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ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv and Intel E4400 Performance Review

Motherboards/Intel S775 by SidneyWong @ 2007-08-31

ASRock is ready for a new series of board using Intel P965 chipset meeting Quad Core demands. ASRock 4Core 1333-ViiV packs with eSATAII, 6-SATA ports, Firewire, CrossFire & ViiV ready, Raid 0, 1, 10 & 5, and bundled with DeskExpress Card. We feature this review with a mainstream CPU, the Intel E4400 CPU plus more. Let´s find out what kind of performance this entry level combination of board & CPU can deliver.

Closer Look at Board Layout

Closer Look:

Package Contents:
ASRock 4Core 1333-ViiV mainboard
Mainboard back plate
Installation Guide
Support CD/Driver
1x 80-conductor IDE cable
1x Floppy cable
4X SATA cable
1x SATA HDD cable
ASRock DeskExpress & moutning crews
ASRock PCIe_DE card
Detection Cable
USB Header data cable

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ASRock still employs 20-pin power connector while 24-pin is widely used. Additional 4-pin molex is next to the main. Nice to see the IDE connector is at a more reachable area next to the memory slots and 3 PCI expansion slots. Both north and south-bridge are passively cooled. This board only has one case fan header, be nice to have a couple more.

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4-pin 12V is on the far right; the board won't boot without this connected.

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Dual channel memory; pair with identical color code.

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From left to right: ASRock DeskExpress Hot Plug Detection Header IRI; Front Panel Firewire Header; USB Headers (blue); Chassis Speaker; 6 SATA connectors; System Panel Header.

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AGI CrossFire 4X PCIe. Take a careful look at the right hand side of the bottom PCI expansion slot on the photo, notice the blue jumper sitting next to a capacitor. This is the clear CMOS jumper; not an ideal location.

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Via VT6308S firewire 1394 controller.

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The industry work horse Winbond W83627EHG-A sensor controller.

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P965 SL9QX northbridge

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P965 SL9ML Southbridge

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Front Panel audio and mic connection; Game Port Header. I notice the audio does not work with front panel audio if it is not in HD compliance. The "yellow" 3-pin HDMI header next to the end of PCI expansion slot provides SPDIF audio for HDMI reader graphic card.

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Connect SATA cable behind the parallel port to SATA header at bottom right of mainboard. So, this is simply a pass-through rather than PCB circuit.

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The presence of traditional PS2 mouse and keyboard ports; Parallel and Game ports; and the recent additions of Firewire and eSATA ports, will provide older equipment working with new ones under one "roof".

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/09/01

One of our readers was kind enough to let us know the the wrong specification was posted on the review, and not having to mention the Intel 82655DC Gigabit LAN favored by many than 3rd party manufacturers suggesting a unique price point for the board. This is exactly what I wanted to hear as the ability to overclock alone is not the only measurement many of us have in mind.

Correction has been made to the specifications, and the Intel LAN was noted. Additionally, he suggested that E4500 now comes with GO stepping with low voltage range a better match than the E4400.

Anyway, I like to thank him for his valuable opinion on top of the mistake I made.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/09/01

yes that was kind of him! thanks for the quick corrections Sidney

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