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Whereas most Intel X79 motherboards cost upwards of $300, the Asrock X79 Extreme4 costs just $215 making it one of the most affordable LGA2011 motherboards you will come across. Yet don’t be fooled by the low price tag, as Asrock offer some of the best bang for your buck motherboards on the market.
An important aspect of all LGA2011 motherboards is the PCI Express slot configuration, as that determines the SLI and Crossfire support. Asrock has included three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots which when used at the same time will operate using x16/x16/x8 bandwidth. The board also provides support for 4-way Crossfire or 4-way SLI when using a pair of Radeon HD 6990 or GeForce GTX 590 graphics cards.
A disappointing aspect of the X79 Extreme4 is that it features just four DIMM slots opposed to the full eight. This means the maximum memory capacity right now is limited to 32GB’s whereas boards with eight slots can handle 64GB. Using the chipset's quad-channel memory architecture, it supports frequencies of 1866, 1600, 1333 and 1066MHz, while 2400 and 2133MHz are possible with overclocking.
Whereas the X79 chipset provides six SATA ports (two 6Gb/s), Asrock has included the ASMedia ASM1061 6Gb/s controller for an additional three ports. However this controller only supports a pair of SATA 6Gb/s ports, so really only two of the three ports can be used at the same time. The controller is connected to a pair of onboard SATA headers as well as an eSATA port on the boards I/O panel.
Network connectivity comes from a single Broadcom BCM57781 controller, which support Wake-On-LAN, Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az and Teaming. This is the same controller used by Asrock’s prized X79 Extreme9 motherboard and it is a quality component.
Providing the board’s audio is the Realtek ALC898 audio codec which offers 7.1 channel audio with THX TruStudio and Premium Blu-ray audio support. This audio solution can be found on other high-end X79 motherboards such as the Asus P9X79 Deluxe, so again it’s not a budget solution.
Asrock has tasked two ASMedia ASM1042 controllers with delivering the X79 Extreme4 USB 3.0 connectivity. The ASM1042 is a USB 3.0 xHCI compliant host controller supporting up to two downstream ports using PCIe x1 Gen 2. One controller powers two ports on the motherboard's I/O panel, while the other supports an onboard header for another two connectors.
The X79 Extreme4 also offers FireWire via the VIA VT6315N controller which uses the PCIe x1 interface and supports two 400Mb/s IEEE1394a ports (one via the I/O panel, one via header).
The X79 Extreme4 features what Asrock calls their Advanced 6 + 2 Phase CPU set up. There are 6 phases for the CPU and 2 phases for the System Agent. The board is also complemented by an army of premium gold capacitors. These 100% Japan-made solid capacitors are sleek, high gloss caps with a premium gold coating, representing long life and stable performance according to Asrock.
We have few qualms about Asrock's design, though the X79 chip is cooled by a small 35mm fan, which are notoriously unreliable. You'll find similar features on Asrock’s more high-end X79 boards, including onboard power and reset buttons as well as a diagnostic LED screen. Asrock's UEFI BIOS is well designed, making it easy to navigate all the settings. |
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tammys |
Posted on: 03/28/2012 11:02 AM
Nice looking boards thanks for the review. Asrock has really stepped it up in the last year or so. |
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optimus |
Posted on: 03/28/2012 11:36 AM
The M version looks great and would be perfect for my FT03  |
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etam |
Posted on: 03/28/2012 10:04 PM
The board physically looks good and when put to the test still looked good. I want one  Waiting for Ivy Bridge though. |