ASRock G43Twins-FullHD Motherboard

Bundled Software and Features:

The ASRock G43Twins-FullHD comes with a 1 year service warranty to authorized distributors only. If you have to RMA directly to ASRock there is a $35 charge plus shipping. "Please send us an email to support@asrockamerica.com and give us a detail description of the problem along with the following information..." Not quite up to par with the rest of the board makers out there.

The board comes with a standard drivers disc. The bundled software includes the usual drivers for the board. ASRock's overclocking utility is also on the disc. It can help you tweak your overclock a little bit more once you are in windows. Though most of the time it just locked up the machine for me. A cool feature of this board for those that turn off your computer is the instant boot feature. It basically reboots your computer when you are done with it and put it into a suspended state so it is ready for you in 3-5 seconds. It did work quite well, the name is misleading as it is not actually booting up in 3-5 seconds, but rather resuming from S3 or S4 that fast. There is a YouTube video online demonstrating the Instant Boot feature.

The BIOS will support a CPU up to 1333 MHz FSB, so even the newest socket 775 chips will have no problem in this board. It also features gigabit LAN which is great for those large file network transfers. The integrated video has support for full 1080P movies which is nice. A great feature for those who are using this board as a stepping stone into the DDR3 is that this board will let you choose between DDR2 or DDR3 modules.

BIOS and Overclocking:

The BIOS on the ASRock G43Twins-FullHD is an American Megatrends BIOS. The BIOS is setup in tabs. The Main tab shows the specs of processor and what type of memory is installed. The Smart tab allows you to choose some basic pre configured setups such as power saving, AHCI, and BIOS defaults. The H/W Monitor tab shows the health of your computer. It gives temperatures, RPM of the fans, and voltages.

The Boot menu allows you to set which device boots first. The Security tab lets you set a password for your BIOS to keep people from messing with your overclock. The Exit tab allows you to save your changes you made as well as store them in one of three profiles. This can be nice when overclocking if you clear your CMOS these settings stay.

The Advanced tab is where I found myself the most. It allows you to configure the hardware on the motherboard. This also is where all of the overclocking options are.