ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+

Although the overclocking ability is very limited, the ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+AP is still a decent performing P35 based motherboard. It offers a lot features including support for 1600FSB, DDR2 and DDR3 ram, as well as onboard WiFi. It's ideal for the budget/mainstream user, but for the enthusiasts and overclockers ... you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

ASRock has a winner here! This board, even with its shortcomings, has awesome potential. If ASRock can address these few things as they continue to develop their boards, they will become known not just for cheap priced and older boards, but they will be known for their ability to get the most out of mature chipsets. If you are looking for a board that is fast, has decent overclocking ability without the option of adjusting the multiplier and is reasonably priced, the ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ should be on your short list.

When overclocking does not go well; the BIOS will restart three times to reset most of the time, unless the jumpers are set wrong or out of specs. This is the best Intel board from ASRock today in my opinion.

Asrock continues to give users the most for their money. We have seen board priced in the $200 range that give you firewire, USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors and that is what the 4Core1600 gives you as well, but for only around $130. We have seen expensive motherboards give you high quality sound and multiple forms of raid thru SATA connectors; the 4Core1600 gives you these as well. The 4Core1600 even gives your Wi-Fi and DDR3 slots which a large majority of motherboards within any price ranges don’t give you. So you can definitely say you get your monies worth, along with a decent upgrade path to boot. Granted you get a lot with the new Asrock product, but one thing that was important to us to see from Asrock is the improved overclocking ability. This has being something that kept a lot of people from buying an Asrock. Regardless, the overall stability and quality of the board are top-notch for the price. Asrock also gave the board a good selection of voltages on the DIMM and the processor. While Wolfdale CPUs like our E8400 are getting mixed overclocking results, there is still room for Asrock to improve as we were only able to get 415MHz FSB, which is nowhere near the top overclock this CPU can reach.

Although ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ mainboard does have a number of indisputable advantages, its drawbacks will hardly make it a product of choice for any experienced overclocking fans. However, it doesn’t mean that it is a bad board. As you know, most computer systems are purchased not for overclocking needs but to work for a more or less long time at the default speed. And if on day a casual overclocker discovers that his board can in fact do something, it will be a pleasing surprise.