Introduction

Recently I reviewed the ASRock K10N750SLI-WiFi motherboard, the first new AMD board I've had in a quite a while. I found it to be an excellent budget-minded platform for someone building a Phenom rig. It sported the nForce 750a SLI chipset, which is a stable and sufficient platform for the Phenom. The chipset is nVidia's answer to the call for a lower-end AM2+ platform, and the companies that have utilized it have placed it in economically priced motherboards.

Enter the nForce 780a SLI chipset, nVidia's top-of-the-line AM2+ chipset. Finally, a platform that might show off the Phenom, and one well deserving of the "nForce" tag. The 780a SLI is packed full of innovative features, and has a couple of concepts that are pretty wild, something I'd expect only from nVidia.

ASRock has placed the nForce 780a SLI on their flagship AM2+ board, the K10N780SLIX3-Wifi, only one of a small handful of nForce 780a SLI boards on the market. Actually, this one is not yet for sale in the states. A quick glance at this board will tell you it isn't the typical ASRock motherboard with some features you might expect from Asus, Gigabyte, or the like. Today, I will be looking at the K10N780SLIX3-Wifi. Will nVidia's geForce Boost, an onboard GPU working in conjunction with the PCI-E video card(s) prove to be a true innovation, or will it be the let-down that the naysayers predict? Will the K10N780SLIX3-Wifi move ASRock from the ranks of the econo-board to the big boys? Stay tuned to see!

ASRock's motherboards are all named with a long alphanumeric cryptic string of characters, but actually it is simple and self-explanatory. This board is for an AMD "K10" processor, has an "n"Vidia "780"a chipset, supports "SLI x 3" and all ASRock boards have onboard Wifi. Hence, K10N780SLIX3-Wifi. Actually pretty simple, huh?

Specifications

CPU:
- Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor
- AMD LIVE! Ready
- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology

Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI

Memory:
- Dual Channel DDR2 memory technology
- 4 x DDR2 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR2 1066/800/667/533 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 8GB*

*Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows XP and Windows Vista. For Windows XP 64-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.

BIOS:
- 8Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
- CPU, DRAM, Chipset Core, PCIE Bridge Multi-adjustment

Audio:
- 7.1 CH Windows Vista Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection
- DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
- DTS (Digital Theater Systems) support

LAN:
- Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Giga PHY RTL8211B
- Supports Wake-On-LAN

Wireless LAN:
ASRock WiFi-802.11g module
- 54Mbps IEEE 802.11g / 11Mbps IEEE 802.11b
- Supports Software Access Point mode (AP mode) and Station mode (Infrastructure mode and Ad-hoc mode)

Expansion Slots:
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode)
- 1 x PCI Express x1 slot
- 2 x PCI slots
- Supports NVIDIA SLI and 3-Way SLI
- Supports NVIDIA Hybrid SLI GeForce Boost feature

Rear I/O Panel:
ASRock WiFi_SPDIF I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
- 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port
- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
- 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
- 1 x eSATAII Port
- 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
- 1 x IEEE 1394 Port
- HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

ASRock Unique Features:
- ASRock OC Tuner
- Intelligent Energy Saver (Support with Phenom CPU)
- Hybrid Booster
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
- ASRock AM2 Boost: ASRock Patented Technology to boost memory performance up to 12.5%

Hardware Monitoring:
- CPU Temperature Sensing
- Chassis Temperature Sensing
- CPU Fan Tachometer
- Chassis Fan Tachometer
- CPU Quiet Fan
- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore

Form Factor:
- ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
- All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)

O/S: Microsoft Windows XP / XP Media Center / XP 64-bit / Vista / Vista 64-bit compliant

Packaging

The K10N780SLIX3-Wifi comes in ASRock's typical box, black with photos of the board on the front, and explanations of the energy-saving features and WiFi features on the rear.

The board and bundle are separated inside by cardboard. The board itself is in a static-free bag and backed with foam.