ASRock 4Core1333-eSATA2 R5.0 Motherboard Review

Packaging and Accessories


The motherboard itself comes protected in a colorful cardboard box that is done in ASRock’s seemingly standard light blue-green colour scheme (some would call it “seafoam green”). The front of the box is literally covered with the various connections and standards that this board supports which is backdropped against ASrock’s iconographic fighter jet zooming from right to left. One thing that is for certain this is a very flashy, attention grabbing box. Some people would say that it crosses the line from flashy into garish, but at least it grabs your attention the second you see it. It does get the job done, and potential buyers can tell at a glace exactly what this board should be capable of. Overall it is a color and information scheme that has worked for ASRock in the past, and like the old saying goes “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”.

When one finally tires of looking at the box art and actually opens it, you are greeted to a loose assortment of various accessories on top of a white cardboard divider. This is a fairly standard packaging scheme and does give the board an extra layer of protection. After all, it is better to be greeted to a broken cable, a torn manual or even a broken CD than to a broken motherboard. When you do remove all the accessories and the cardboard divider you get your first glimpse of the board itself. The board is wrapped in an anti-static bag but this by itself would not be considered “enough” protection but the box itself comes in a bigger box that is protected on the bottom and four sides by high density foam. This makes for a cheap, reliable and secure package that can easily be shipped across the country with little worry of damage.


In typical entry level fashion the list of accessories that come with the board are limited, yet what you do get is very well executed. The manual is well organized and has step by step text with pictographs for each step of installation, BIOS options and even setup instructions for the motherboard’s myriad options. Ok maybe “myriad” is the wrong word, as there are not ten thousand options, but there is a surprisingly large number and considering the price range of this board some very interesting ones are included.


As expected a simple yet sharp-edge free I/O cover plate is included, as is an assortment of IDE and SATA cables. A nice touch was the inclusion of the nearly ubiquitous SATA power adapter that lets you use a standard a 4 pin molex connector to power a single SATA drive. Of course, this is marketed as a budget level board so only one is included. You also get a case badge, a CD containing all the necessary drivers as well as a PDF copy of your manual in English and Chinese. This was also a nice little touch as the manual is more likely to be lost over time than the driver CD and no one likes searching through their parts bin looking for a tattered old manual when upgrade time rolls around.