ASRock MB any Good?

U

UMASS

Gawd
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
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Hi All: I want to put together a cheap WINXP build for older games. I can score an ASRock FM2A88M-HD+ MB & an AMD A6-6400K APU bundle from Micro Center for $94.98 I was always under the impression that ASRock was sub-par. I have always used Asus, Gigabyte & MSI for my builds. Any insight? Pull the trigger?

ASRock Link:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88M-HD+/
 
Do it, you will not be disappointed. I have an Asrock 990FX Extreme 4, 990FX Extreme 9 and I just built a mITX system with an FM2A88X-ITX+. Just makes me wish I had a Microcenter in my area but alas, the closest one for me is 3 hours away in Ohio.
 
I have had close personal friends and have heard many times that Asrock is overall on the edge of subpar. Sometimes you get a specific series that have no issues at all could be their highest end could be the medium or even low end that work properly have no QC issues etc. Other times, directly from the factory sata headers and so forth are barely if any attached. I have always used Asus myself however even they seem to be going down on the customer service side as of late.

It is your coin, am sure it will work just fine, but keep in mind that many others have complained on issues way more then many of the other makers.

There are other low cost options especially as any modern cpu with say a bottom of bucket gpu will play very well. Amd Athlon 5350/5150 and various intel chips would still have enough oomph to do a "casual gaming" machine in this context
 
What games do you have that will absolutely not run on Windows 7 or 8?

I've only run into a few. A lot of old games have been redone and are available at gog.com.

Other games, such as Transport Tycoon Deluxe has been redone from scratch and is now open source.

As far as ASROCK goes, they are generally good boards from the few I have used. Their support is pretty decent from my experience.

I refuse to buy ASUS boards anymore because they basically have no warranty support whatsoever. If you have something of theirs go bad, you might as well just throw it in the trash. It will save you a lot of time/frustration in the end.
 
cyclone3d said:
As far as ASROCK goes, they are generally good boards from the few I have used. Their support is pretty decent from my experience.

I refuse to buy ASUS boards anymore because they basically have no warranty support whatsoever. If you have something of theirs go bad, you might as well just throw it in the trash. It will save you a lot of time/frustration in the end.
Click to expand...

I have found AsRock propducts to be surprisingly good, actually. But what about the connection between asrock and ASUS? I realize they are about as close to completely separate companies now as they could be, and yet, they are still related and it bothers me. I would like to get rid of the last ASUS product I have left, my motherboard, but who to go to instead? I don't really feel like jettisoning the ASUS board and fitting an Asrock in its place. None of the other z87 boards have a layout I like. I'm hopeful EVGA will put out an excellent z97 board.
 
EVGA, MSI if I had my choice, going by the experience others have had in the last 3 years or so with ASUS they not worth the chance and the headache, give run around as best they can, shame cause they tend to be pricier then the others, and double shame cause I love their BIOS setup.

why buy games twice :p Asrock was a sub of Asus many years ago, that virtually does not apply anymore, they are as separate as you can get, Asrock needs to step up the QC and stop with the "gamer" mentality they have had since forever, your not l33t cause you dress yourself up like that i.e fatal1ty branded crud. I think for me, I would be going MSI personally EVGA does have top notch stuff and excellent customer service it seems but also far as I can tell they also do not offer much in the way of lower end stuff just midhigh to very high end.

They need to all work out a specific layout amongst each other at least for expansion slots, sata ports and so forth, choice is great but there really is no need of so bloody many in the different price segments at least for orientation of slots, if using a card on the second slot blocks the last slot then damnit get rid of the last slot, I am sure they can work something out that helps their consumers if they bothered to keep a specific layout standard.
 
haha I did always find their gamer schemed stuff a bit over the top but I will say this in their defense. I have one in my main build and its been rock solid, maybe Im lucky and the exception, but this has been a solid board which was also a great value.

With that said their QC is a bit off, so just make sure everything looks good and take advantage of the Microcenter return policy if needed.
 
Over the years, i 've had the following Asrocks:

- 5 socket 939 boards.
- 3 AM2+ (780-790 chipsets)
- 4 AM3+ (970 chipsets).

1 came DOA in the onboard VGA chipset. None failed on its own, there was always an external cause of fault. 1 s939 seems not working nowdays, probably because it had been stored for too long (electrolytic caps have limited shelf life, i should have powered it up once in a while to charge them). My opinion is, they are the best bang for buck. The thin PCB becomes an issue only in overclocking IMHO. It's probably because of less copper. Recently i bought a Gigabyte UD4 and the only difference i see with the Asrock, is that the CPU temp indicated, is lower, probably because the Gigabyte has more copper. But if you don't overclock, it has not much importance. It's like having a electricity cable and you want to attach an eletrical device to it. The thicker the cable, the more power-hungry appliance you can connect to it. If you don't plan to use a power-hungry appliance, a thinner cable will do the job just fine too. That's my view of Asrock. The bending of the Asrocks is not a problem i think, the PCB they use if flexible but kind of elastic, it simply returns back. I have particularly abused one of the boards bending it a lot and nothing happened.

I am planning to get a 5th Asrock 970 myself. Sure, the Gigabyte UD3P on my sig is better, but it's also 12 euros more expensive and frankly, i just want a spare part just in case... I 've been 2 years on the same Asrock 970 video encoding 24/7 and didn't blink.

When you get an Asrock, just make sure you test all components when they arrive. They are known for having single components DOA slipping past factory QC. For instance, a USB port, or a SATA port, or an onboard chipset. But if it works and you don't abuse it, it should last more than the useful life of your PC.
 
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I've been pleasantly surprised by ASRock in general over the past two years. Before I wouldn't even have considered it, but after 4 or 5 good boards, I don't see any reason to not get one.

I haven't had any issues with ASUS, and I'd probably still buy a comparable ASUS board at the same price (not that they are ever at the same price), but I'd definitely buy ASRock over any recent eVGA board.
 
cyclone3d said:
What games do you have that will absolutely not run on Windows 7 or 8?

I've only run into a few. A lot of old games have been redone and are available at gog.com.

Other games, such as Transport Tycoon Deluxe has been redone from scratch and is now open source.

As far as ASROCK goes, they are generally good boards from the few I have used. Their support is pretty decent from my experience.

I refuse to buy ASUS boards anymore because they basically have no warranty support whatsoever. If you have something of theirs go bad, you might as well just throw it in the trash. It will save you a lot of time/frustration in the end.
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1st: I would like to thank all of you for your insight. Cyclone: There are many games that don't play nice with WIN7 Pro 64-Bit (America, War Front, War Wind series & the list goes on) GOG is my friend bigtime! I have purchased countless games from them over the years. My most recent is Age of Wonders 3 (wonderful turned-based strategy fantasy game)

I'm heading down tomorrow to Cambridge, MA. (45 minutes away from my house) to Micro Center. $95.00 for a MB/CPU/GPU is a great deal! I LOVE AMD's APU's! You can't beat them for the price. Micro Center is the KING of MB/CPU's! I'll follow-up & let you now how my build worked out.

Again, many thanks too all of you. I guess ASRock isn't @ the bottom anymore.
 
Asrock is a solid performer. Its not the Cadillac of the bunch.
But it has features some of the higher end lack, and even has some tricks up their sleeves.

I just got a mITX Asrock mobo. It has a extra msata slot on the bottom of the board in the addition of the top one with a wifi. which was very nice and unique.
 
Cillie said:
Asrock is a solid performer. Its not the Cadillac of the bunch.
But it has features some of the higher end lack, and even has some tricks up their sleeves.
Click to expand...

Yes, "tricks" is the correct word. Asrock everytime, comes with a "frankestein" motherboard with some crazy feature combination.

Look at this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157366

There is NO other better price-feature AM3+ motherboard for a "working horse" or "office" PC. There is NO other 760g based motherboard that gives SATA3.

It's ridiculous: 2xSATA3, 6xSATA2, 1 EIDE, 2xUSB3 rear, front USB3 header, digital power, the new anti-humidity PCB and all solid caps.

Here it's sold 41 euros. There isn't anything comparable at this price range. The next comparable board is another Asrock, the 970pro R2.0 and the next yet, is another Asrock, the 970 extreme3.

Or, look at this. It's the only AM3+ board in the market, with 760g chipset and support for BOTH DDR3 and DDR2:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/960GC-GS FX/

It's the evolution of the older hubrid board with Nvidia chipset

http://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/N68C-GS FX/

I 've actually bought that one:

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1039814606&postcount=23

But if i knew that another with 760g would come out, i would have taken that one.

Only Asrock bothers to do these "crazy" motherboards.
 
Oh yes they have tricks almost on all their boards from mid range to high.
Equally on AMD and Intel Camps, its absurd what they offer for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157374

This particular board has mSATA on top like any mITX boards.
But look at the images on the bottom side of the board. there is a second one.

On the AMD camp
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157464

it has an HDMI in and Out.
One of the few where the connectors arent in odd places.
And it has a decent Audio chip trust me on the audio.
Difference was complete clear sound and a static buzz on high volume compared to a Gigabyte or MSI
 
I have 990FX Extreme 9 and I bought 30+ asrock boards of various types for work PCs that run pretty much 24/7, zero issues.
 
I will say this...
I owned an AsRock that supported AM2/AM3/AM3+. Note that the AM3+ support is only after you find a compatible older cpu that you can use to update the BIOS safely. Once that was done, I ran many many many tests.
I found an issue I was having with the clocking. I first suspected the FSB speed because the total clock was bouncing about 300MHz up and down (from peak). After much more testing and research, I ended up talking to one of the engineers. He explained that the motherboard was, in fact, not designed for AM3+ and it was only possible due to the physical size. So, they released the software to make it possible.
It turns out the physical power supply wires/channels on the board are not capable of supporting the full current draw of the AM3+ (at least the 8120/8150). So, I was undervolted/underclocked involuntarily due to physical limitations.
It was unfortunate. I was disappointed. Would I purchase again? Yes. Would I do more research beforehand next time? Yes. And, I would buy a motherboard more appropriate for such a high wattage cpu. i.e. crosshair v or 990fx.
 
M5A99X you don't need the highest end boards costing a mint to get proper support, but this strikes me as a bad company to not highlight that it will NOT properly support the following high wattage cpu.

Great to offer the ability to use them but, yeh 95w I assume was the limit?
 
+1 for Asrock mobos. Been using them near-exclusively for about two years now, was a big GIGABYTE user prior to that. They've all been great, probably assembled 15 systems with them.
 
Guys I know it's been a while since I posted this back in April. I purchased the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme 6+ MB with Windows 7 Professional with a 7850K for $204.98 (excluding Windows 7) from Microcenter. Plus I had $60.00 in rebate cards (I hate dealing with rebates!) This is a "stop-gap" build for me. I'll use it for a year or so to wait to see what CPU brings us down the road.

It's a damn fine MB after I updated the BIOS. I sold off my parts from my previous build (see sig below) Kept the WD Black 1TB HD & I'm using a new Samsung EVO 840 250GB for the operating system. I have to admit the internal GPU does a pretty good job with 1920x1080 resolution. I played mostly strategy games that aren't GPU laden.

It's a great budget build that should last me 12-18 months. When it's time to move on, I'll just give it to one of my sisters. Thanks for the insight on ASRock. So far so good (fingers crossed)

Quick Edit: I bought this MSI R7 250 from NG for $59.99 (AR $20.00) for crossfire. I don't really need it, but hey...it's fun. The sale is good until tomorrow.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127763&cm_re=r7_250-_-14-127-763-_-Product
 
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Hey UMASS were you able to get winxp running on that board? Just curious if you are still trying to get older games to work have you thought about virtualization and maybe passing the video card through to the virtualmachine. Might make for a fun way to get your old games running. Maybe virtualbox or VMware workstation are good to do this.
 
Sorry...I should have mentioned, I didn't do a "dual boot" for WINXP & WIN7 with the 7850K build this time around. I made another stand-alone box for WINXP from other parts I had (A6-5400K Richland) 4GB RAM, 240GB SSD etc. My thoughts were I'm going to give away this 7850K build down the road to one of my family members.

With WINXP being gone for the most part, I bought 2-WINXP OS on eBay (for appx. $35.00 each new) & purchased a back-up MB (MSI) just in case. I need XP for certain games that simply don't play nice with WIN7 & beyond. You can make most games work in WIN7, but not all. Thank god for DOSBOX for those really old games like Panzer/Fantasy General & I have so many more I still enjoy! The beauty of DOSBOX is it will work with most modern OS systems as well.
 
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