ASRock P67 Transformer: P67 Gets LGA 1156 Compatibility

[sonofliberty08]

intel don't let u overclock again , what's to point for 32nm ? why bother upgrading ......

 

[verbalizer]

I'm content with my i5 rig thank you very much

agreeing with you on that..

 

[freeman70]

The success and reliability of my last three cheap AMD builds for friends and family using ASRock boards have made me consider one of their boards for my next personal build. I have had bad luck with boards from Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI over the years so I don't have any kind of brand loyalty. I think ASRock boards are fine for most people as long as you don't engage in extreme overclocking. They offer a lot of features for a very reasonable price.

 

[rickzor]

[citation][nom]xxsk8er101xx[/nom]I dunno why you would buy this. Mixing technology never works.[/citation]

Hmm, i got a pc with a slot1 motherboard from 1998, a socket 370 1.4ghz pentium 3 attached to it via an adapter, with a usb2.0 pci card and and a sata harddrive via a pci card as well. With 1gb of sdram the pc runs rock solid. Oh, and the sound card is a huge isa from 1995. Tech from all generations and working great if you dont mind playing glide games with its voodoo5.
Mixing technology works, and it's a neat way of recycling!

 

[eddieroolz]

ASRock really thought outside the box, so kudos to them. It seems like they couldn't gain any performance, but I have hopes for this one.

Intel really needs to stop duping customers and killing sockets left right and centre, as this is hurting builders.

 

[rickzor]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]ASRock really thought outside the box, so kudos to them. It seems like they couldn't gain any performance, but I have hopes for this one.Intel really needs to stop duping customers and killing sockets left right and centre, as this is hurting builders.[/citation]

Indeed, kudos to them! I still own a board made by them with optional agp or pci-e. Pretty cool but that's not all, the board is a native sk939 but you can add a daughterboard for "future" expansions to am2 if i am correct!
At the moment it as a athlon 64 3500+ oced to 2.5ghz and i must say the board is a solid performer, now retired to my livingroom as my mediacenter pc!

 

[Disposition Rate]

[citation][nom]xxsk8er101xx[/nom]I dunno why you would buy this. Mixing technology never works.[/citation]

It wouldn't be too hard to infer that you were dropped on the head as a baby (scarcasm). By your logic, mixed vegetables would be inedible. You seem to be a few fries short of a happy meal... and the toy.

 

[mapesdhs]

apache_lives writes:
> asrock and MSI - i dont understand why people concider there products,
> MSI in perticular - there horrid rubbish, MSI should stand for "might
> start intermittently" and asrock at work we call assrock or ascock - bla.

Oh dear, yet another person posting utter nonsense. I've had excellent
results with Asrock P55 motherboards, with performance easily outpacing
numerous rival P55/X58 setups I've examined in dozens of reviews. So what's
your oh-so-wow comparable system then? Specs? Benchmarks? Anything to backup
your claims? No, didn't think so, whereas I've done extensive tests:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/pctests.html
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/stalkercopbench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench2.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/uniginebench3.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/x3tcbench.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/cinebench.html
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/viewperf.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/ptboats.txt
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/callofjuarez.txt


Asrock have a reputation for unique designs offering features not
available from other vendors (I especially applaud their PCIe slot
spacing which makes SLI/CF cooling so much easier), and I've found their
support to be very good indeed. They've gone out of their way to answer
any questions I had, whereas ASUS were downright rude when I queried
their unbelievable lack of any BIOS update for the M2N32 WS Professional
(my earlier main system) to support Ph2. By contrast, within minutes of
the launch of Ph2, Asrock had a BIOS update available even for their
old cheapo boards; ASUS' attitude was more like, "Who cares about older
boards?" There's even an entire discussion thread on overclock.net
dedicated to those trying to get Ph2s working on M2N32 boards, whereas
Asrock owners need not worry.


Vatharian is right about Asrock's designs; I have a few with the
features he mentions, eg. AM2NF3-VSTA (now my gf's PC; with an Athlon64
X2 6000+, X1950Pro AGP, it performs better than review sites which used
PCIe-based X1950 setups). And if I was buying X58 right now, I'd get
their Extreme6 for sure - it's less than half the cost of Gigabyte's
UD9 yet has matching or superior performance. For outright value
though, I found nothing that could beat the P55 Deluxe (less than 75
UKP each), so I've bought four of them: one will be my brother's new
gaming setup with an i5 760 and GTX 460 1GB (Palit 800MHz variant),
while for me there are two 870 systems (gaming system and a video
encoding system) and an experimental i3 540 (probing video encoding
issues related to JPEG codecs used on SGIs).

Can't comment on MSI though, never used their products.


vvhocare5 writes:
> The only people saying good things about Asrock products are people
> Asrock pays to do this. Asrock? Seriously who would buy this stuff? I
> hope its cheap so you can replace it later when you realize this is
> utter junk....

Ah ha, someone else who hasn't a clue.


Scott2010au writes:
> ASRock are a subsidiary of Asus.

Yup, and yet they operate in such different ways. I found ASUS to be
arrogant and unhelpful, whereas Asrock bend over backwards to help;
when I've come across an issue, they've been perfectly happy to put
together a test rig just to test what I'm asking about.


jtt283 writes:
> yet. I've read about their weak[er] VRMs; if I wanted a high OC I'd
> probably buy Asus, but since my OCs are mild, ASRock is perfectly
> suitable.

My results show they can perform a lot better than most people give them
credit for. Don't be shy if you want to go for more interesting oc levels.
In my experience, it's the RAM that's more important.

Indeed, a general warning: I found Kingston's HyperX RAM to be pretty
bad for overclocking, whereas Mushkin Blackline worked a charm (not a
single Prime95 error all the way up to 4.3, at which point I was more
than happy since my 870 goal had only been 4 or 4.1). GSkill Ripjaw
also worked well, but not quite as good as Mushkin. I have a Corsair kit
to test too, but not had time yet (these are all 2x2GB DDR3/2000 kits).


Wolfram23 writes:
> Also, 1.4V for 4ghz?? Wowzers. That sucks.

Yes, I'm surprised at that. My 870 only needed 1.36 for 4270 (with a
comfortable margin - it'd probably work ok with less). I suspect they
just had a poor part.


freeman70 writes:
> ... I think ASRock boards are fine for most people as long as you
> don't engage in extreme overclocking. They offer a lot of features for
> a very reasonable price.

That's a very fair point. If I was aiming for speeds over 4.5 then it
would be unrealistic of me to expect the boards I've bought to achieve
such levels given their very low cost compared to rival products which
are designed for extreme overclocking - in that regard ASUS, Gigabyte,
EVGA, etc. often do make more sense. What Asrock offer is truly
excellent value with overclocking potential that's more than adequate
for the majority of those who want to dabble in this area. Extreme
overclockers likely have a much higher budget and high-end cooling
methods in mind anyway, though it can nevertheless be interesting to
see what is possible with an entry/mid-range product. My goal has been
to aid solo professionals who often can't afford X58 setups. Results so
far prove that X58 is often simply not necessary for good performance.

I'm actually pretty certain I could reach 4.5+ if I had better cooling
(likely even with just my existing push/pull TRUE if I didn't use HT,
which is a good idea for gaming - 4444MHz only needed 1.37V and works
fine), but I just don't need such speeds atm given the ludcirously high
fps I'm getting for the games I currently play.

Sometimes I think people criticise companies like Asrock because they
don't like to admit there was never any genuine need for them to have
spent so much on an ASUS or Gigabyte board. I see a similar attitude
from X58 owners who moan about P55 setups. In the end, the benchmark
results speak for themselves.


I figure it makes more sense to focus any serious budget spend on the
final link in the communication chain: the display. So I bought an HP
LP2475W 24" 1920x1200 LCD (HIPS). Pricey, but well worth it for the
quality, and the only model I could find that offered specs worthy of
leaving behind my existing 2048x1536 HP P1130 CRT (I need 1200 vertical
res minimum so I can run Flame, and it had to support sync-on-green for
use with my SGIs).

There's no need to spend a fortune on a motherboard to achieve good
performance, including overclocking. Asrock show this is the case again
and again. People who say otherwise are just plain wrong, as I've
proved with the tests I've done.

Ian.

 

[payne_ksharp]

[citation][nom]bombat1994[/nom]my current comp is a pentium 4 3.0Ghz and a radeon 9800 pro, 1 GB ddr ram and 80GB hardrive.it might be time to upgrade. my gaming is limited to counter strike source and half life 2[/citation]
]

for CS and hl2 u will never need an upgrade...

 

[razzb3d]

who needs an i5 @ 4ghz? srsly? I keep my 760@ 3.33Ghz and I can play everything @ 1920x1080 on high settings.

 

[mapesdhs]

For gaming, a higher clock helps with minimum frame rates. For
other applications the benefits are obvious (my 2nd system is
for video encoding and animation rendering).

Besides, 5 years ago one could easily have asked the same question
about 3GHz, yet you're happy to run a 760 at 3.33.

As for "everything", I highly doubt it (so you've tested every
game and every application in existence, all at max settings?)
and of course there are plenty who'd rather play with 'Ultra'
settings, not just High (me included).

Ian.

 

[insightdriver]

I have used Asrock boards and this particular board, I see, is a niche product that is right for a small segment of people right now. I am in harmony with the review in that I see this is a good board, for what it does. Like anything in the motherboard business, change is the constant. I do think that we are most satisfied with a perceived doubling of performance. This usually takes a few generations change to achieve that percentage increase in total system performance.

 

[blondu07]

yeahh!!....asrock are wrealy a low budget mobo's.........i'l stay on my p5q turbo
and q8300 core2 quad........just changed my hdd .....buy'd 2 hdd 1 tb in raid 0 mode amd support for sata 3......i'l stay cool for 2 ears and then build a new rig.....

 

[sadams04]

Intel will close that loop of compatibility... MUST... BUY.... NEW!!!

 

[mapesdhs]

As performance screams past what most people really *need*, it
must become ever harder for Intel, etc. to justify new purchases.
Not a problem for someone upgrading from something kinda old, but
for those with decent C2Q systems the benefits from an upgrade or
new build need to be considered carefully. This is why I've done
so much work looking into what happens if one wishes to play
*older* games/apps with a newer card - does it help? Not always.
Sometimes, just adding a 2nd older card will give a very good
boost. However, moving an older card into a newer system can also
make a huge difference (eg. 8800GT with an i7 vs. 6000+). The
mixing of parts can make for a confusing picture - bottlenecks
shift around.

Likewise, an SSD can give an older system a new lease of life,
and for those who need high capacity (such that SSDs are still
too expensive) there are always other options available such as
2nd-hand SAS RAID.

Overall though, it's amazing what one can do without spending
a fortune. All things considered, I really don't get the appeal
of costly boards like the UD9. One could spend a lot less and
use the spare cash on much better GPUs, etc.

Ian.

 

[rhelme]

[citation][nom]Scott2010au[/nom]ASRock are a subsidiary of Asus.I consider Asus 'upper middle of the pack'.[/citation]

I consider ASUS a top of the pack Motherboard Manufacturer. The fact that many people do not know that ASRock is actually tied in with ASUS suprises me. Its almost like how some of the drug companies make both the name brand and the generic and the difference between them in the binder material.

I think ASRock is almost like a trial brand from Asus... they can try some crazy things like this or like some of their other boards and it doesn't tarnish their image. Then whatever makes it popular you start to see it refined in the ASUS boards and then when they really make it pop they put it on their ROG boards.

The ROG boards are arguably the best motherboards made. Thats my opinion and it is shared by many people. MSI has really pulled their stuff together in the last few years and I would put their UDR9 series as a close second to ASUS's ROG series boards for gamers.

I do like watching ASRock's boards to see what they will do next... one thing you do have to give them credit for is that for a cheap board, they certainly offer many features some of them first found on their boards then on the others... Like someone said they 478 and 775 on one board and so on... ASRock is the bridge between technologies... buy this now and use with your current 1156 or if you are using LGA775 and you want to upgrade to P67 but you know that you DO NOT have to buy a certain generation of processor... you can get that bargin bin 1156 that your friend is giving away and then upgrade to a high end 1155 down the road with no though to it... Basically its a great idea.

I agree it feels at times like all these socket changes are to get you to go out and spend more money... Sometimes I wonder how AMD manged to keep using the same socket and allow backwards compatibility or in some instances forward compatibility so that I could get a next gen processor with a bios flash.

I wonder what the next LGA magic number is going to be for Intel's next socket since I haven't paid attention to their future releases... Anyone remember the Slot 1 boards when that was the big thing... felt like I was plugging in an Atari cartridge...

I give ASRock its props even if it is just a budget board... or their products are targeted at the budget crowd.. Here is a low priced board that can run last gen and the next gen proc's, and it has some nice features for the old and new for a great price, and I do have to admit that what they did here put a small smile on my face, to see that a company decided to work around Intel.

For other people like me, I like to know I can push my system to the limit to where it will keep up with the stock speeds of the next generation or two of processor. I just got rid of a Q6600 water cooled board that was clocked to 4.5 Ghz and would turn nearly 61 GFlops in a LinPack test... It stood up well and could feed my graphics card just fine, but the time came to me to move forward to x58. Even though I'm running my proc at 4.2 Ghz now (i7-930) and only get 52 GFlops, that over all its faster in many ways due to the advances in the threading and such.

I would consider ASRock for a budget build as it feels familiar to ASUS and having run ROG boards for 2 generations now, I really have come to like that quality that I believe I'm getting.

Honestly I don't think that there is a truly horrible board maker out there... each offers something that the others don't most of the time. But again just my opinion...

 

[mapesdhs]

AMD's socket compatibility was nice. I would have a lot more respect for ASUS
though if they just released BIOS updates that allowed one to use newer AMD CPUs
which should in theory be fully compatible. I bought a costly ASUS M2N32 WS Pro
expecting to be able to utilise Ph2 eventually, but ASUS never released a BIOS
update to support them. By contrast, Asrock released a BIOS update for one of
their older and much cheaper AM2 boards (now in my gf's PC) less than an hour
after the launch of Ph2 (and re my Q&A to both companies about this, Asrock
were a heck of a lot more helpful; indeed, the ASUS response was pretty rude,
saying of the M2N32, "it's old, who cares?").

Back then I had no idea ASUS owned Asrock. Even today is really doesn't feel
like that's the case, the support quality is so different.

What's your full X58 spec btw? I was wondering how it compares to my friend's
ASUS 930 system, and to my Asrock P55 which I'm running at 4.27. See my
benchmark results:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/sgi.html#PC

Ian.