My rig has been is service for a few years now, I built it by buying brand new and second computer parts. Its actually the second computer that I built. The first one was an AMD Duron on a ECS K7S5A motherboard, a very disappointing setup because I can't get decent frame rates when playing my favorite game, Call of Duty.
I decided to build a new one but I am too wary in upgrading at that time, since it will be a significant expense. So I looked for a motherboard that I know I will not upgrade for a long time.
And I came across ASRock 939 Dual-SATA2 and I knew I found the board of my dream. It was not love at first sight. I've read a lot of reviews about the board first before deciding that this is the board for me.
My lovely board
This board is an upgrader's dream? Why? Here's why.
* The Southbridge chipset of the ASRock 939 Dual-SATA2, the ULi 1567, has native support for AGP 8x (Accelerated Graphics Port) and PCI-Express x16. Native support means that all special performance enhancing features of AGP are retained.
The ULi 1567 chipset
This means that I can still use the Radeon 9550 Extreme Edition 128 mb (AGP) that I bought from Janus. I don't have to upgrade to a PCI Express card yet.
The AGP and PCI Express slots
* My board has two ATA-133 (Advanced Technology Attachment) connectors that can accommodate up to 4 IDE (Integrated Drive Electornics) device.
This means that I can continue using my IDE devices like my hard disk and my DVD burner.
The ATA-133 connectors
And the board also has two SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)/SATA Raid (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) connectors supported by ULi M1567 plus a 3Gb SATA2 slot with NCQ (Native Command Queuing) supported by a JMicron JMB360 chip.
The JMicron JMB360 chipset
I just added a Seagate 160 gig SATA 7200 rpm a few months ago and it has made my storage life very satisfying.
* And lastly, my board has a Future CPU port that supports a CPU upgrade from AMD K8 939-Pin CPU to AM2 940-Pin CPU through AM2 CPU Board.
The Future CPU Port with the jumpers that you need to change
Here is my board's specifications:
| General | ||
| CPU | - Socket 939 for AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64FX / 64X2 / 64 processors - FSB 1000 MHz (2.0GT/s) - Supports HyperTransport Technology - Supports AMD Cool'n'Quiet Technology | |
| Chipset | - Northbridge: ULi® M1695 - Southbridge: ULi® M1567 | |
| Memory | - Dual Channel DDR memory technology - 4 x DDR DIMM slots - Supports DDR400 non-ECC, un-buffered memory - Max. capacity of system memory: 4GB*
| |
| BIOS | - 2Mb AMI BIOS with ACPI, SM BIOS 3.0, PnP | |
| Audio, Video and Networking | ||
| Graphics | - n/a | |
| Audio | - Realtek 850 7.1channel AC'97 audio codec | |
| LAN | - Realtek RTL8201CL 10/100 Ethernet LAN PHY - 802.3u, WOL supported | |
| Expansion / Connectivity | ||
| Slots | - 1 x Future CPU Port (Supports CPU upgrade from AMD K8 939-Pin CPU to AM2 940-Pin CPU through AM2 CPU Board) - 1 x AGP8X/4X slot , 1.5V only - PCI Express x16 slot - PCI Express x1 slot - 3 x PCI slots | |
| Connector | - 2 x SerialATA connectors support RAID,0,1,JBOD - 1 x SATA2 connector (based on PCI E SATA2 controller JMB360) - 2 x ATA 133/100/66 IDE connectors (supports 4 x IDE devices) - 1 x Floppy connector - CPU/Chassis FAN connectors - 20 pin ATX power connector - 4 pin ATX 12V power connector - Power LED connector - CD audio in header - Front panel audio connector - 2 x USB 2.0 port pin headers (to support extra 4 USB2.0 ports) | |
| Rear Panel I/O | ASRock 8CH I/O - 4 x USB2.0 ports - 1 x RJ45 LAN port - 1 x Serial port (COM1) - 1 x PS2 Keyboard connector - 1 x PS2 Mouse connectors - 1 x Parallel port (LPT1) - 2 x Audio ports to support 8 Ch audio ( Line In/Out, Mic In) | |
| Other Features / Miscellaneous | ||
| Hybrid Booster | - CPU Frequency Stepless control - CPU Multiplier - ASRock U-COP - Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G) | |
| Support CD | - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software - SATA driver and utility | |
| Accessories | - Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O shield - Floppy/ATA 133 cables - 1 x SerialATA data cable (optional) - 1 x SerialATA 1-to-1 power cable (optional) | |
| Hardware Monitor | - CPU Temperature Sensing - Motherboard Temperature Sensing - CPU Fan Tachometer - Chassis Fan Tachometer - Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, Vcore | |
| Form Factor | - ATX, 305mm x 244mm | |
| OS | - Microsoft® Windows® 2000 / XP / XP 64-bit compliant | |
| Certifications | - FCC, CE, MS WHQL | |
Wish List
Some of the things that I would want with my board:
* AM2CPU upgrade board, already available, but I am not sure if I can buy one here in the Philippines.
The AM2CPU Upgrade Board
* DDRII (Double Data Rate) support
My board only supports DDR.
* SLI or CrossFire support
SLI (Scalable Link Interface) is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by Nvidia for linking two or more video cards together to produce a single output. While CrossFire is is a brand name for ATI Technologies' multi-GPU solution, which competes with SLI from Nvidia.
My board currently does not support both solutions.
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