ASRock Teams With Fatal1ty For AMD MoBo
ASRock and Fatal1ty teamed up to offer a gaming motherboard based on AMD's new 990FX chipset.
Friday ASRock said that it teamed up with Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel to create the first AMD-based gaming motherboard, the Fatal1ty 990FX Professional, featuring support for the AM3+ socket, 8-core CPUs and AMD's 990FX chipset. The board also sports premium gold caps and enables AMD Quad CrossFireX, 3-Way CrossFireX and CrossFireX as well as Nvidia Quad SLI and SLI.
"I wanted a motherboard for AMD CPUs with the same successful features as our award winning, Intel based Fatal1ty P67 Professional" Wendel said. "In addition, ASRock has come up with some new technologies that excited me, such as the XFast LAN which can reduce the latency of on-line games, and allows gamers to play at their highest level and Frag the competition!"
According to ASRock, the premium board uses a Digital PWM design that delivers Vcore voltage to the processor more efficiently than standard motherboards. Coupled with V12+2 phase power, users are assured the most stable overclocking possible. The board also allows gamers to customize their mouse polling rate thanks to the Fatal1ty Mouse Port, offering an adjustable range between 125 Hz and 1000 Hz.
"One of the great aspects of the ASRock - Fatal1ty relationship, is that Johnathan is always pushing for new gaming features, giving our engineers suggestions that help them develop applications like XFast LAN, F-Stream and the Fatal1ty Mouse port," said James Lee, VP of ASRock Sales and Marketing. "The 990FX is the fourth board in our line of Fatal1ty gaming motherboards, so we now offer a full range of products for the serious gamers of the world."
Other highlighted features of the new AMD gaming mobo include:
- 100-percent Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Supports Dual Channel DDR3 2100(OC)
- Dual PCIE GLAN with Teaming function
- Dr. Debug, Smart Switch Design: Power/Reset/Clear CMOS Switch with LED
- Supports Fatal1ty XFast USB, XFast LAN technologies, Graphical UEFI
- Supports Fatal1ty F-Stream, On/Off Play Technology, Turbo UCC
- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), Supports THX TruStudio
The motherboard comes packed with a free bundle including one 3.5mm Audio Cable, one Front USB 3.0 Panel and a trial version of CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5. Pricing and availability wasn't provided although the company said it wouldn't have an "advanced price" to match the advanced features. Stay tuned for more.
Yeah, I agree. I've owned 2 ASROCK motherboards and they are total crap. I will never buy ASROCK again for me or anyone else.
I have a P4 Asrock cheapo board that is still running 7 years later that cost $50.
I had a medium priced Asrock AM3 board ($85) that lasted 2 years. When it went a month ago, it cooked the CPU too... Asrock support won't even talk to me.
So, I will not buy Asrock again...
The only brand I have never really had any bad issues with is Asus. I've had dead Asus boards early on in the warranty period sure (it happens) but I find once they prove to run for awhile, they are probably not going to die.
Foxconn however...
You realize AsRock IS Asus, right? They're Asus' budget brand.
Yes, but I wouldn't advocate something like dropping Dewalt because you had a bad experience with Black and Decker. They are pretty distinct divisions.
But like I said, I've seen hit and miss from Asrock and crap support on the miss, so I am not touching the brand again.
good observation
Modem, lan, wifi controller, audio chip, all on die with the cpu, in such a way that they can get rid of all those externa; controllers, sucking up power, and using up valuable latency!
Audio applications could go so much faster with dedicated hardware built directly into the CPU ring (like VST's could work better). Latencies could be reduced not only from audio, but also networking latencies; which are currently the biggest issue for slow working webpages!
And although creating a massive chip that will replace 90% of onboard hardware, will result in slightly worse CPU performance, it might increase program response (programs that are depending on internet, audio connections, etc...); plus Intel or AMD could not only create all these chips at 32-20nm, but also powergate them, making them so much more energy efficient!