The Asrock AGP and PCI-E motherboard!

[PCuser21]

Hey guys,
Do you know the Asrock 915 I think it is, the one with both slots, its only 50 quid, so does anyone have it here and can someone tell me how it is. Is it LI enabled?
thanks

[aidanjt]

Asrock motherboards will spontaniously combust, burn down your house, kill your mother, steal your gf and put you in bankrupcy, avoid like the plauge.

[Spunkey]

indeed. Maplins sell them.

Enough said.

[shaithis]

Must say, they don't instill me with confidence

Although, I know of a few cheap systems that freinds have made for various reasons and they haven't had any issues with them.

[Rohan]

Found a review of it here: http://www.ocworkbench.com/2005/asro...l-SATA2/g1.htm

Looks pretty good actually. Would be a good upgrade for people who have invested in a good AGP graphics card but also want to use a PCI-express slot in the future. Or for people moving over from the AthlonXP platform to Athlon64. It seems to overclock fairly well too. I'm quite impressed, this could be my next motherboard. Anyone know where you can buy it?

[sawyen]

I don't recall ULi's TGi chipset is even out yet..

No offence, I'll wait till ULi TGi migrates to a more reliable board manufacturer (say ABIT or ASUS) before I decide to get it..

[PCuser21]

Ok, so maybe I will buy a Abit or Asus SLI and PCIie MOBO! thanks alot guys!

[Rohan]

Asrock is just a subsidiary of Asus. A solid performing AGP and PCI-e motherboard for £50 sounds pretty good to me. I see where you're coming from though, they are a value brand designed for OEMs, so they may have sacrificed quality for value.

[iranu]

I've built 2 athlon xp systems on asrock boards and never had a single problem. They wouldn't be my first choice but if your on a tight budget do some research and find if anyone else has had problems.

[kevpuk]

I have used 2 ASrock boards for 'cheap and cheerful' system builds without a problem as well, not too sure about the 'spontaneous combustion and stealing the gf' mind

Again, as iranu says, there ar perhaps better choices for the budget end - I have found Biostar very reliable.......not sure what others have to say on that ?......K8NHA Grand is a fine s754 nForce3 'board, for example, at under £40 !

[pengellyd]

The best 'well known' retailer i could find selling it, was Micro Direct

ASRock Dual-SATA2 939 £53.98 inc. P&P

The only possible problem that i can see from the layout of the board is the placement of the PSU connector which could restrict airflow to the cpu cooler. Perhaps thats me just being picky

Has anyone seen it anywhere else?

[bujinkan-ka]

Microdirect ? I stopped using them after two friends had serious hassle returning faulty products - one of them waited two months before he got a refund for the faulty RAM he'd bought from them.

With regards to a motherboard - I'd say look for something by either Abit, ASUS or DFI.
I've heard plenty of horror stories about ASrock motherboards and if I were in your shoes - I wouldn't take the risk.

[Wiczy]

For what it's worth there is absolutely nothing wrong with ASRock. They make extremely stable and reliable boards at very reasonable prices.

The boards may lack a lot of the features of other boards costing nearly 3 times as much but thats the idea

Basically if you think that ASRock are a poor quality manufacturer you are very much mistaken.

[aidanjt]

I've heard of plenty of ASRock horror stories, including loose conections, connectors coming off the PCB, shorting out PSUs etc..
Although that was many moons ago, perhaps things have changed, but I'd think if they can't solder on an SATA connector properly then what does that say about other components on the system?

Personally the motherboard is far too an important part of a system to skimp out on, I'd sooner get cheaper ram than a cheaper mobo.

[sawyen]

I've heard of plenty of ASRock horror stories, including loose conections, connectors coming off the PCB, shorting out PSUs etc..
Although that was many moons ago, perhaps things have changed, but I'd think if they can't solder on an SATA connector properly then what does that say about other components on the system?

Personally the motherboard is far too an important part of a system to skimp out on, I'd sooner get cheaper ram than a cheaper mobo.

Never been hearing good stuff about Asrock anyways.. If you want an entry level motherboard, AX8 is much better.. its cheap, fast and can smoke most boards at stock speed.

Mobo are all the interconnecting limbs in a rig. Skimp at it, you'll either burn your precious CPU ur £250 gfx or corrupt ur precious raptor.

[kevpuk]

I must admit that I generally advise getting a solid motherboard, as everything else connects to it ! There are plenty of 'big name' models out there at the lower end of the price spectrum too, so there is usually a good option for just a little more moolah !

Personally, as I mentioned earlier, I have had no issues with ASRock, but would tend to advise going for a cheaper ABiT or ASUS as best choice......although have recently become more of a Gigabyte convert