ASRock ALiveDual-eSATA2 AMD Socket AM2 Motherboard with AGP and PCIe Reviewed

Manufacturer ASRock
Name ALiveDual-eSATA2
Type / Chipset Socket AM2 / nVidia nForce3 250 Southbridge with ULi/nVidia M1695 Northbridge Chipset
Dimensions +++ 21 mm (44 mm radius) around the socket to the next capacitor or other parts of the mainboard – for further information see Fit for Fan. The overall size is 305 x 213 mm.
Slots ++++ 3x pci, 1x PCI Express: 1×16, 1x AGP (4x/8x), 4x DDR2 533 – DDR2 800 (max. 8GB RAM)
Connectors

++ 1x Floppy, 2x UDMA133, 2x SATA, 2x SATA II, RAID, 1x eSATA II (shared), 1x serial, 1x parallel, 1x IrDA, 2x PS/2, 1x 10/100/1000 Mbps base-T Ethernet (Realtek RTL8111 B), 6x USB 2.0/1.1 (2x of them internal, no additional USB slot brackets included), 1x WiFi (mounting bracket isn’t delivered with the mainboard), 8-Channel C-Media CM6501 onboard 7.1 sound with 6x 3.5 mm audio connectors (1x int. Aux, 1x int. HDMI S/PDIF out, ext. Line in, ext. Mic, ext. Front out, ext. Side out, ext. Rear out, ext. Center/Subwoofer) and 2x fan connectors.

Vcore +++ BIOS between 0.80 Volt and 1.40 Volt in steps of 0.025 Volt (Vcore depends on the CPU)
Multiplier ++++ BIOS between 4x and 25x (max multi depends on the CPU) and 1x to 5x HT
Host Frequency ++++ BIOS between 150 and 400 MHz (PCIe 75 – 200 MHz)
VIO/VDD ++ VMem (DDR2 voltage) 1.80 – 2.20 Volt, AGP is adjustable to Low or High
Performance**** ++++ Benchmark ratings with AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Orleans Processor. 1x Gigabyte GV-NX66T128VP Nvidia 6600 GT PCIe graphic card: 8090 points with 3DMark 2003 1x AGP ! HIS Excalibur Radeon 9600 Pro video card: 4112 points with 3DMark 2003
Manual and Labeling

++ Complete and well placed motherboard description and except for the often-mentioned missing BIOS section, it’s a detailed manual in different languages e.g. German, English, etc. Small devaluation of the manual, because the BIOS is explained only in the manual on the CDROM, which doesn’t help if you are in the BIOS!