ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 Preview

ASRock has certainly derived a competitive motherboard when it comes to the AM2NF4G-SATA2. While this product does not utilize an nForce 500 Chipset, it does have the advantage of using the nForce 410, which will lead to lower manufacturing costs as well as enhanced compatibility primarily with alternative OS users. NVIDIA had announced the nForce 410 and nForce 430 in conjunction with the GeForce 6100 and 6150 back in September, and while it had taken some time for NVIDIA to offer supportive Linux display drivers for the integrated video, the Chipset is relatively well covered. When testing the 939NF4G-SATA2, which is practically a twin of the AM2NF4G-SATA2, the only GNU/Linux problems that we had run into involved an hda: cdrom_pc_intr message with the drive becoming confused. There was also a minor issue with the cursor when not using the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. With ASRock delivering so quickly a budget AM2 motherboard, and AMD already offering multiple Sempron parts, it will not be hard to meet a $200 USD price tag for a CPU/motherboard combination. Outside of ASRock, several other vendors will be demonstrating inexpensive AM2 motherboards that rely upon already prevalent NVIDIA/ULI/VIA packages. Stay tuned shortly for our ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 results.