ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-Wifi Motherboard Review

Packaging and Accessories


ASRock always does a good job in designing a colourful, eye-catching box and this one is no exception. For the Penryn1600SLIX3-Wifi, the standard blue-green colored box we have seen many times in the past has been replaced with more of a contemporary black design. However the box is not just a boring black, the yellow text and many feature description images provide a nice contrast which has long been present from many ASRock packages. The marketing aspect is focused mainly on the Wifi capabilities with the Wifi module as the main point of focus on the front. The rear side of the box has a similar focus and explains the uses and advantages of the Wifi capabilities and highlights a few other features in a smaller yellow text box.


Looking inside, the accessories are packed similar to most motherboards, all individually packaged in plastic, resting on a cardboard divider on top on the board. The motherboard is wrapped in the standard anti-static bag to avoid damage to components from static charges. Beneath the board there is a thick foam sheet to prevent shipping damage.


Here we have all the accessories which come with this board and it seems that ASRock hasn't left much out at all. The colors of the cables run quite nicely with the general color scheme of the board itself while the inclusion of four SATA cables is great even though one will have to be used to run to the SATA connector at the back-end of the board if you want to use the eSATA I/O port.


The ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-Wifi supports 3 graphics cards in SLI using 16x, 16x, and 8x PCIE lane speeds and to link two or three cards together for SLI operation, ASRock provides dual and tri SLI bridges. Keep in mind that that 3-way SLI is only supported in Windows Vista.


A wireless LAN module is also included with the accessories. This 802.11g WiFi module is a reasonable size, about 9 centimeters in height, and the cord is about 1 meter long which allows the user to position the module in a convenient location.

Specific package contents and motherboard accessories include:

Package Contents
- ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi Motherboard (ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)
- ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi Quick Installation Guide
- ASRock Penryn1600SLIX3-WiFi Support CD
- ASRock WiFi-802.11g Module Operation Guide

Motherboard Accessories
- One ASRock SLI Bridge
- One ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge
- One 80-conductor Ultra ATA 66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable
- One Ribbon Cable for a 3.5-in Floppy Drive
- Four Serial ATA (SATA) Data Cables (Optional)
- One Serial ATA (SATA) HDD Power Cable (Optional)
- One HDMI_SPDIF Cable (Optional)
- One “ASRock WiFi_eSATAII I/O Plus” I/O Shield
- WiFi Accessories
- One ASRock WiFi-802.11g Module
- One Antenna