ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Works fine now that everything is worked out.

Cons: I bought one of these with an i3 3220 and 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600. Like many others I put it together properly and it powered up with no video, no beeps, no nothing. I then learned that this board is only compatible with newer CPUs on BIOS version 1.30 and up. Newegg was(possibly still is) sending 1.20 boards. I RMA'ed the first board, second board same problem. So I put a Celeron G540 in it and it fired right up. I updated the bios and my CPU still wouldn't work so I rma'ed it recieved a new one and it works fine. So in my case I got a double whammy. Outdated Bios + defective CPU. If newegg is still sending outdated boards that could possibly be the problem many are having.

Other Thoughts: If wasn't for all the problems caused by Newegg I wouldn't have had a problem with this board. I ended up spending about $25-$30 in shipping fees to RMA the board and CPU. Thanks Newegg.....

Pros: Price, on-board graphics, loads of SATA ports, SATA-3 ports available, can accept either PCI-E 2.0 x16 or PCI-E 3 graphics cards

Cons: None, for what it is.

Other Thoughts: Used this on my second build in my life, & had to go cheap; I don't do any gaming, just Civ IV (which is something like 5 years old now) and Netflix Streaming, so figured on-board graphics were fine for now.

What I also liked was that it could handle not just 1 but 2 types of GC upgrades: PCI-E 2.0 x 16 AND PCI-E 3.0; this will allow me to upgrade as needed without needing to be on the bleeding-edge of technology. The kids are still in grade school, so gaming won't be a big thing for a while (I run a tight ship...)

So, anyone looking for an inexpensive yet capable board for fairly basic tasks and don't plan on any of that over-clocking nonsense, you could do a LOT worse than this unit, especially for the price.

Build:
~ ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP LGS 1155 Intel H77 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX (duh)
~ Intel Core-i3 3220 @ 3.30GHz
~ Antec Sonata II case
~ Windows Vista 64 bit (hey, it's what I already had; like I said: cheap (re)-build;
~ G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
~Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT060A3K5 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (should have bought a bigger one...)
~ Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W ATX12V v2.01 SLI Ready Power Supply
~ re-purposed older SATA HDDs of various capacities.
~ 4GB

Pros: 8 Sata ports, USB 3, enough expansion slots for the future.

Cons: Sadly it came DOA and i can't use it.

Other Thoughts: Will revise after i get the second one.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. ASRock mainboards are fully tested to assure that they're working before shipped. Unfortunately, due to nature of electronic product, it can happen.
Please update replacement mainboard is working fine. If you have any technical questions or warranty issues in the future please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/support/tsd.asp.

Thank you

ASRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@ASRockamerica.com

Pros: Nothing

Cons: Had not one but TWO of these boards arrive DOA. Caused me countless lost hours of frustrated diagnosis. I didnt even bother RMAing it again, I want nothing to do with this company now.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. ASRock returning mainboards have been stress tested to assure that they're working before shipped. Since this is second mainboard having same issue, please check other components that they are working properly as well.
Please trouble shooting the mainboard for below steps with known good components;
Turn the power off.
Remove the mainboard from inside computer to outside, place the mainboard on top of the empty mainboard’s box
Clear the CMOS
Check the mainboard’s CPU socket pins should not be bent
Reseat the CPU with heatsink fan as well if socket pins are normal
Test with single memory module (non-ECC, un-buffered), try with another known good memory if its same issue.
Using onboard Video (CPU with iGPU supported or test with VGA card)
Power supply with connecting 24 pins + 8 or 4 pins ATX power to the mainboard
Plug the computer case’s power switch to mainboard's front panel power header and try again
If you have any technical questions please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.


Thank you

ASRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@ASRockamerica.com

Pros: Good price. The layout is done quite well. Had all the connections I needed. Not sure what else needs to be said.

Cons: Having a hard time with this one as I really haven't experienced any issues so far. I do wish it had a Firewire port, but really that isn't a very big con. You could want more features, but if so buy a more expensive board.

Other Thoughts: I don't really do the overclock thing, so I'll go ahead and say I can't speak to that. In all, this board had what I needed in a price range I was happy with.

Pros: cheap

Cons: Low quality motherboard was very unstable. It would post and get to the bios screen only half of the time and only with 1 stick of memory. With 2 sticks of memory it would post and get to the bios screen about 1 out of 10 times, maybe less.

I was using

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B

Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80637G1610

Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply

used SATA DVD drive from the server i am rebuilding

used SATA 500 GB Western Digital HDD also from my server

No video card

When I called tech support they first blamed the memory but I put the memory in my desktop computer and it worked fine.
I also went to another local store to buy some generic DDR3 1333 memory, but that had the same problem.
The next thing they blamed it on was the power supply. The tech support guy said that with an Intel processor you have to have a minimum of 500 watt power supply. I went to the manual from a similar motherboard from Intel with the same chipset H77 and it recommended a power supply of 420 watts if you run an i7 and a mid-range gaming video card. The manual went on to say that if you are using the integrated gpu and a 55 watt CPU then the power requirements are much lower.

Other Thoughts: This board had bad reviews before I bought it and I should have listened to the complaints. I was drawn in by the ultra-low price though. In the end I had to ask for a refund for this defective board. Also I agree that the board is a little flimsy but I would not have minded if it managed to be bootable more than half of the time.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Please turn the power off, clear the CMOS.
Install both memory on A1 and B1 or A2 or B2.
Plug monitor to onboard video.
Turn the power on to check if its get the screen display.
If you have any technical questions or warranty issues please contact our Tech Support at http://www.ASRock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

ASRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@ASRockamerica.com

Pros: Price - Excellent price point
Virtu MVP - This was the biggest selling point for me on it.

I picked up this motherboard for my girlfriend's build (Core i3-3225, 8Gb RAM, Geforce GTX 650 Ti). I wanted a board that had the Virtu MVP on it so she could make use of it in the games she plays.

The board worked flawlessly easy to use BIOS.

Cons: The 2nd PCIe 16x slot. It is a 4x wide connection. Really wish they had left that off, I didn't get a H77 board to do SLI (would have picked up a Z77 if I had any intention of that). I would have found it more useful if they had made that a PCIe 1x slot and replaced a couple other PCI slots with PCIe. But this is really a very very minor issue for me.

Other Thoughts: I have no problem recommending this board. And already have to a couple Co-Workers.

Pros: It looks nice.

Cons: I also got one that was DOA, causing blue screens on boot up.

Other Thoughts: Don't get this mobo.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Blue screen usually related to memory and/or the HDD/SSD drive is from other computer with Windows installed.
Please set the UEFI BIOS default.
Test with 1 stick memory, try with another memory if its same issue.
Install fresh Windows and mainboard drivers to check if it’s solved.
If you have any technical questions please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.


Thank you

ASRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@ASRockamerica.com

Pros: If you are cost-conscious and are building an Ivy Bridge-based computer, this is the board to use. Everything you need, nothing you don't, and laid out in a logical way. Plenty of fan connectors, as well, and ASRock's software makes it easy to manage them.

Cons: No eSATA connector on the back, but there are eight SATA connectors, so this issue is rectified with a cheap adapter.

Other Thoughts: New BIOS updates fix many issues.
Replacing the CMOS battery requires removing the card in the first PCI-E x16 slot.

Pros: Cheap, a lot of features for a small price

Cons: I was getting BSoD, I had to change everything (literally everything) untill I finally found out it was the motherboard. . .such a hassle such a horrible hassle. . .I think it had some issues with the RAM controllers because it was somewhere in there that was just BSoD at least twice a day

Other Thoughts: I'll give ASRock another chance. . .only bought this cause of my color scheme. . .

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. BSOD usually related to memory, please download and update the latest BIOS at link "http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H77%20Pro4MVP/?cat=Download&os=BIOS " .
Set the UEFI BIOS default
Test with 1 stick memory, try with another known good memory if its same issue.
If you have any technical questions please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

ASRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@ASRockamerica.com