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ASRock include a number of applications on the motherboard CD including trials of PowerDVD, MediaEspresso and Norton Internet Security. What we're really interested in is the ASRock specific software that is included.
The most interesting and most useful inclusion is ASRock's F-Stream Tuning Utility which lets you monitor various aspects of the system hardware including temperatures, fan speeds, clocks and voltages. It also lets us adjust the settings for these through the buttons on the left for fan control and overclocking. There is also an option called Fatal1ty Mouse Port which lets you adjust the polling rate of the USB port to match the mouse, ensuring the best possible performance for gamers. There is also an ‘Energy Saving' option which is designed to reduce the power consumption of your system.
There are a few other pieces of software on the CD that are ASRock specific, including ‘XFast USB' which boosts USB transfer rates. ‘XFast LAN' lets us improve the latencies in game by prioritising certain applications. You are also able to view the data transferring in real time. There is also an application included which lets you use 3TB hard drives with 32-bit operating systems – you would usually be limited to a maximum of 2TB.
ASRock have chosen to use a UEFI BIOS for the Fatal1ty 990FX Professional which is not dissimilar from that that Asus include with all their latest motherboards. It doesn't provide the same one button overclocking options but there is an Automatic OC function which provides settings for various different levels of overclocking. Other than this, there aren't really any out-of-the-ordinary features to speak of.
hard to believe that they used to be seen as a ‘budget’ model maker. Great product.
Maybe this has been asked before but some people on a forum I visit say they are actually ASUS, is this right?
Looking forward to bulldozer, but some figures leaked dont look that impress. if they are right.
ill wait until I see some bulldozer reviews before b uying, but this is on my shortlist.
Hi Francis, they used to be Asus’ “sister” company, but made the break some years ago now.
I have a 1090t and ordered this today. if bulldozer is worth the upgrade ill move over !
Excellent again. t hey seem to be on a roll lately with some great products released every week. Im an intel guy, but this is great
The only thing that puts me off this product is having to look at his face in the bios! can that be switched off?
How often do they tend to make bios updates? I had a bad time with my last gigabyte board and thats why I moved ot asus as they are more regular.
Seems to me that ASROCK are really stepping up their game. I currently have two ASROCK boards at home. One of them is about middle of the road and the other is a very budget board running a HTPC. I was very impressed with both boards and they have been running for about 6 months each 24/7 with no problems. Seems to me that both of mine come with pretty cheap looking graphics and UIs but for the feature set vs price you really can’t beat it at all.
You could set a really sh#t clock by AMD CPU releases, intel must be pissing themselves.
I am waiting on parts and will be building a system with the Buldozer and this motherboard. I would be happy to post any info on the results of the build if either Henry Butt or his readers are interested. I chose this Asrock board based on features, reviews and price. So far the board seems to be impressive in all catogories.
I am waiting on parts and will be building a system with the Bulldozer and this motherboard. I would be happy to post any info on the results of the build if either Henry Butt or his readers are interested. I chose this Asrock board based on features, reviews and price. So far the board seems to be impressive in all categories.
Hi Nate,
We would love to hear your views. good luck with the system build!