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ASRock 4Core1333-eSATA2 R5.0 Intel P31 Motherboard Review

Motherboards/Intel S775 by SidneyWong @ 2007-09-11

ASRock introduces another new board 4Core 1333-eSATA2 using the newly released Intel P31 chipset in succession only days after the release of 4Core 1333-Viiv P965 main board. Can this board outperform and beat the P965 in performance and price? Let´s find out.

Performance

Performance:

Test Setup:

ASRock 4Core1333-eSATA2 R5.0 P31
4Core1333-Viiv Intel P965
Intel E4400 2Ghz @3.26 GHz
2 x 1 GB G.Skill PC6400 memory
ChainTech GeForce 7600GT at 611/757 (162.18 Forceware)
Seagate 500GB 7200.9 HDD
OCZ 420 PowerStream
LG SHS-T700 Heatsink 90mm fan
NEC DVD optical drive
Windows XP Pro SP2 with latest update
Open Bench

We compare ASRock's latest P31 board to the recently released ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv P965, and Intel E4400 @3.27GHz.
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Summary
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The result seems to be in favor of P31 ever so slightly over P965 from the two samples we have, except PCMark05 scores. However, the difference is negligible and easily falls within margin of error. There is a glitch in Sandra as a result I could not get proper reading from Internet speed connection on this board; the score was way too high for some reason. I will report this on a later day.

Audio:

I found the Realtek HD audio adequate for everyday use. I have had difficulty hooking up to analog front panel head phone on previous attempts.

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The manual did not seem to help me much. After reading it the third time, it finally came to me after I connected the wire according to the manual for non-HD front Panel.

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Click open that little wrench icon. Check "Disable Front Panel Detection", click Ok.

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The Head Phone should work along with the speakers at the same time. The only way to adjust the head phone volume is from Windows sound volume. Turning off the speaker volume does not affect the head phone. The audio system works perfectly at overclocked speed or at least at 366FSB.

Comment from Nessmaster @ 2007/09/11

You just love ASRock boards, don't you jmke?

But I gata say, they are cheap and work well.

Comment from jmke @ 2007/09/12

Sidney is doing an excellent job at covering these ASRock boards, features, performance, overclocking and value, surely gives you an idea what they are capable of, what you can expect for your money; which is more than I thought, overclocking is almost complete with addition of vcore control

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/09/12

Ty,

If you don't already know, enabling Intel SpeedStep in BIOS and the use of Notebook Hardware Control set to Dynamic switching, OC'ed system runs at a low of 6x multi to CPU default saving a few dollars on electricity.

Comment from Sidney @ 2007/11/13

Bios version P1.2 and 1.1 support Yorkfield 45nm Penryn. But, there won't be much OCing, 366FSB is max'ed out.

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