ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2 Motherboard Review :: ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2 Features

ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2 Spec Sheet
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Part Number	775XFire-eSATA2
Manufacturer	ASRock
Price Check	Find Best Price
Downloads	BIOS Drivers Manuals
Chipset	Intel 945PL Express ICH7R
North Bridge	Intel 82945PL MCH
Socket	LGA775 Socket
Processor Types	Pentium 4
Number of CPUs	1
Front Side Bus	800/533MHz
Memory Type	DDR2
Memory Channels	Dual
Maximum Memory	8GB
External Graphics	PCI Express x16
IGP	None
South Bridge	Intel 82801GR ICH7R
Audio	8-channel
IDE	100/66/33
SCSI	None
SATA	3.0 GB/s
RAID	0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10
LAN	10/100/1000
Firewire	None
USB	USB 2.0
Expansion Slots
BIOS	AMI
Form Factor	ATX

The 775XFire is rather interesting in that it is based upon a rather old chipset that does not support the new Core2 CPUs or the 1066MHz FSB CPUs. What this means is, the board supports the Pentium D 915-960 without support for the 955X, THE Pentium 8xx series, the 6xx series, the 5xx series and the Celeron D series of CPUs. If you want to install a 955X CPU or one of the new Core2 Duo CPUs, you're out of luck and are better off buying another board.

Memory support on the board is also rather interesting. There are four DIMM slots providing support for up to 2GB of DDR2 533 MHz memory. Due to ever-changing computer industry, today memory is rated up to 1200MHz with board support for up to DDR2 1066MHz being available for everyone. For the value market where this board is targeted, DDR2 533MHz is ok but it is a consideration when looking for a board.

ASRock is one of those companies that differentiate itself by providing unique features to its motherboards. The 775XFire-eSATA2 has the regular PCI Express x16 slot for external graphics cards like the 8800GTX, but it also sports an AGI Express slot for a second graphics card. The 945PL chipset has 20 PCI Express lanes available; this is split into x16 and x4 when two ATI graphics cards are installed on the motherboard. You can run Crossfire with two ATI cards by using the external cable connecting the two cards. Expansion on the board consists of a PCI Express x16 slot, the AGI Express slot, a PCI Express x1 slot, and three PCI slots.

The drive expansion on the board is rather interesting. There are four SATA ports on the bottom portion of the board plus two SATA ports on the top portion of the board for e-SATA2 configuration. To enable e-SATA2 you need to attach a SATA cable from the Red or Orange SATA port to the corresponding eSATA2 Top or Bottom port. Once that is done, attaching an external SATA device to the IO ports will allow you to use the external SATA devices on the board. eSATA2 has a data throughput of 3.0 Gigabits/second compared to USB 2.0 with 480 Megabits/second and Firewire at 400 Megabits/second.

The Rear Panel I/O is geared specifically towards using the eSATA2 devices. Two eSATA2 ports, 4 USB 2.0 Ports, a RJ-45 LAN port, PS/2 Mouse, PS/2 Keyboard ports, a COM Port, a Parallel Port, and Audio Jack Line-In/Line-Out/Microphone ports make up the Rear Panel IO on this board. The use of eSATA2 ports is interesting but the rest of the Rear Panel IO is standard fare.

Onboard audio has improved immensely since Windows 95 and the AC'97 audio standard was released. The advent of Dolby Digital Sound, 7.1 speakers and more meant that the motherboard manufacturers have needed to improve the audio on even the most inexpensive boards. The 775XFire-eSATA2 board has a Realtek ALC660 CODEC. This is a value-conscious High Definition Audio CODEC that supports 5.1 Surround Sound.

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