First Looks: ASRock X79 Extreme4 Motherboard

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First Looks: ASRock X79 Extreme4 Motherboard

As the dust settles from the slightly underwhelming Sandy Bridge-E launch earlier this week, we take a look at another X79 motherboard - ASRock's X79 Extreme4. With 3-way SLi/Crossfire support, 9 onboard SATA ports and a Broadcom Gigabit NIC, this black and gold themed board has more high end features at its entry level price point than most of the competition.







I/O Panel (from left): PS/2 ports, Clear CMOS Button, 2 USB 3.0 ports provided by ASMedia ASM1042, 6 USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet from a rarely seen Broadcom BCM7781 controller, 1 Firewire Port from VIA VT6315N, 1 eSATA port serviced by ASMedia ASM1061 and Audio by yet another 7.1 channel capable Realtek ALC898 codec.

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At the bottom of the board, we find the usual front panel connectors for USB, Firewire and Audio. What pleased us was the inclusion of a PORT-80H POST diagnostic LED, and conveniently placed onboard power and reset buttons.



We have a whopping 9 SATA ports here, 6 of which is wired to the X79 PCH and 3 by a SATA 6Gbps capable ASMedia ASM1061.





CPU Socket Area - the socket is made by Foxconn.



6+2 Phase design driven by a CHiL 8328 Digital VRM for power regulation.





100% "Japan-made" Gold Conductive Polymer Capacitors



Accessories (SLi bridges, I/O Shield and SATA cables) and Manual