ASRock ALiveNF5SLI-1394 AMD Socket AM2 Motherboard Review

Manufacturer ASRock
Name ALiveNF5SLI-1394
Type / Chipset Socket AM2 / nVidia nForce 560 SLI Chipset (NF500SLI/NF4SLI)
Dimensions ++ 19 mm (40 mm radius) around the socket to the next capacitor or other parts of the mainboard – for further information see Fit for Fan. The overall size is 305 x 229mm.
Slots ++++ 3x pci, 4x PCI Express: 1×16/2×8/2×1, 4x DDR2 533 – DDR2 800 (max. 8GB RAM)
Connectors

+++ 1x Floppy, 2x UDMA133, 4x SATA II RAID, 1x eSATA II (shared), 1x serial, 1x parallel, 1x IrDA, 2x PS/2, 1x onBoard 10/100/1000 Mbps base-T Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211 B), 8x USB 2.0/1.1 (4x of them internal, slot bracket for additional ports is not included), 1x Gameport (slot bracket isn’t delivered with the mainboard), 2x IEEE1394a (400 MBit/s, 1x of them internal, slot bracket is not included), 8-Channel C-Media CM6501 onboard 7.1 sound with 6x connectors (1x int. Aux, 1x int. HDMI S/PDIF out, ext. Line in, ext. Mic, ext. Front out, ext. Side out, ext. Rear out, ext. Center/Subwoofer) and 2x fan connectors.

Vcore +++ BIOS between 0.80 Volt and 1.40 Volt in steps of 0.025 Volt (Vcore depends on the CPU)
Multiplier ++++ BIOS between 4x and 25x (max multi depends on the CPU) and 1x to 5x HT
Host Frequency ++++ BIOS between 150 and 400 MHz (PCIe 75 – 200 MHz)
VIO/VDD ++ VMem (DDR2 voltage) 1.85 – 2.05 Volt, NBCore 1.50 – 1.80 Volt
Performance**** ++++ Benchmark ratings with AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Orleans Processor. 1x Gigabyte GV-NX66T128VP Nvidia 6600 GT PCIe graphic card: 8159 points with 3DMark 2003 2x Gigabyte GV-NX66T128VP Nvidia 6600 GT PCIe graphic card: 14000 points with 3DMark 2003
Manual and Labeling

++ Complete and well placed motherboard description and except for the often-mentioned missing BIOS section, it’s a detailed manual in different languages e.g. German, English, etc. Small devaluation of the manual, because the BIOS is explained only in the manual on the CDROM, which doesn’t help if you are in the BIOS!