ULi good?

[sluthy]

I'm still umming and ahhing while building up funds for a new PC somewhere down the line. Still thinking up possibilities, wondering how much of my computer needs replacing. Then all of a sudden, I find out today, about this ULi chipset that has PCI-E and AGP both onboard, as well as having the majority of the features of the nForce4 (not SATA2 or NCQ, I know, wouldn't use them anyway). Are there any limitations or downsides to going ULi over nForce4, so I can extend the life of my 9600XT a year or more?

 

[sluthy]

I don't intend to be overclocking anytime soon, it's just maybe if I can keep the Bravo, maybe I can afford an X2 instead, and then go up to a 7800GTX when they come down enough.

 

[sluthy]

Just read the Anandtech review of the ASRock ULi m'board, and other than the fact it doesn't have Firewire (PCI card) or gigabit ethernet (don't see the house router moving up to 1000 any time soon, or just a PCI card), it's pretty much what I want. Plus it looks like it'll work with M2 CPU's as well. Future-proof-orama!

Question though - anyone know about the onboard audio? Is it AC97 or something better? Should I spring for an Audigy instead?

 

[sluthy]

Tom's Hardware says other than an approx 5% performance deficit compared to the Fatal1ty board (which the new BIOS update may have very well taken care of), they like it too. Looks like a goer. Anyone? Please don't make be post to myself 5 times in a row...

 

[Hacp]

You should post this in motherboards. They have a whole thread with tonsa posts abou thte ULI ASrocks board.

 

[sluthy]

Okay. It started out as a general thought on ULi and got more specific. Thanks anyway.

 

[Canterwood]

I have the AsRock board, which has AGP and PCI-E.
It also has 2 x Sata (Raid) and a single Sata2 port.

I mainly got it as an upgrade path as my AGP X800XT still has a lot of life in it yet.
Running an X2 4400+ on it (dual core is supported without needing a bios update).

Onboard sound is Realtek 850 7.1, (pretty much identical to most other onboard sound solutions) but I'm using my old Soundblaster Live 24 bit card.

Like you, my Lan is only 10/100, so thats not an issue either.

Had a couple of lockups and blue screens at first , but tweaking the bios cured those.
Overall, given the low price, the board is a bargain for those who want to keep their current agp card but be able to upgrade in the future.