ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

The Best Board In It's Price Bracket

Reviewed By: Stevo#1 on 1/27/2010

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

Pros: This board works great and with the BIOS flashed to v1.70 OC’n is a breeze just select the percent you want to OC too and wohla! You can also use their feature rich controls to manually tweak the board which is what I did originally but it is much easier just to use the simple method. I bought this board because it is NOT picky to RAM like some others are, ECS one of them. Like most new AM3 MB’s you may have to change the default settings for your RAM from what is automatically selected, as most boards now default to a slow common speed. If you going to use an AM3 processor this is probably the best MB for the buck out there, very forgiving and great quality. Remember if you have a AM3 you are better off performance wise using a AM3 ONLY board but of course then you’ll have to have or buy DDR3 RAM as these MB’s will not allow the DDR2. ASRock’s are becoming as good or maybe better than their mother company ASUS and are at a better price.

Cons: People have complained about the (4) 90deg SATA ports at the lower right corner of the board and I too would prefer ports that stand straight up but with that location you have to have 90deg ports otherwise everyone would be complaining about the SATA cables interfering with the hard drive(s) mounted in that location, so it is actually a smart design given that issue. Another problem people might complain about is the (1) PCI-E 1x slot which will only accept a short board due to the chipset heat-sink located right there. In most cases this really isn’t a problem and if you find it is and you’re not running (3) GFX cards you can always use one of the PCI-E 16x slots for your 1x card. Last possible issue you’ll run into is if you Extreme OC this board you will most probably use a custom heat-sink for the CPU and you’ll have to consider three clearances when doing so, 1st the RAM is close to the CPU socket so you will need to consider the height of your RAM and the proximity of your he

Other Thoughts: I will buy more of these MB’s as they really are the best for the budget. I did mess up though as I for the first time bought this from New Egg as an Open Box, what a mistake that was as my USB has gone partially bad New Egg doesn’t support Open Box sales and reports that to the MFG. I’ll NEVER buy Open Box again as for me to get this fixed now I will have to pay ASRock $35 plus shipping (~$15) to get this fixed on top of the $75 already paid to NE, or live the fact that I can’t use removable HDD’s & mem-sticks reliably. I can by a USB add-on and Mickey Mouse around this issue which will be my cheapest approach but not preferred of course. This board has a 1 year limited warranty through the MFG so unless you did like me you’ll be covered if something goes wrong just go to ASRock’s site and email customer support they’ll connect you to the RMA department and take good care of you, that includes the DOA review from here as well. In summation New Egg really shouldn’t sell Open B

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Reviewed By: Chimonow on 1/23/2010

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: This motherboard has a great layout!Many feature's to the Medium/High budget gamer or just as a work horse!There's so many features!I Know this is a great board with many capability's,as many have said.Will support triple CF-X,On board video is also a plus!

Cons: First one did not work,Everything except video worked.Could not get a picture.Asrock is a great company.The technical support may not be the best but it works.The online technician helped me to the best,Still no picture,But very nice technical assistance.

Other Thoughts: I will post another total review of the board when I get it working.I don't think anyone should give this a bad rating if they don't own it. Receiving a board DOA Doesn't justify any rating,Because its not the company or the boards fault,Shipping has most to do with it.If you receive one that is broken or somewhat damaged please don't give it a bad review as it is not the manufacturer's fault.Great Board as it seems!

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DoA :(

Reviewed By: on 1/15/2010

Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: I've built with this mobo before for people, and know it is great quality.

Cons: When it came time for me to build with it, it arrived DoA and now the newegg policy won't let me return it since it has been past 30 days (was received as a holiday gift and was given to me the other day)

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