ASrock K8S8X is a decent board with good performance just like the SiS 755 Ref board. In our tests of the board, we didn't have any issues at all and we ran it all at CAS 2, 5-2-2. It is somehow interesting that this board is a good performer. In our tests, we have seen for ourselves that the performance level is on par with the SiS 755 Ref board. In certain categories, it performs better but loses in some categories.

This board only provides a very basic feature set -  6 x USB 2.0 , Ethernet, 6 channel audio. On top of that, there is SATA RAID 0 or 1 supported. Installation of this board is straightforward as it is all well documented on board or in the manual.

In terms of overclocking, this board has a FSB range of up to 300Mhz which is amazing. The strange thing is that there are no voltage adjustments at all. Surprising though, even with no voltage adjustments, 3Dmark2003 which is very demanding met with no crashes at CAS 2, 5-2-2. Perhaps the default voltage is 2.65v.

In our tests, we also noticed that the north bridge is installed with a big heatsink. The heatsink is quite warm and it is definitely better than something that uses a double sided tape for thermal dissipation.

In our overclocking tests, we used our Corsair XMS3500C2 module running at CAS 2.5, 8-4-4. We managed to POST up to 225MHz FSB. Unfortunately, we can only get it to run well at 220MHz FSB steadily with 3DMark2001SE/2003 at CPU:DRAM = 1:1 SYNC mode. Next, we tested it using ASync mode running CPU:DRAM 200:166 and we managed to get it to POST up to 233 but unstable.

Overall, if you are one that has been waiting for a cheaper Socket 754 K8 board for your Athlon 64 3000+ or 3200+ processor, ASrock K8S8X is definitely a board within your purchase limits for your gaming needs. The possibility of running it beyond 233MHz would be a challenge for those loves to mod. I think the chances of that is pretty high.

I would highly recommend this board to those into 64 bits computing !

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Discuss & read more

Pros 好处:

• 6 Channel audio
• USB 2.0 
• SATA RAID 0/1
• FSB range up to 300
• Boot Failure Guard

Cons 坏处:

• No DDR Voltage adjustments
• No multiplier, Vcore, Vchipset adjustments

Ratings

Here are my ratings out of 10 stars.

Highly Recommended