ASRock K7S41 - motherboard - micro ATX - Socket A - SiS741GX

Introduction:
First thing, I needed a new PC as my laptop was very slow, and basically just falling apart! So I decided to build a new pc, so I went onto ebay, and started looking for a motherboard and processor bundle! I came across this motherboard with a Sempron 2800+ CPU (processor) and 256mb of ram. I snatched up this bargain for around £50 including delivery!

Installation:
So once it came! I was dead excited so I opened the box. It came with the Asrock K7S41 manual (quick installation guide which is very useful and helpful), support CD (including drivers), one ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE ribbon cable (for hard drives, CD rom drives, etc), one ribbon cable for 3.5inch floppy drive, and the I/O plate for the computer case. So I took everything out and installed it into my computer case straight away.

Specifications:
It's a very small motherboard (9.6inch X 7.8inch, 24.4cm X 19.8cm) which is ideal for smaller computer cases. The motherboard includes several of inputs and outputs on its back panel stated below.

- Keyboard PS2 x1
- Mouse PS2 x1
- USB2 x 4 ports (able to have additional USB ports Via header)
- Serial 1COM port bracket
- Parallel 1
- Game/MIDI 1
- LAN 1 x RJ45
- Audio I/O Line In (light blue) / Line Out (lime) / Mic (pink)
- VGA (64mb onboard graphics)

By using the header for the USB2 on the motherboard I was able to connect the USB ports on my computer case to the motherboard giving me an extra two USB ports, totally six USB ports (which is more than enough for anybody)

CPU - This motherboard supports socket 462 processors, AMD Sempron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron with FSB speeds of 400/333/266/200 Mhz

Memory (Ram) - Max 2GB DDR, DDR 400/333/266

Graphics - Onboard Real 256E 3D graphics 64Mb, with the option to use an AGP 8X/4X 1.5v graphics card

Audio - AC97 CODEC 5.1 channel

Slots - AGP 8X/4X 1.5v (for AGP graphics cards)
2 x PCI slots, PCI 2.2 (for PCI devices e.g. sound cards)

Connectors - IDE 2 x ATA 133/100/66/33 (for hard drives, CD rom drives)
1 Floppy Drive connector
20 pin ATX power connector
CD/AUX/ audio in

This motherboard also has a new technology called Hybrid booster built into the motherboard, this is a feature which allows you to overclock the processor. Basically overclocking is setting your processor to run at a faster speed, but doing so puts stress on your processor and will result in your computer getting hotter, so it is ideal to add addition fans to the case. So then the Hybrid booster, it allows you to change the CPU FSB, CPU multiplier, and CPU Vcore. By altering these, the CPU will run faster, by just changing the CPU FSB I was able to overclock my Sempron 2800+ (clock speed of 2.0Ghz) to 2.3Ghz which is a noticeable difference. I am still able to overclock my CPU even more by changing the CPU multiplier but I don't have many addition fans on this case to do so, and I don't want to fry the processor by trying to get it to run a bit faster.

Advantages:
As stated above the motherboard allows the user to get the most out of there processor by overclocking it safely using Hybrid booster. Also includes reasonable onboard graphics which was a big help for me as I was able to use the motherboard without having to buy a graphics card. Has 5.1 channel audio which has awesome sound quality, so there is no need to buy an additional sound card. Four USB ports, which is a big help if you want to connect multiple things at one time e.g. printer, camera, MP3 player and USB mouse.

Disadvantages:
The only major disadvantage to this motherboard is its limit of ram, it only has two ram slots, so it only supports up to 2GB of ram whereas other motherboards these days have up to four ram slots. The motherboard also only has two PCI slots, but this motherboard doesn't need more, as it has built in sound and four USB ports.

Overall:
Before purchasing this motherboard bundle off ebay, I checked ciao to see what other people have thought of this motherboard and from the reviews by the sounds of it people have only had problems, but I can gladly say I have had no problems with this motherboard since I have had it (since around Jan 07)

So I would recommend this motherboard for anybody who knows what there doing with it. It has a wide range of features for overclocking and general use. But out of 10 I would rate this motherboard 9… as it only has two Ram slots and two PCI slots.