ASRock mobo's?

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Freezebyte

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 21, 2008
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Hey all, nearly finished with the specs for my SFF upgrade rig. I"ve decided i'd rather not mess with details that go with OC'ing despite it being apparently easy on these new Core 2 Duo chips. That being said, I don't see much point in spending alot of money on a higher end mobo mATX sizes like the ASUS P5Q-EM or the DFI JR P45 T2RS. I did some digging around and I came across this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157137

I also found this different model of the P5Q-EM, the P5QL-EM, info on this board is also limited. I wonder if its also effect by the add on video card probs that plauge the P5Q

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009065

ASRock is apparently an "entity" of Asus that makes more budget line mobo's, so I'm inclined to think that they are decent quality. But I was surprised by the lack of reviews on the mobo and I didn't find much on ASRocks boards searching the forums either. Any input on this or other suggestions for a rock solid mATX board that doesn't cost a limb for us non OC'ers?

System specs at this point in time is:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Motherboard: ASRock G43Twins-FullHD
Video Card: Reused BFG 7800GTX OC *Upgrading to GTX 260 or Ati 4870 in few months*
HDD's: 1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500gig SATA drive
PSU: Antec NeoHE 500w
DVD Drives: 1x ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA
Addon cards: 1x Audigy 2 PCI soundcard
Misc: 3x 80mm Antec tricool fans + Intel stock HSF
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG01-F
 
There is a review for the ASRock G43Twins, in the past I worked with a few boards from them - generally they are very stable and reliable motherboards, but they are not for OC due to the lack of advanced BIOS options. ;)
 
I am running a slightly older AsRock board in my mATX and after 24/7 operation for a year with reboots for patches and installs I'd say it's a great board. Not that model but their boards (worked with two others in the past) seem great for stability.
 
In my experience Asrock boards are nice for systems you build, possibly tweak a bit and then don't mess around with. I've used such boards in systems for family and customers alike, as well as in some of my own systems, and have zero complaints so far.

I couldn't pass up on the Gigabyte board I got last, though ;) Sometimes you can find even better deals outside Asrock depending on what you're looking for :)
 
In my experience asrock boards are very stable. They aren't oc kings but you can squeeze a little bit out of them. I have only used one asrock board, the dual sata 939. It is still to this day the fastest booting computer I have ever built. It will get from push of the power button to loading windows in around 20 seconds.
There were several bios updates with this board and driver updates as well, so they are supported for as long as your average board is.
 
I also had used one of the asrock board before, they are okay. the board lasted around 1 and 1/2 years before it died for no reason (i suspect it was a bad cap). i was able to do some OC with good results, and asrock do support their boards with updated drivers & BIOS, you shouldnt be left in the cold with no tech support, overall, they are reliable vendors.
 
I have bought 2 asrock motherboards, they both failed, 1 after 3 months, the other after 6. I won't be buying #3.
 
I remember the dual boards, DDR and DDR2 made them very easy transition boards. Still run for some of my clients. solid boards. overclock at least near 10% (after all this is an ASUS spin off)
 
i have had 3 so far, 2 are rock solid to this day, one just stopped working between being in a rig/sitting in its box and then going in a dif system. I suspect something happened in the middle period. However the 2 runners are solid systems for people not into heavy oc'ing
 
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