µATX Part 1: ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 Performance Review

ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD: Feature Set

ASRock 4Core1333-FullHD
Market Segment	Entry Level HTPC - $114.99 (not available in US yet)
CPU Interface	Socket T (Socket 775)
CPU Support	LGA775-based Pentium 4, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Quad, Support for 1333 CPUs require 333FSB overclocking
Chipset	ATI Radeon Express 1250 (RS600) Northbridge and SB600 Southbridge
Bus Speeds	Auto, Sync, Async, 100 ~ 650 in 1MHz increments
Memory SpeedDDR2	Sync with CPU, 400/533/667/800/1066 Async operation
PCIe Speeds	80MHz - 160MHz
PCI Speeds	33.33MHz ~ 37.50MHz
Core Voltage	Auto - no adjustments allowed
CPU Clock Multiplier	Auto, 6x-12x in 1X increments if CPU is unlocked, downwards unlocked, Core 2 Duo
DRAM VoltageDDR2	Auto, 1.75V ~ 2.50V in .05V or .10V increments
DRAM Timing Control	Auto, Manual - 15 DRAM Timing Options (tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, tRFC + 10 sub-timings)
DRAM Command Rate	Auto, 1T, 2T
NB Voltage	Auto, 1.25V ~ 1.40V in .05V increments
On-board Video	1080p support with 7.8 drivers (recommend E6420 or above), 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, and 1080i support, HDCP 1.1 support on data stream with on-chip key storage, integrated DVI or HDMI 1.2 interface single-link support only for HDMI, 30-bit dual-link support for DVI, 1650 Mbps/channel with 165 MHz pixel clock rate per link, DX9.0 VS/PS 2.0, max 2048x1536 resolution, MPEG-2 hardware decode, MPEG-4 simple profile support, WMV9 Hardware Acceleration, MPEG-2 hardware decode acceleration.
GFX Memory Buffer	Auto, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB
GFX link Width	Auto
Memory Slots	Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total
Expansion Slots	1 - PCIe X16 1 - PCIe x1 1 - HDMR 2 - PCI Slot 2.2
Onboard SATA/RAID	4 SATA 3Gbps Ports - SB600 (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 10)
Onboard IDE	1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - SB600
Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394	10 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers Firewire 400 not supported
Onboard LAN	Realtek RTL8111B - PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC888 - 8-channel HD audio codec, X1250 embedded HDMI
Power Connectors	ATX 20-pin, 4-pin ATX 12V
I/O Panel	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x DVI-D, 1 x D-Sub (HDMI to DVI connector included) 1 x Parallel 1 x IEEE 1394 1 x Audio Panel 1 x RJ45 4 x USB 2.0/1.1
Fan Headers	2 - CPU/SYS
Fan Control	CPU Fan Control via BIOS CPU - Target Temp 45C~65C, Fan Speed - Fast, Slow, Minimum
BIOS Revision	v1.30C
Board Revision	v1.00

The BIOS is feature rich and gives the impression that it is geared more towards the enthusiast with a significant amount of memory timing options for a uATX board. However, we feel like ASRock made two mistakes with the BIOS. The inability to change CPU multipliers and the lack of CPU voltage options hinder the board's overclocking capability.

The new 1.30C BIOS did not allow us to overclock the board but did provide compatibility with our new Pioneer Blu-ray drive. It also improved disk access and memory performance. ASRock is still looking into this issue and we hope to have an answer shortly.

Our problem with the options list centers on the lack of additional fan headers and an optical or coaxial out port for the audio system. We would have liked to see ASRock drop the HDMR slot and add an additional PCI Express x1 slot in its place. The ability to control and monitor the fan headers with a software application would have earned bonus points since abit has shown this is possible.