A functional motherboard for assembling compact high-speed computing systems is the ASRock N68C-S UCC. Its characteristics really made it possible to organize an ordinary office workstation and to assemble a high-performance gaming computer that would continue to be relevant even now.
Which PCs is this motherboard designed for?
Very tiny size has ASRock N68C-S UCC. The characteristics of this product indicate that it is manufactured in the MicroATX form factor with dimensions of 244 x 208 mm and is aimed at a niche of ultra-compact systems. But at the same time, its hardware makes it possible to assemble both entry-level computers for the implementation of office and simple tasks, as well as a high-performance system unit, which can easily become a work or graphic station , a game system, or even an entry-level server. As a result, it can be noted that the niche of this product is compact miniature computers with an acceptable level of functionality and affordable cost.
Contents of delivery
This motherboard comes in a green box on which the characteristics of the ASROCK N68C-S UCC are detailed. The description of this computer component is described in detail in the instruction manual. The list of supplied documentation also includes a company warranty card. The number of interface cords is only 2, which are designed to perform switching of hard drives or optical drives. Without fail, the list of equipment includes a metal plug for the back of the system unit.
Arrangement of elements on the motherboard
As noted earlier, this computer component has a very tiny size. But at the same time, the level of functionality is quite acceptable. Most of the upper half of the board is occupied by the processor socket. To the right of it are RAM slots with a power connector and an IDE hard drive connection point, and to the left is a peripheral panel with ports. Under the processor socket is a chipset system logic. And below them are expansion slots. It is also possible to connect to the front panel of the ASRock N68C-S UCC. The characteristics of the USB ports and audio connectors indicate the ability to connect to the front panel of the system unit. It is located at the very bottom edge of the system board.
Chipset
NVidia 's ASRock N68C-S UCC motherboard is based on the GeForce 7025 & nForce 630 chipset. Their characteristics at the moment look very modest. But there is a simple explanation for this. This set of system logic was released simultaneously with the launch of the AM2 platform, and since then quite a lot of time has passed. The chipset itself turned out to be quite functional and flexible, and for this reason, products based on it still continue to be successfully sold. The only thing that was added in the future was support for new models of central processors and a new version of DDR3 RAM. As a result, this chipset boasts support for AM2, AM2 +, and even AM3 processors. Theoretically, it is compatible with the latest AM3 + chips, but it is within this model of the motherboard that support for the latest and most advanced CPUs from AMD is not implemented.
Socket
As you can easily guess from all the above, this motherboard is equipped with a universal processor socket, in which any AMD semiconductor chip can be installed, starting with AM2 and ending with AM3. Physically, the chip of the AM3 + family can also be installed in the socket of this board, but the lack of support in BIOS will not allow even such a computer system to start. And this approach has a completely logical explanation: there are more recent motherboards on the same set of system logic for this manufacturer and they originally included AM3 + support. In order not to create competition within its products, ASRock was forced to refuse to update BIOS in a number of its solutions, including the motherboard considered in this review.
List of supported CPU models
An impressive list of supported models of processor devices boasts ASRock N68C-S UCC. The characteristics of the board itself indicate full support for three generations of AMD processors at once, and this list includes such chip models:
S eptron for AM2 and AM3 with one or two computing units. Their clock frequencies are in the range from 1600 to 2800 MHz, and the thermal package - from 35 to 65W.
Athlon 64, Athlon X2, Athlon X2 64 and Athlon II X2, X3 and X4. These CPUs could include from 1 to 4 code processing units; they had frequencies from 2.2 GHz to 3.2 GHz. Their thermal package was in the range from 45 watts to 95 watts. Higher performance, in comparison with Septron, in this case was provided by increased cache size and increased clock speed.
All processors in the Phenom range . They could include from 2 to 6 cores, had clock frequencies from 1.8 to 3.3 GHz. Their thermal package was limited to 95 watts. The key feature of these semiconductor crystals was that they were equipped with a 3-level cache, and it was due to this engineering solution that their higher performance was ensured within the framework of this computing platform.
Memory subsystem
In total, there were 4 slots on this motherboard for installing RAM strips. 2 of them were intended for DDR2 installation and had the designation DDRII_1 and DDRII_2, and 2 for DDR3 and were marked DDR3_A1 and DDR3_B1. The RAM controller itself is built into the microprocessor. For AM2 chips, only the first type of RAM was allowed, and for AM3, the second. In turn, AM2 + were universal and could work with both the first type of RAM and the second. The maximum amount of RAM within such a computer system could reach 8 GB (2 modules of 4 GB each). Clock frequencies for DDR2 were limited to 533-1066 MHz, and for DDR3 - 800-1600 MHz.
Expansion Slots & Peripherals
All characteristics of the motherboard ASRock N68C-S UCC indicate the presence of such expansion slots:
2 PCI slots for the ability to install legacy external controllers in a PC.
1 slot PCI - E version 1x for new modifications of expansion controllers.
1 slot for graphics card PCI - E version 16X.
The set of peripheral ports in this case is as follows:
2 PS / 2 ports for receiving information from the manipulator and keyboard.
4 USB 2.0 revision ports.
1 serial COM port.
1 video output of VGA integrated graphics card.
1 RJ-45 network connector .
3 speaker ports 3.5 mm.
Integrated graphics
The integrated graphics subsystem is equipped with the ASRock N68C-S UCC motherboard. The characteristics of the product itself indicate that this is a GeForce 7025 graphics card from the company, the developer of the NVidia chipset . Outstanding technical specifications, this product certainly can not boast. Unlike modern integrated accelerators, which are included in the semiconductor chip of the central processor, this video card is part of a set of system logic. She does not have a separate video buffer, and she uses the computer's RAM to store the processed graphic information. The maximum size of RAM that this video card can reserve for its needs is 256 MB. Also at the software level, support for DX 9.0 is announced . The maximum resolution for this accelerator is 1920x1440. But, again, you should not expect high performance from such a graphics subsystem, its capabilities are only limited by the list of the simplest and least demanding hardware tasks: office, watching videos, surfing web resources and simple toys.
Product Software Features
Several important features at the software level are the motherboard ASRock N68C-S UCC. Its characteristics indicate support for UCC technology . Its essence boils down to the fact that AMD often blocked additional computing resources (cache and cores) at the software level. The same utility allowed to unlock them. As a result, you can buy a 3-core chip and turn it with UCC into a 4-core one. Athlon could also be transformed into Phenom under favorable circumstances .
Results and reviews
A balanced computer solution is the ASRock N68C-S UCC. Her characteristics now, of course, do not look as solid as several years ago. But even now, this motherboard continues to be relevant and allows you to organize highly productive computers, which are still able to solve the most resource-intensive tasks. The key advantage of this product is its form factor - MicroATX, which allows it to be widely used in ultra-compact systems. And this is exactly what user reviews about this decision at the moment indicate.