Asrock gets extreme

ASROCK MOTHERBOARDS continue to score points with their alternative design approach. Take the P45XE-WiFiN (ie: eXtreme Edition w/ 802.11n) where they’ve used a P45 chipset and added support for 2000MHz FSB, dual gigabit LAN, 4x4GB of DDR2 (up to 1200MHz), EPP profiles... the whole nine yards. It looks like you can build a very powerful system from this affordable mobo. The review doesn’t cover that Instant Boot feature, tho’. But it’s a very worthwhile read.

If you thought 1GB frame buffers were outlandish, then it’s time for the 2GB cards to hit the market. Hilbert at Guru3D tests the HIS HD 4870X2 2GB to his heart’s content. Even though it’s a reference design, you can’t really consider a beast like this standard. This one holds the performance crown, right now. Watch those frames zoom by.

CDRinfo has an article covering a couple of 790GX motherboards. Foxconn and Gigabyte duke it out in what seems a very close fight. Apparently, AMD’s reference specs for this chipset have produced very equal products – 128MB sideport memory, ACC and power to run high-end Phenoms. Check it out.

You can find another Foxconn 790GX review at Elite Bastards. Hanners found the kit to be great for overclocking the Phenom processor, thanks to the Advanced Clock Calibration utility. A different take on the subject, right here.

Even though Radeon HD4850s have been around for a while, HIS is still churning out modded versions to please the enthusiast and niche crowds. There’s one at Overclockers Online. The latest HIS incarnation of the HD 4850 includes IceQ 4 cooling... but what it actually looks like is an HD 4870 cooling system. The card is factory overclocked for just +60MHz/+233MHz, but Simon squeezed a little extra. Give it a read, over here.

Maxtor has launched a NAS called the Central Axis. It’s a single, 1TB drive, cheap-as-chips NAS with gigabit Ethernet, remote access and multimedia file serving. File performance isn’t the best, but it’s more than enough for your media needs at home. The price? $219.99 on PriceGrabber. Looks like a good deal. Small Net Builder has the review. µ