ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv

Motherboard Layout

The 4Core1333-Viiv uses ASRock's standard motherboard layout for their Intel LGA-775 ATX motherboards with not much deviation. The 4Core1333-Viiv supports four DDR2-800/667/533 memory slots with a maximum memory capacity of 8GB in dual channel mode. Next to the DDR2 memory slots is the single IDE connector.

Moving south on the motherboard is Intel's ICH8DH Southbridge. The Intel ICH8DH is the "Digital Home" edition of the ICH8, which (like the ICH8R and ICH8DO) supports Intel Matrix Storage Technology and six Serial ATA ports as oppose to four SATA 2.0 ports without Intel Matrix Storage on their vanilla ICH8. As the "DH" variant implies, this southbridge is designed for digital homes and interfacing with household appliances and other interaction. Covering the ICH8DH on the ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv is a passive aluminum heatsink. Near the ICH are three USB 2.0 headers, one IEEE-1394a Firewire header, and six Serial ATA 2.0 ports.

The expansion slots on the ASRock 4Core1333-Viiv consist of one PCI Express x1, one PCI Express x16, one AGI Express, and three PCI slots. We've seen AGI Express on past ASRock motherboards and it is really nothing more than a PCI Express x16 slot with PCI-E x4 lanes. Using the PCI-E x16 and AGI Express slots, ATI CrossFire is supported by this motherboard (permitting you are running Windows, as currently CrossFire isn't supported under Linux). Above the expansion slots is a 20-pin ATX connector as well as a 4-pin molex connector. The 4-pin molex connector is needed if you're using dual PCI Express graphics cards, as the 20-pin and ATX12V P4 connectors alone are unable to supply enough power.