Whats the catch?

[SiM]

This seems like a fantastic deal for a non-overclocked PC. It looks like its got all the features of a high end P45.

The only downside I can see is that there are only 3 DDR2 slots. But most people use 2x2GB, so that is usually not a problem.

What do you guys think?

[matty-hodgson]

what exactly are you asking us here?
are you wanting to buy it..
it seems like an absolute bargain, so long as you have 2x2GB like you said.
or maybe even spend what you saved on some DDR3?

i was actually looking for a P45 board.. so i might actually get this.

[staffsMike]

It might be good for a basic setup. I don't recall Asrock having been rated very highly for overclocking before. The layout of the board is nasty (cable management wise.. which of course is of the up most importance ).

Not enough copper for my liking (Joke).

Tbh I'd just rather pay the extra for a something I'd trust. I'd have a gigabyte before an Asrock and thats saying something.

[0iD]

AsRock are a 'buget brand' but their boards are feature rich & generally great quality. 'May' not overclock as well as a 'quality' name, but I doubt you'd notice any difference at all.

[SiM]

This seems like a fantastic deal for a non-overclocked PC.

Enough about overclocking... Of course, I wouldn't buy this to run under phase change or something.

So for the non-overclocked PC this is good?

I can see why the layout would be a problem, why the hell is that mobo PSU connector on the wrong side of the board

Might give this a miss because of the layout...

[Webby]

The layout is alright if you have a top mounted PSU then you can take the cable round the fan and into the socket bottom mounted PSU it is a nightmare!

[kalniel]

Asrock boards are awesome - I've used them in all but one build. They've got a 45XE version coming out that's designed for better overclocking (http://www.ocworkbench.com/2008/asro...E-WiFiN/g1.htm).

[staffsMike]

That one with the £70 would be interesting.

[Pob255]

I loved my old ASRock core2 sata board (it was the one with both agp&pci-e and ddr+ddr2) it was a great board for step by step upgrade but not very good for overclocking.

On this board, yuck that's a nasty layout, bad 24pin connector placement and the 8pin should be higher although it's liveable. 2 sata ports stuck in the corner what carzyness is that about?
2xddr2 and 4xddr3, not great ether.

But the really strange thing is between the two pci-e slots, looks like one of the flip cards used on a nforce 650i to select between sli or non-sli mode.
That's the first time I've ever seen it on a crossfire motherboard