An entry-level motherboard with a high-quality element base, an integrated graphics accelerator and a high degree of reliability from a renowned manufacturer of these products is the G41M-VS3 from ASRock. This solution was ideally suited for assembling office PCs that are inexpensive with an acceptable level of performance. Also, with discrete graphics, a computing system based on this product could easily be turned into a gaming PC. It is about this motherboard that will be discussed in the future.
Appearance
Motherboard Model G41M-VS3 manufactured in a form factor called MicroATX. Its dimensions were 226 mm in height and 170 mm in width. Strictly in the center of this product was the north bridge of a set of system logic. It was hidden under an impressive size aluminum radiator. Immediately above it in the center of the upper half of the board was the LGA775 socket for installing the CPU. To the left of it were wired ports, on the top were power connectors, and to the right were slots in the amount of 2 pieces for RAM. Below, under the north bridge microcircuit, there were slots for installing additional controllers.
Down, to the very edge of the board, the drive connection ports were withdrawn. To the right of the slots was a chip on the south bridge of a set of system logic. Immediately, the contacts were grouped to perform switching with the front panel of the PC case.
Chipset Chipset. Processor Models and Socket
The motherboard ASRock G41M-VS3 was based on the chipset, which included 2 chips. One of them is the G41, which in professional jargon was called the "North Bridge". It included a dual-channel memory controller (it could address 8GB of RAM) and a peripheral controller.
The second component of the chipset is ICH7. He was responsible for interacting with expansion controllers and exchanging information with the front panel. The socket in this case was the processor socket LGA775. Today this solution is outdated, but at the time of the release of this product it was one of the most productive processor sockets.
An impressive set of central processing units supported ASRock G41M-VS3. Characteristics indicate support for these:
- Celeron in single and dual core performance for this platform.
- Dual-core Pentium in the performance of LGA 775.
- Core 2 Duo. These chips were dual-core, but due to higher frequencies, an improved architecture of semiconductor crystals and an increased cache, they provided higher performance.
- Core 2 Quad is already a 4-core processor solution.
- Core 2 Extreme This chip also consisted of 4 computing units. The presence of an unlocked CPU frequency multiplier made it possible to overclock it and significantly increase the speed of such a computing system.
Ports and slots
The composition of the G41M-VS3 These expansion slots included:
- 1 x PCI-Express version 16X slot for installing a discrete graphics system.
- 1 PCI slot for installing obsolete modifications of additional controllers.
The list of peripheral ports included:
- 2 PS / 2 connectors for pointing device and wired keyboard.
- One VGA connector for displaying integrated graphics on a monitor display.
- 4 universal USB ports.
- 1 RJ-45 network connector.
- 3 sockets for organizing a speaker system.
- One legacy COM port for connecting legacy peripherals today.
Integrated Graphics
The G41M-VS3 was equipped with an integrated graphics accelerator. Its model is GMA X4500 from Intel. It was part of the G41 chipset. The performance level of this graphic solution was minimal. The maximum amount of random access memory that could be addressed by such an integrated adapter was 1.7 GB. It was perfect for office tasks. Also, with its help, you could watch videos or play the most simple computer toys in terms of hardware. For something more, such a computer system should be equipped with discrete graphics, which in this case should be installed in a 16X PCI Express slot.
Summary
It was most appropriate to use the G41M-VS3 as part of office computers. She had everything for this: an integrated graphics system, an integrated network card, a good degree of functionality, the cost of about 6000 rubles. In all other cases, it was better to purchase more expensive products with improved parameters.