ASROCK K8COMBO-Z

[MasterFul]

Was wondering if this is a good mother board for an amd 3500+newcastle.


http://www.asrock.com/product/product_k8_combo-z.htm

 

[joelslaw]

here's the cpu support list:
http://www.asrock.com.tw/suppo...USupport_K8Combo-Z.htm
If your asking wether it's a good board though, I'm not really so sure. With mobos, it's ussually best to stick with a trusted brand (ASUS, DFI, MSI, Abit, Gigabyte, etc) I haven't ever really heard much about asrock, though.

 

[Slaimus]

Asrock is Asus's budget brand to compete with the likes of ECS and Foxconn.
This board is not made for overclocking since there is no AGP/PCI lock. Tt should be perfectly fine running anything from a Sempron 3100 to FX55 at stock speeds, or with mild (<10%) overclocks.
The ALi chipset has half width upstream HT link to the CPU, but that does not really hurt performance. With the Athlon64's integrated memory controller, it is hard to not have a fast performing chipset. The place where you will see a small drop off in speed is in gaming, because the ALi AGP controller is not as fast as the nForce's.

Personally, I would rather have a cheap 754 board that will overclock than this one. If you do not plan to overclock however, it is a great upgrade option.

If you are on a budget, you might as well spend a little bit more on the K8T Neo2-F and/or downgrade to a 3200+ Winchester.

Review

 

[bluemax]

I just noticed that some "slower" Sempron 754's have come out. 2600+ and 2800+ for $111 and $117 respectively (Candian Dollars.)

That's almost half the price of the cheapest Athlon64 at about $190C for the 2800+!

That's $80 into the video card fund while I enjoy good speed now, and upgrade when 64-bit apps *really* come out!

Thanks for the review link. If it's a good performer, it sure gives you cheap processors now but a super upgrade path!!