God I LOVE Asrock

[alienware]

First of all maximum respect to them for continuing to make a Crossfire board that can be had for £30. That's a feat in itself.

Ever since the release of the Thuban I have been watching their site like a hawk but to no avail. I wasn't expecting the board to support the X6 in all honesty as its chipset is knocking on four years old now. Infact, it is four years old.

Now with my Asus Crosshair 2 I pretty much expected them to release a bios supporting the X6 as firstly it's a very expensive board but secondly the 780a had been proven to run the X6 accross pretty much all of the manus that support it.

So yes, where was I? the Asrock ALiveXFire-eSATA2 R3.0. A £30 motherboard.

This morning I decided to email Asrock's CS and ask if they ever planned to support the X6. I was expecting a flat "No, what the hell do you want for £30?" What I did get however was hilarious.

Firstly I got a response from the Netherlands. Usually I get a reply in Engrish (www.engrish.com if you needed it explained) but this time I got a response from the Netherlands division of Asrock. It read -

Dear Mr XXX. This model will never officially support 6-core CPU’s. With BIOS version XXXXX it should normally work, but please keep in mind that this special BIOS version has not been tested or released in the way we test our official BIOS releases. So you can try, but don’t cry

Please find attatched our in house ISO that you will need to flash the board. DO NOT extract the BIN and flash it in the usual manner.

ROFLMFAO. That's just top. A £30 motherboard that not only runs Crossfire but thanks to AWESOME customer service and a genuine passion for getting everything working a sneaky bios that will never be released.

I checked Asrock's website and sure enough, the XXXXX bios that I XXXXed out does not exist.

LMFAO.

 

[FragTek]

Nice.

You should post the BIOS here for all to download. That's sure to get some hits from Google searches!

 

[alienware]

I can't dude

When I emailed them back to say thanks I got another reply.. Apparently AMD did not approve of 480x chipsets running the Thuban so they literally did it as a hobbyist experiment. Thus the bios isn't supposed to be made public

One thing I did notice was that it was a strange ISO akin to the ones Alienware give out. It's protected, basically, and appears empty.

Mind you, it worked alright

Never seen a bios with an L at the beginning and a Z at the end though !

They did warn me off of using a 140W TDP cpu but I already knew that from my friend's experience with the 9950. IE - does not worky. Thankfully the new 1055T is down to 95w.

 

[AMDFTW]

95w and couple that with a h70 or a megahalms and that will be sweet

 

[FragTek]

Give it to me, I'll host it. If they are handing it out like a free crack rock giveaway who cares. It's not like you are under a NDA..... Screw em!!!

 

[alienware]

Do you know how many times I have gone on the internet and said screw em, only to pay the price?

I have a lot of reasons to be wary dude.. Lots.

As an example about seven years ago I became involved in an emulator project. My motto was "Screw em !". At the time I didn't bother to hide my real name as I didn't see it as a problem. Yeah, right.

Firstly I went for a job with Bally at their casino in Atlantic City. Flew through the electronics test (98%, Iding components) then flew through the practical. Flew through the medical and passed the piss test. Then they said that they were going to do a background check and get back to me. I waited two months before I finally recieved a letter that said "Sorry, we have performed a background check and you are derrogatory to the gambling industry, have a nice life".

$45k a year down the toilet.

Then a few years later when I became embroiled in arguing on the net I had people phoning my boss trying to get me fired and so on.

Honestly, being an asshole on the internet does not come without comeuppance. I have had to learn that the hardest way. I'm now so paranoid I use a fake name for Facebook and Myspace, with fake locations, fake details and rarely show my face in photographs. I've had people fake bid on auctions to try and screw me over (my car for example) and all sorts of other crap.

I am perfectly willing to give the email address of the fellow who sent me the bios if they really need it. But being a complete dick on the net just for the sake of it isn't something I want to take part in. This dude was kind enough to help me out so why would I want to repay that with being a dick and getting him in the crap?

Oh and I have done that too. Years ago an employee was sending me program roms I needed for the emulator. I mentioned his name on a forum, he got the sack two weeks later. I have felt sh*tty about that ever since.

The internet doesn't hide what you say, and it stores it for years. Up until about three months ago if I ran my name through google it would come up with all kinds of crap. It's taken me years to get away from that and make sure I don't give any one any personal details at all.

 

[AMDFTW]

thats some jack freinds you have there i would of gone crazy on there ass if they lost me a 48k a year job

BOOOYA

 

[FragTek]

Hahahaha, I have a feeling you don't have a clue how deep that rabbit hole gets.... Try running a CB Radio forum, which is 99% crap talking. I have had people call my girlfriend at work and tell her that I've been cheating on her with someone that I work with. I have had people harass my parents and tell them that they are going to kill them. I've had all sorts of shit go down. You just have to have thick skin. Did any of that deter me from being an asshole online? LOL, negative. It's fun too me.

Send me that email, I'll post that bugger, I could care less about asrock!

 

[AMDFTW]

frag did you not read his post these guys are maniacs like the real deal sneaky beaky shit

 

[thestepster]

1337 stylie

 

[alienware]

thats some jack freinds you have there i would of gone crazy on there ass if they lost me a 48k a year job

BOOOYA

It wasn't any one who lost me that job. Well, aside from me. My stupid actions IE - F**K THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY, HERE HAVE THIS EMULATOR ! without thinking of the impact it would have on my real life were nothing short of mongy.

It wasn't just my involvement in the emulator by my entire "The internet is a lawless place where I can do and say what I like without implication" that was the most stupid of all.

Even a close friend of mine (who coded the back end of the emulator) who was the most polite person you could ever meet ended up losing a job opportunity because of it.

The phonecalls to my boss? Well what they didn't know (these asshats) was that my boss was a very close friend of mine who I used to go on fishing/drinking trips with up the Mullica river. So he just put the phone down and said "Who in the hell are those clusterf**ks?"

First thing to learn is -

The internet is full of twisted hard nut keyboard warriors.

The internet is not a lawless place in society where you can do as you wish without any backlash.

You are not as anonymous as you would like to be (due to the Patriot act) and thus should behave no differently to how you behave in the real world.

Now I wouldn't say I was a keyboard warrior, and I would never ever try and screw someone IRL. But that doesn't mean there aren't other people that would.

With the Asrock thing? I just don't want to be a c u next tuesday. As I said, I don't go out of my way to attract attention to myself or try and cause any one any harm.

See, I deal with everything face to face. That's just how I am used to life being. The problem is when you expect the internet to act in the same way and find out what cowardly (and quite frankly) weirdos there are floating around on it.

Last week I had to file a Paypal claim. I was sent a hoover that caught fire. The seller sent for it, got it back and then said there was nothing wrong with it. Ignoring the broken motor housing and the dirty great scorch marks on the filters. So I filed a claim, and then I got a personal assessment of me, my life and the kind of things I like to do. ROFL.

 

[alienware]

Hahahaha, I have a feeling you don't have a clue how deep that rabbit hole gets.... Try running a CB Radio forum, which is 99% crap talking. I have had people call my girlfriend at work and tell her that I've been cheating on her with someone that I work with. I have had people harass my parents and tell them that they are going to kill them. I've had all sorts of shit go down. You just have to have thick skin. Did any of that deter me from being an asshole online? LOL, negative. It's fun too me.

Send me that email, I'll post that bugger, I could care less about asrock!

That's why I am here. Not to fight, not to argue and not to pretend I am something I am not. So, I am not an asshole. So no, I won't give you the email address. Sorry man.

As for thick skin? Oh I have a very good one of those. The thing is I just can't be bothered going out of my way to piss people off and bring on crap I can't be bothered with. I have better things to do (and yeah, I know half of the world says that on the internet).

In 1998 onward it was fun. Now? it just makes me feel incredibly stupid. See, I know this guy. And in many ways this guy is incredibly like me (well, half of me). We think the same way and we feel the same way (some of the time). I'm not going to elaborate on that. About three years ago some stupid crap kicked off and I said some things I shouldn't have. The situation was none of my business and wasn't my problem. Fact is the entire situation was just absolutely ridiculous but at that time I was a sad prick with nothing better to do.

And it cost me a friendship. One I have missed ever since. I had a lot in common with this bloke and am finally trying to repair the bridges.

So as I say, act an asshole be one. No matter where you are. If some one argued with me now? (the pathetic stupid internet kind of argue that has no limit?) I will simply laugh and walk away.

First thing I got when I came here was numerous warnings and an infraction for swearing. Know what? I was perfectly pleased about that. I swear a lot IRL but I sometimes forget there are places you go where it is inappropriate. As I say, last two years for me, realise the internet is no different to real life.

Some day soon I hope to pop over to where Tom lives and maybe stop by and say hello. What am I gonna do? turn up at a coffee shop or something and say "TFG WTF ! Alright man, c**t w**k f**k"

Think about that. Think for a moment about what people would think if in real life you acted the way you did on the net. You'd be in a straight jacket in seconds

 

[FragTek]

That's probably why no one likes me, I act the same online as I do IRL. I am a true asshole, I make fun of people I don't know to their faces when standing in lines.... That's just how I role.

 

[thestepster]

That's probably why no one likes me, I act the same online as I do IRL. I am a true asshole, I make fun of people I don't know to their faces when standing in lines.... That's just how I role.

quite the role model eh ha ha

 

[alienware]

That's probably why no one likes me, I act the same online as I do IRL. I am a true asshole, I make fun of people I don't know to their faces when standing in lines.... That's just how I role.

That really made me laugh

Cheers, I needed cheering up !

 

[FragTek]

That really made me laugh

Cheers, I needed cheering up !

No problem!

̨̪̭̲͇̍̆ͮ̎͝w̢͆̄̉ͩ͌ͯ̈́̄̐̄͗̆͌͒ͬ̀̀͏͚̝̯̟́ͅh̩ͬ͋̾ͭͨ͋͆͊̽̏́̕ ̻̖̜̖̩̳̫̤͓̭͈͖̭̪͚̟a̷ͨ͋͆͗̾ͩ́ͥͬ́ͮ̉͆̌ͯ҉́̕͏̭̼̲̺t̎̒̂ͪ̏͋͊ͥ ͂ͨ҉͚͓̟̞͟ ̨̼͇̳̘̠̣̥͓͖ͯ̔́ͣͤ̀͘͟͡h̴̨̘̝̳̯̱̠̫̔̏̉ͩͦ͂ͥͤ͆͑͊̑͑͑̍ͧ̃̚͟͢͝ ͖͇̜̥̝̝̗̩͉a̡͕͓̳͚̘̳̤̺̩̖̣̪̜͇͖̙̜̞͒̈͋̇̃͗̓͒̅͋ͪͪͧ͟pͥ͒̒̏̓̇ ̶̢̳̣̰̯ͯͭͤ͜p̧͉͉̪̠̩̫̹͇͙̟̼̪̩̝̣͖̥̲ͩ̓ͩͭ̇̚͘͘e͌̑́͐ͨ̈̆̉ͯ͗̀ ̷̨̡͚̺̫̯̭̦̜͔̮̜͔͕̤͕͍͚ͬ̾͞͝ǹ̶̵͖̩͉̝͎͉̘͖̲̟͇̓̔ͦͣͣ͡͝ͅ ͖̝̯͓̺͓̖̮͖̥͈͙͕̘͈̣̠͕͒̆͗̐ͣ́͘͜͝y̶̛̮̰̙̗̹̝̞̩̱̺ͥ̄͋̓ͮ̆ͣ͡͠͝ ͉ǫ̸̝͎̩͚͍̃̐͂̈́̽͝ ̧̢̳̘͇͔͓̙͕̀͋ͮ̉̆̄ͧ̊ͭ̅ͯ͜͜͞w̛̛̬̺̫̪͆̏̒͂̆ͣ̆͒̍̇̾͒ͪͧ̑h͐ͩ̓ͧ ̴̢̧̛̹̗̞̯͇̙̫͕̟͌͊ͪ͋̌̑͆͋̿̕ͅa̡̞̖͍͕͓̱̥̖̼̫̰̲͆̅̈ͦ̂̀tͣ͐̾ͬͫ ̹̦͈̱̝̣͖̻͎̜̝̗͓̞̙̯ͯͭ̑̄͒ͦ̈̃́͝ ̴̭̯̭̞̰͇͎̖̝̻̭̟̮̤̾ͮ͊͗́̈́̽̈́͘͜͝͞h̩͔͖͕̰̔͑̔̓ͦ̓̏ͯͥ́̊̅͛͛́͐̕ ̮͍̘̙̬̥̼̣̦̟̺̲̗ͅa͓͈̥̩̹̟̻̺͉ͨͥͮͬ͛͌ͭ͒͌̂̓͑ͨͣͧ̾͘͘͘͞p̎̂̂̌͝ ̡͘͏҉̘̯͉̬̭̟̲̗̪̱̺̞̬̜͎̗p̶̸̘̖̯͚̲͓͔̥̬͇ͮ̉ͭ̓͌͒́̀͞e̊̊͂͑ͧ̿͛ ̴̸̛͎̜̖̜͇͇̘͚̖̙̪̫͆̈̿̄̑̽̏ͮ̚̚͜n̵̨̠̙̝̺̟͈̮͉͊ͣ͑̏̋̃͂̒͟ ͖̬̙̗ ̴̝̪̖̼̩̼̱̝̮̤͎͎͖͈͇͈̔͐ͫ̆̑ͫ́̕͟͝y̥̠̥̖͌̒ͭ̄̓ͣ͛͆̂ͤ̆͊͐͛̚͘͢͞ ̘̦̖̙͔o͒ͯͮ͑̏̓͘̕͏͍͖̰̥͠ ̦̻̗̳̖ͨ̆ͫ͐ͦ͆͒̐ͤ̀̒ͬ̕̕͝w͎̯̼͉̝̩͎̞͚͓͔̟͚̤̦ͬ̔̔̒ͪ̈́̑̀̌̇̽̽̀̕ ̝̬ͅh̵̻͖͔͔̳͖̮̹̝̞͕͌̈̍̔̌̿͒ͯͤͮͫ̃̀͞͠͞a̦͍͍͎̫̱ͭͪͪ̑͛̀́ͯͭͥ͠ ̮̣̰̰͖͍͚̮͎̰̼̥t̶̸̓ͫ̎̓͂̃ͯ̊ͫ̿̈͏̷̟̪̥̪͚̦ ̧͚̯̯̮̻̞͙̞̗̰̯̠̟̅̔̎ͪͥͮͧͣ͐ͦ̿̍͌͜hͤͩ̆ͬ̋ͫ̽̋͛ͧ͊̽̚҉̨̧̝̳͎̞͠ ̙̟̮͓͉͇͖̞̱̣̼̹a̷̵͓̭̟̓̽̑̊͛̿̆͛p̧̦͈̘̩̘͖͔̳͍̭̺̰̈́̾ͪ͒̉̌͌͗̔͜ ͓p̬̤̻̬̖̳̼͈̰̮͕ͦ̈́̋͒̓ͭ̀̿̆ͮ̂͆̀ͥ̕e̷͖̲̝̟̪̲͓̝ͧ̉͗̃̽͆ͫ͐̅͆̒͜ ͎̘̱͔̩̰͉͉̺̯ͅń̸̶̛̜͙͚̱͔̯̺̺͓͚̎̐̾̔̚͝ͅͅ ̡͕̥͎̝̌̔͛̒͐͛̆͊͋͘͜y̡͓͓̺̻͙̙̘̰̼͉̠͈͇̯͗͑̅͆ͧ̈́̈̔ͥ́ͨ̏͆ͧ͒̌͜͞ ̣o̴̧͚͓͚͓̹̜̲͎̫̰̲̺̹̦̙͕̖̖͋͂̇͑̎͒͋̌̐̂̈̽̔ͭ̓ͬ̈́̌͠͠ ̴̡̡͔͕͚͔͖̜͇͎͍͈̘̰̣͙̝̭͖͐̄̆ͬ̄̂͑ͪ͗̋̓͜ͅẉ̶̸͚̼̰̭ͬ̎ͥ̃̃̒̒͟ͅ ̦͇̩̙͖h͋͆̋̊̏҉̥̻͓̹͎̘̳͍̭͕̜̪̲̩̪͞ͅå̴̵̡̯̓ͮ͗͌̒̓̾̑̈̔̓ͣͭ͝ͅ ͓̠̞͓̣͙̟̹̼̥̻t̨̙̤̣͎̙̩̗̫̗̲̯͍͙͉̠͎ͨ̿ͯͦͫ̽̒̅͌͆̕͡͞ ̴̡̱͕̗̲̣͔̹͚̤̮̞̦̳̓ͩ̋̈́͗͛̌͆̄̽ͅȟ̃̑̃͐ͫ̑͂ͩ̂̐̋ͨ͊̏̉ͤ̉͘͟͡͡͠ ̘̥̜̞̘͚͖̙̩͔̣̻͎ą̣̠͈̪̤͇͓̟̫̼̭̜͕͍̗̣̺̀̏ͫͤͥ̃̎͒̃ͧ͘͝͞p͗ͧͫ̐ ̛̞̺̖̺̗̬̦̖͖̬̌̊ͫ̚͘͢͟͝p̸̢̰̱̬͈̰ͯͦ̒̆̑̄̽̒͟͠͡

 

[killablade]

I've only had bad experiences with Asrock products and I've not been hearing much good from my friends either, so I must say I'd rather pay the extra cash for (for example) an ASUS or MSI motherboard. That's just my though, I'm sure they make some quality products, I just haven't used any yet. (I've read some positive reviews though!)

That's heavy stuff by the way, AlienALX!

 

[lasher]

Personally i love asrock for their pure balls and genius.

this crowd must have a big sign above the factory door saying " Screw impossible - if theres room stick it in "

I loved my 775 dual VSTA wanna use both types or RAM errr OK, oh you want to use agp and pci-e errrr OK. Love it.

To a budget builder or the money savvy this company is king.

 

[alienware]

In all honesty good and bad experience is just down to personal experience. If you took one person's opinion on something then it would be really easy to never buy anything made by any company.

Also when considering a product made by any company you really need to take into account that people are only vocal when complaining. I would love to actually know the real stats on satisfaction on products tbh. What I mean this is - when you buy something if it works you usually don't bother to say thankyou. You just use it as it was intended to be used. If you have a problem? Man, you're far more likely to go looking for a head to chop off.

When I got my green Alienware I cannot even begin to tell you how many people pointed me to customer report websites where people said they were the worst computers they had ever used. IIRC I sat and read through about 200 reviews where people slated them before giving them 0/5. However, each and every one of those people had problems with their PC. Some of those problems even I could have sorted out, some not and were down to bad hardware.

But there were very very few reviews from happy customers. Why? well probably because they were too busy enjoying their hardware to bother writing a review

And if I was to take the word of 200 people knowing that Alienware sell thousands of computers every month then it would be kind of silly.

Going back to motherboards. In my personal experience I have had more dead Asus boards than anything else. Has that put me off of buying Asus? has it heck. Infact, TWO of my Crosshair 2 boards had to go back after flatlining when I tried to change the boot logo. I came to find out on the second go (because I honestly thought it was my fault) that the bios logo application simply did not work. And that is pretty crappy... Why ship something that kills boards?

So here I am on my third Crosshair 2 perfectly happy. It's a nice board with a bad chipset. That's not Asus's fault either. Yet, read my latest reccs on a motherboard and you will usually find me repping the Crosshair IV by Asus.

In my personal experience I have never had a problem with Asrock boards. I have had three, and the last two were spot on. One I had briefly and then sold the PC on and the one before my Xfire I had for four years with a Celeron D in and it never missed a beat.

There isn't much that can be done about DOA and stuff like that because motherboards are very sensitive things and shipping companies do not understand this. So DOA is absolutely unavoidable. But EVERY company will get about the same DOA level unless they are doing something badly wrong, and even that isn't usually their fault.

I don't remember if you recall a few years ago that thousands of motherboards went out with dangerous capacitors on? They all had to be recalled (even the ones that hadn't blown up, literally) because the capacitors that EVERY manufacturer were using would swell up and literally explode. How can you prevent that? well you can't really. All you can do is trust in the company you buy from. Oddly they were all high performance boards and the capacitors in question were large high performance capacitors.

Also, were you aware that the same guy that started Asrock also started Asus? have you ever noticed the similarity in how they both have 'shopping lists' spattered all over them (ram support, SATA etc)?

A good and bad motherboard usually comes down to things completely out of the control of the people who make them. A bad chipset is not Asrock or Asus's fault. For example the Nforce 3 chipset was an absolute disaster. But how were they to know that when the Nforce 2 was, IMO, the best chipset EVER created?

 

[nikk]

that's f***** awesome

i wish dfi was like that

edit: LOL you don't have any filters for bad words on???