Literally a decade ago under the unknownthe brand has only one product on the market, which, with its affordability and excellent functionality, has gained respect among both sellers and buyers. This is a motherboard from the manufacturer Asrock. As it turned out, the unknown brand is one of the divisions of the giant ASUS. The Chinese brand, without losing its own brand, simply occupied a niche of the budget class, and the user was able to purchase decent products at a very low price. The focus of this article is on computer hardware from the manufacturer Asrock - the motherboard.
Built forever
The micro-ATX form factor is distinctive.feature of the company Asrock. The motherboard was initially positioned for offices and home use, but later gained a reputation among fans of multimedia and games. The manufacturer allowed its products to be purchased both by Intel and AMD fans, by releasing the corresponding chipsets. The main feature of the brand, compared with competitors - is that all motherboards have full support for existing functions for each generation of processors. In addition, the manufacturer has enabled the buyer to connect outdated devices, providing his product with all sorts of interfaces. An example is the sales leader in the "office computer" nomination - the motherboard Asrock n68c ucc.
Upgrade with minimal cost
The dream of any owner of a personal computeris the ability to upgrade the device with minimal cost. In most cases, to increase system performance, the replacement of base components is required. This may apply to any brand, but not Asrock. The motherboard, which is positioned for offices, makes it possible to improve the performance of a PC with minimal cost.
- Support for all processors in the context of each generation, regardless of the process and heat dissipation.
- Supports two types of memory, such as DDR2 and DDR3, without the possibility of simultaneous operation.
- The presence of outdated interfaces: FDD, IDE, RS-232, LPT, PS / 2.
- Integrated video adapter with D-Sub output. Built-in five-channel audio and network adapter.
Interesting equipment
Inexpensive budget devices made to sellin OEM configuration. This is a common phenomenon and, judging by the numerous reviews, does not cause disturbances to customers, because they often buy a complete computer. But the manufacturer Asrock decided otherwise. In the huge box you can find, in addition to a board packed in an antistatic package, two Serial ATA cables, drivers for the Asrock motherboard in the form of several CDs without signatures, a plug for the rear panel and two huge instructions. One brochure is designed to mount components onto the motherboard, and the second book describes the built-in functionality that facilitates the work of the user and accelerates the performance of the computer. The instruction is written in several languages, has color pictures, and the entire text is written in an easy-to-understand language.
Additional functionality
Built-in sensors and all kinds of controllers onmotherboard, managed using proprietary utilities, for the manufacturer ASUS is not new. But buyers of Asrock products need to report this at least before purchase. It is only through customer feedback in the media that one can find out that the drivers for the Asrock motherboard occupy only a small part of the supplied disks for the motherboard. All other disk space is occupied by utilities and software. The budget device has many built-in sensors for determining the temperature of the chipset, processor and case, and it is also possible to control the speed of rotation of the connected coolers. In addition there is voltage monitoring. Proprietary utilities allow you to change the frequency of the system bus directly from the operating system. And on the CD with software there is a lot of interesting software, including antivirus, multimedia editors and players. True, most of them are Demo versions.
Advantages and disadvantages
Judging by the numerous reviews of the owners,special attention is given to the motherboard Asrock n68c. In the countries of the former Soviet Union, this very series led to the fact that most of its merits were met by users negatively. The fact is that the manufacturer, having occupied a budget class, oriented the motherboard in the office segment - working with office equipment, connecting old storage devices, creating arrays and connecting other peripherals. However, many sellers used the board to build low-cost gaming platforms, which is why the negative appeared.
- Installing the game video systemcooling closes all available PCI slots, making it impossible to connect other devices, such as a TV tuner. A long "tail" of the video card closes all the SATA connectors to connect the hard drive, the cable must be carefully broken.
- Strange cooling system that does not cool the chipset.
Performance boost in a few minutes
Any overlocker after reading the description of the functionalthe possibilities of the motherboard, will understand that the device with the budget class combines only the price. A small revision will improve system performance. An example is the Asrock n68c office motherboard, the S-series, which does not provide for cooling the south bridge, and the radiator on the north bridge leaves much to be desired.
- Instead of a standard radiator, it is recommended to install a small cooler based on copper with spring-loaded legs. You can buy it in a specialized store for those who like to upgrade computers.
- In addition to regular coolers, on the system unitYou must install two additional devices 80-120 mm. One should be placed in front of the casing (for blowing), the other - at the back (for blowing). The axes of the installed fans must run at the level of the south bridge.
- Buy ties and gently fix all the power cables, opening up the possibility of normal air circulation.
Expensive segment
Judging by the numerous reviews of buyers, on theirthe choice when buying game components was influenced by the abundant advertising of gold contacts on the connectors of the Asrock device. According to the manufacturers, the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Professional motherboard has no analogues in the world in the game class. Full support for all existing standards in one device at an affordable price.
- A well-designed placement of all components and an excellent cooling system will not allow overheating, even at maximum load.
- Polymer capacitors Nichicon, installed on the motherboard, are marked on the manufacture in Japan.
- All system contacts are gold plated.
- Along with all kinds of interfaces, there are obsolete connectors for 100% compatibility of any equipment and components.
After review and familiarization with the functionalitymotherboard ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Professional raises many questions to expensive brands. Why are Gigabyte and MSI with less functionality being 2-3 times more expensive?
Unpleasant little things
Apparently, not to allow the deviceget out of the budget class, the manufacturer did not take care of the cooling system, which is the root cause of the failure of components. For example, the Asrock h61m motherboard, which is not inferior in performance to brands such as Foxconn and ECS, supports work with top-end processor models and knows how to work with gaming graphics cards, is equipped with a poor-quality cooling system. The radiators installed on the north and south bridges are fiction. You can make sure of it experimentally, with the help of thermal paste. After smearing the radiator with paste and installing it on the motherboard, the user will find that there is no contact zone between the chip and the radiator. This approach of the manufacturer is completely incomprehensible, because the devices are mostly positioned for office work, where the dust problem is always relevant.
Finally
The potential buyer will be pleasantly surprisedfamiliar with the possibilities of motherboards under the brand Asrock. The protege of ASUS has excellent functionality and an affordable price. Yes, and the range today is quite impressive - in addition to low-cost options on the market, you can find low-cost solutions for desktop gaming systems. Even the cheapest in the store Asrock n68 series motherboard for office work will compete in performance with well-known brands. This speaks first of all about the orientation of the manufacturer to the final consumer, allowing him to purchase products of absolute quality at an affordable price.
