P45R2000-WiFi Onboard Devices
| Northbridge | Intel P45 Express |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH10R |
| Voltage Regulator | Four Phases |
| BIOS | 1.30 (07/18/2008) |
| 333.3 MHz (FSB1333) | 333.9 MHz (+0.17%) |
| Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS918JKLF |
| Connectors and Interfaces | |
| Onboard | 2x PCIe 2.0 x16 (Modes : One x16 or Two x8) |
| 2x PCIe x1 | |
| 3x PCI | |
| 2x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector) | |
| 1x WiFi Card Header (Customized USB 2.0) | |
| 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire | |
| 1x Serial Port header | |
| 1x Floppy | |
| 1x Ultra ATA (2 drives) | |
| 6x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s | |
| 1x Front Panel Audio | |
| 1x CD-Audio In | |
| 1x S/P-DIF Out | |
| 1x Fan 4 pins (CPU) | |
| 1x Fan 3 pins (Chassis) | |
| IO panel | 2x PS2 (keyboard ) |
| 2x Digital Audio Out (S/P-DIF optical + coaxial) | |
| 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire | |
| 2x External SATA Pass-Through Connectors | |
| 2x RJ-45 Network | |
| 6x USB 2.0 | |
| 6x Analog Audio (7.1 Channel + Mic-In + Line-In) | |
| Mass Storage Controllers | |
| Intel ICH10R | 6x SATA 3.0Gb/s (RAID 0,1,5,10) |
| JMicron JMB368 PCI-E | 1x Ultra ATA-133 (2-drives) |
| Network | |
| 2x Realtek RTL8111C PCI-E | Dual Gigabit LAN Connections |
| Realtek RTL8187L USB | 802.11g/b Wireless Network Interface |
| Audio | |
| Realtek ALC890B | Eight-Channel (7.1 Surround) Output |
| FireWire | |
| VIA VT6308S PCI | 2x IEEE-1394a (400 Mbit/s) |
We prefer three internal USB 2.0 connectors to support six front-panel devices (ports, card readers, etc), but ASRock sacrifices two of its six ports to enable the Realtek WiFi controller. Those who don’t use the WiFi controller are able to reclaim not just the ports, but also the second PCI slot which is otherwise blocked by the WiFi antenna connection.
Six USB 2.0 connectors are adequate for most users, and some of us would gladly sacrifice a couple in order to support both the WiFi adapter and two extra front panel devices. Pass-through connections for eSATA devices require included cables to be routed internally for activation.
ASRock’s 802.11g wireless solution is a model that was previously retired by Asus, when Asus made the switch to Draft-N. ASRock has a good excuse for saving money here, since the later standard is still in the draft stage.
Two RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet controllers use PCI Express to supply full bi-directional bandwidth.
The use of JMicon’s JMB368 is unique compared to competitors, as this PCI Express x1 part supports a single Parallel ATA (Ultra ATA 133) cable but no SATA or eSATA connections.
ASRock still uses the ALC890B codec, a part which can’t even be found on Realtek’s site. ASRock rates it at 110db signal-to-noise ratio, and our audio tests will show how it compares to lesser-rated parts.
We don’t often find FireWire on low-cost motherboards, but ASRock includes it regardless of other cost-saving measures.
