ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 discussion

[djheater]

All the features of this board in a mATX FF and at a pricepoint of $65
I'm scared, you know what they say about too good to be true.

FSB: 1000MHz Hyper Transport (2000 MT/s)
SATA II


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OCWorkbench article

Anandtech Comments

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Forgot to say, what's really exciting about this board is the IGP upgrade... no longer is the budget builder limited to the tried and true Athlon NForce2 system. Now you can build your nieces and nephews something with a little robustness AND an upgrade path...

 

[mamisano]

Ordered the same board with a Sempron-64 2800+ yesterday. Using to build a computer for a client. Will have 512MB PC3200, 80 Hitachi SATA-2, CDRW-DVD Combo drive. Can't wait to test it out 🙂

 

[grooge]

I hope that the 1000 MHz ht bus did not impress you because even at 600 MHz, there is enough bandwidth for the CPU to not been slowed down and SATA2 is just.. well nothing more than SATA1 because ncq is not really helpful on desktop system and the drive cannot even saturate the SATA 1 bandwidth..

But well, big number sells better..

 

[cmv]

Originally posted by: grooge
I hope that the 1000 MHz ht bus did not impress you because even at 600 MHz, there is enough bandwidth for the CPU to not been slowed down and SATA2 is just.. well nothing more than SATA1 because ncq is not really helpful on desktop system and the drive cannot even saturate the SATA 1 bandwidth..

But well, big number sells better..

There aren't that many options for PCIe with socket 754 so it's nice to have another choice. I'm thinking of picking one up.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: cmv

Originally posted by: grooge
I hope that the 1000 MHz ht bus did not impress you because even at 600 MHz, there is enough bandwidth for the CPU to not been slowed down and SATA2 is just.. well nothing more than SATA1 because ncq is not really helpful on desktop system and the drive cannot even saturate the SATA 1 bandwidth..

But well, big number sells better..

There aren't that many options for PCIe with socket 754 so it's nice to have another choice. I'm thinking of picking one up.

It's been solid for me, I haven't OC'd but many have. Read the newegg reviews for some info.
Overall I think it's a great board, very fast and lots of features for the money.

 

[Zap]

Yay for another decent mATX board.

I think I like the layout of the Biostar version better because though they both have a PCIe 16x, PCIe 1x and two PCI, the Biostar puts the PCIe 1x above the 16x, meaning more room between it and the CPU. Of course the PCIe 1x between the 16X and the regular PCI would be ideal to keep both PCI slots accessible while giving space to the video card, but i haven't seen that yet in a mATX board. The other thing is that the Biostar board has the power connector in the "proper" place so that you don't have to stretch the ATX motherboard power over the CPU. The 12v is still there, but those 4 wires are much easier to deal with than 20/24.

from Newegg review:
Memery dump
It failed on me when I was loading window XP. Tried to call campany's tech support but no one willing to help.

I kinda don't get this. My thinking is that if you build your own systems, you'd better be able to know how to troubleshoot. System builders (whether yourself, your local computer shop or Dell/HP/Gateway) are the ones ultimately responsible for the technical support. Why would a motherboard company help you troubleshoot memory? Why are people always crying foul over not being able to build/troubleshoot their own system?