or the numerous examples of older Intel 900 series chipsets supporting Core 2 processors. Perhaps this is ASRock's way of clearing new old-stock chipsets from manufacturers, by giving them a lease of life. The latest such creation is the M3A UCC.

This socket AM3 motherboard supports all AM3 processors including six-core ones, and DDR3 memory at speeds of up to 1800 MHz, is based on the AMD 480X, one of AMD's first discrete graphics chipsets after it took over ATI. The 480X was meant to be a value discrete graphics chipset with dual x8 lane CrossFire support. It is paired with the SB600 southbridge that gives out four SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Expansion slots include PCI-Express 1.1 x16, two PCI-E x1, and three PCI. Six channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, serial and parallel ports, make the rest of it. The UCC chip lets you unlock disabled cores on X3 and Phenom II X2 processors. The idea behind this product could be to deliver an inexpensive motherboard that just works. This further validates the point that any AMD chipset since nForce 3 can support any AMD desktop processor with IMC made till date, if motherboard vendors fine-tune their business interests to think more like ASRock.

Closely trailing last week's news of ASRock designing the P55 Extreme4 motherboard that has two sets of 2-port USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, comes that of the 890FX-Deluxe4 and 890GX-Extreme4. As the names suggest, these motherboards will be based on the AMD 890FX and AMD 890GX chipsets, respectively, supporting socket AM3 processors. Unlike its P55-based counterpart, these boards feature two 2-port USB 3.0 controllers of which one gives out USB 3.0 front-panel header instead of two additional rear panel ports, and since the AMD SB850 southbridge already has a 6-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller, there is only one additional 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controller, upping the total number of 6 Gb/s ports to eight.

This apart, the 890FX-Deluxe4 and 890GX-Deluxe4 bear some resemblance to the 890FX-Deluxe3 and 890GX-Extreme3, respectively, in terms of board layout. The boards feature a 10-phase CPU VRM design, support ASRock Turbo UCC (gives Turbo boost to more than 3 cores on Phenom II X6), ASRock UCC (unlocks disabled cores on some X3, X2 processors), and memory ratio supported up to DDR3-1866 MHz by overclocking. The boards also support 3-way and 2-way ATI CrossFireX, and connectivity which includes 8+2 channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and Firewire. Expect the new Extreme4 motherboards to reach stores in the coming few weeks.

ASRock is readying a new high-end socket LGA1156 motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset, the P55 Extreme4. Designed to be a notch above the P55 Deluxe3, which packs two SATA 6 Gb/s and two USB 3.0 ports, the Extreme4 uses two 2-port controllers to drive four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and two USB 3.0 controllers to drive two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, and two ports by internal headers (for the latest cases that come with USB 3.0 front-panel ports, or simply by USB 3.0 expansion brackets). Connections to these four controllers is conveniently handled by configuring the PCI-Express x4 port from the P55 PCH to work as four x1 ports, apart from the four x1 ports it gives apart from the x4 port. This way, the board is also able to provide three x1 expansion slots and drive the PCI-E GbE controller.

The other expansion slots are two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8/x8, when both are populated), supporting SLI and CrossFire, and two PCI. Apart from the four SATA 6 Gb/s ports (color-coded white), the six SATA 3 Gb/s ports (color-coded blue) are present internally. The CPU socket seems to be powered by an 8+2 phase VRM. The four DDR3 memory slots can take DDR3 modules with frequencies of over 2600 MHz with overclocking. Other connectivity features include 8-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet. ASRock will introduce the P55 Extreme4 in a few weeks' time.

ASRock introduced two of its latest entertainment nettops, the Core 100HT and Core 100HT/BD. Unlike older models from ASRock in this category which were based on the NVIDIA ION platform, these use the much faster Intel Calpella mobile platform, making these SFF PCs. Making use of Intel Core i3/i5 dual-core processors, the Core 100HT make use of the embedded Intel HD graphics, 4~8 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, 2.5" HDD with SSD options, and optical drive options which include Blu-ray Combo for the Core 100HT-BD, and DVD-writer for Core 100HT. Connectivity features are also updated, with the inclusion of USB 3.0, 7.1 channel HD audio with THX TruStudio Pro, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, and gigabit Ethernet. The unit measures no more than 195 (W) x 70 (H) x 186 (L) mm. ASRock did not reveal pricing.

ASRock introduced its newest high-end motherboard for the AMD platform, the 890FX Extreme3. This socket AM3 motherboard is based on AMD's 890FX + SB850 chipset, and is geared for high-end discrete graphics setups. The CPU is powered by an 8+2 phase VRM that is cooled by an elaborate active heatsink that also draws heat from the 890FX chip. The board BIOS carries memory multipliers to support DDR3 1800 MHz with ease. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16, of which the blue slots are PCI-E 2.0 x16, while the third white slot is PCI-E 1.1 x4; and two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB850 are internal, while an additional VIA storage controller handles eSATA and IDE. Connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, eSATA, and 8-channel audio with SPDIF connectors. The ASRock 890FX-Extreme3 should reach stores in a few weeks.

ASRock is ready with its premium motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset, the ASRock 870 Extreme3. Either the company seems to have jumped the specifications of the 870 by adding external PCI-Express lane switching that gives it proper CrossFire capability, or that the 870 will indeed support 2-way CrossFire with its lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link split into two x8 links between the two cards, leaving no room for a "890X" chipset. The 870 Extreme3 supports socket AM3 processors with a 4+1 phase VRM that can take 140W TDP processors. It will support upcoming Phenom II X6 and Phenom II X4 T series processors. It integrates ASRock's proprietary UCC chip that unlocks disabled cores on certain processors.

The board is advertised to support DDR3-1800 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated), PCI-E x1, and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out five internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, with one eSATA. Other connectivity features include 8 channel HD audio, a 2-port USB 3.0 controller, a number of USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. Diagnostic LED display and onboard power and reset switches make for the rest of it. The ASRock 870 Extreme3 will retail a little later this month.

Do you desire for a free CPU upgrade? Of course, you do! ASRock Inc. today launched the UCC [Unlock CPU Core] Series motherboard that delivers added core processing power by enabling the ASRock exclusive UCC function of the AMD CPUs. Unprecedentedly integrated with ASRock exclusive UCC Chip, ASRock UCC function is well-designed to provide extra performance boost on ASRock UCC Series motherboards. In conjunction with AMD's 8XX Series chipsets, ASRock 890GX Extreme3 motherboard, the first UCC series motherboard, comes with unique UCC feature and supports both advanced rendering from HD 4290, DX10.1 graphics technology and ATI Quad CrossFireX, 3-Way CrossFireX technologies.

Equipped with an exclusive ASRock UCC Chip, ASRock 890GX Extreme3 is able to support the excellent UCC function. ASRock UCC feature allows users to enjoy an instant performance boost by simply tuning on the UCC switch on BIOS. ASRock 890GX Extreme3 is the ASRock True 333 series motherboards. The board offers the latest SATA3 6.0Gb/s and USB 3.0 5.0Gb/s technologies from the industry-leading NEC support. The real I/O includes 1 x external SATA3 connector through the Bundled eSATA3 Bracket and 2 x USB 3.0 ports for 10X faster data transfer speed. For memory part, it supports 4 X DDR3 1800(OC), Hyper Transport Bus 5200 MT/s, ATI Quad CrossFireX and 3-Way CrossFireX. For audio aspect, it features 7.1 CH, VIA 2020 audio codec with Premium Blu-ray audio support. Combined with advanced rendering from AMD Radeon HD 4290, DX10.1 graphics, ASRock 890GX Extreme3 offers the spectacular visual output (output options include: D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI) as well.

AMD ACC is a feature of the company's 7-Series chipsets which uses a debugging backchannel going from the Southbridge to the processor to change certain CPU aspects, one of them being the "disable cores" feature on modern AMD CPUs. This allows you to play the AMD Casino, go get a cheap triple core, unlock its fourth core and hope it works (it usually does).

A few weeks ahead of Intel's launch of its Core i7 980X "Gulftown" six-core processors, ASRock used the chip in a live-demo for one of its new motherboards. ASRock was probably trying to show off high performance numbers for its X58 Extreme3 motherboard using [perhaps] the most powerful LGA-1366 processor ever made, with a benchmark application best suited for it: Cinebench R10. Being a multi-threaded benchmark, the Core i7 980X scored 25,711 points. A quad-core Core i7 processor typically scores around the 20,000 mark. The exhibitors also confirmed that the 980X will be an Extreme Edition part with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz. As for the exhibit itself, ASRock pleaded innocent saying it had necessary permissions to display performance numbers of the 980X, well ahead of its launch. While tech forums are rife with unofficial benchmark scores of Gulftown, by forum members who test engineering samples with a level of anonymity, this is the first time a motherboard partner came all out with an official demo of the chip's capabilities. Intel's Core i7 980X will be released in a few weeks' time. ASRock's X58 Extreme3 is said to support the chip out of the box, though most socket LGA-1366 motherboards should be able to support it with a simple BIOS update.

ASRock is developing a new upper-mainstream socket LGA-1156 motherboard based on the Intel P55 Express chipset: the P55-Deluxe3. This motherboard builds on the chipset's feature-set, and offers USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s connectivity. It further borrows from a design ASUS innovated with its P7P55D Premium, which makes use of a PCI-Express 2.0 bridge chip, which connects to the P55 chipset over its PCI-Express 1.1 x4 link, and gives out PCI-Express 2.0 x1 connections to the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers. The SATA 6 Gb/s controller gives out two SATA ports (color-coded white), and an IDE connector. The NEC USB 3.0 controller gives out two external ports color-coded blue.

Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated), a PCI-Express x1, and two PCI slots. Both NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFire, are supported. Other connectivity options include 8+2 channel audio with SPDIF connectivity, gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, FireWire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The ASRock P55 Deluxe3 should be priced somewhere in the $180~$200 range.

ASRock has updated the BIOS of its H55M Pro socket LGA1156 motherboard to include a "Turbo 100" feature. The feature is designed to run with the entry-level Pentium Dual-Core G6950 processor, which overclocks it from 2.80 GHz to 4.20 GHz, with a turbo ratio of 100%. This, the company claims, provides a significant graphics performance boost (tabled below). The new BIOS can be downloaded from ASRock Forums' Intel section.

To build on the popularity of its NVIDIA ION based nettops, ASRock plans to release a new Intel Atom + NVIDIA ION motherboard based on the mini-ITX form factor, in 2010. The motherboard will be one of the first of its kind, with a stronger memory sub-system. The NVIDIA ION chipset will drive dual-channel DDR3 1066 MHz memory. The board makes use of dual-core Atom 330 processor which is passively cooled, while the NVIDIA ION chipset is cooled actively. The chipset embeds DirectX 10 compliant NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. It gives out four internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports and two Power-eSATA (eSATA+USB combo) ports making use of all its ATA channels. The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (full-bandwidth).

ASRock-exclusive features include Dura-Cap Japanese solid-state capacitors, Instant Boot, Instant Flash, OC DNA, and Night LED. Connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF driven by VIA VT2020 CODEC, gigabit Ethernet, six external and four internal USB 2.0 ports, and display connectivity which includes DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. While the motherboard supports up to 4 GB of memory, the graphics processor supports full-HD display resolutions including smooth playback of HD video. It passes Windows 7 compatibility. ASRock is yet to reveal pricing and availability.

The third motherboard vendor in the league to be ready with products based on the Intel H5x Express chipset is ASRock, whose first wave consists of one ATX, and two micro-ATX form-factor motherboards, based on the H55 Express chipset. The H55 Express chipset is known to bring along the Flexible Display Interface, which handles the connectivity of the embedded graphics processors Intel's upcoming Core i3 and Core i5 "Clarkdale" processors feature, completing Intel's portfolio of processors based on the Nehalem/Westmere architectures across all segments. H55 Express is a toned-down version of the H57 Express chipset, it lacks support for technologies such as Remote PC Assist, Rapid Storage, and has slightly lesser number of USB 2.0 ports and lesser PCI-Express lanes in its local hub.

The two micro-ATX motherboards from ASRock are the H55M Pro and H55M. These boards are nearly same, in having 4+1 phase CPU VRM, display connectivity that includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI, expansion slots which include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4), and one each of PCI-Express x1 and PCI. Both feature high-grade DuraCap solid-state capacitors, 8-channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, and eSATA. The two differ with the H55M Pro being slightly broader to accommodate four DDR3 DIMM slots, while the H55M has two, the H55M Pro has five out of six SATA 3 Gbps ports from its PCH assigned as internal ports, with one eSATA, and features FireWire, while the H55M has four internal SATA 3 Gbps ports, two ports are assigned as eSATA, and FireWire is absent.

ASRock's ION NetTop series, thanks to its specifications, apparently has what it takes to be a home theater PC in itself. It already has a Blu-ray drive equipped model, the ION 330-BD to its credit. To further project it as a home theater product, its makers have decided to carve out two more variants: the ION 330HT, and ION 330HT-BD. What set these apart from the non-HT models, is the provision of the Windows MCE remote. The rest of the specifications remain the same. Also planned is the ION 330Pro, a lite version of the original ION 330.

Packed in its compact chassis measuring 195mm (W) x 70mm (H) x 186mm (L), is a full-fledged system based on the NVIDIA ION platform. It is powered by the Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor, and the ION chipset, which embeds an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. It is aided by 2 GB of DDR2 800 memory, and offers 500 GB of storage. On the connectivity front, it has gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi. While a standard DVD writer is available on the ION 330HT, the ION 330HT-BD has a Blu-ray Combo drive. ASRock also carved out the ION 330Pro, a lite version that is aimed to provide the bare essentials. It lacks the WiFi controller. The pricing and availability of these three models are yet to be known.

ASRock also introduced the M3A785GM-LE/128M, a value socket AM3 motherboard, supporting AMD Phenom II and Athlon II series processors. Built in the micro-ATX form-factor, the M3A785GM-LE/128M is based on the AMD 785G + SB710 chipset. The CPU is powered by a simple 4 phase circuit, and is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 8 GB of memory. The AMD 785G northbridge embeds an ATI Radeon HD 4200 class DirectX 10.1 compliant integrated graphics processor, with 128 MB of onboard DDR3 memory across its SidePort memory interface. It makes use of the chipset's features. The expansion slots on this board include one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCI-E x1, and two PCI slots. The SB710 southbridge provides six internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Display connectivity options include DVI-D and D-Sub. 6 channel audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the package. Availability and pricing are yet to be known.