ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 (GeForce 6100 + nForce 410) Preview

Now that we've all had a taste of the latest and greatest Socket AM2 motherboards based on the NVIDIA nForce 500 series chipset, we'd like to show you what the mainstream boys are doing. We've all seen how ASRock has readied many of their current Socket 939 boards with a 'Future CPU Port' that allows upgrade to Socket AM2 through a daughter card. However, we've also just received a Socket AM2 motherboard from ASRock that is not built on some new fangled chipset that we can't talk about; the AM2NF4G-SATA2 based on NVIDIA's mainstream GeForce 6100 and nForce 410. As we've mentioned before, Socket AM2 processors don't require any new infrastructure and they work perfectly fine with existing chipsets for AMD processors.

The new AM2NF4G-SATA2 motherboard looks extremely similar to ASRock's current 939NF4G-SATA2 in terms of design and features, but it does come with one other significant change besides supporting Socket AM2 and DDR2 memory. The AM2NF4G-SATA2 is one of the first boards we've come across that uses Realtek's brand new ALC888 Telecom HD Audio CODEC, with additional hardware support for VoIP/Skype applications through a traditional phone line. The board will support all new Socket AM2 processors from Semprons to Athlon 64 FX processors and meets Windows Vista Premium Logo Hardware Ready requirements. Not bad at all for an entry-level AM2 motherboard and as before, pictures tell a thousand words:-