We're not unfamiliar with high-end motherboards by any means, but ASRock's Fatal1ty X79 Champion is only likely to be overshadowed by ASRock's own X79 Extreme11 and that is if ASRock actually decides to launch that beast of a board. That said, features don't come cheap and you'll have to pony up the cost of about two regular motherboards to get your hands on the Fatal1ty X79 Champion if early pricing is anything to go by.The differences between the Fatal1ty X79 Professional and Fatal1ty X79 Champion are surprisingly large, starting with the memory slot where the Fatal1ty X79 Champion has no less than eight DIMM slots in total for some 64GB action. Continuing around the CPU socket, ASRock has actually gone for a more basic VRM design with 12+2 phases compared to 16+2 phases for the Fatal1ty X79 Professional, although this is likely due to the additional memory slots.
Spot the last minute quick fixIn terms of expansion slots, the Fatal1ty X79 Champion sports five x16 PCI Express slots with slot one and five operating in dual x16 mode, slot one, three and five or one, four and seven operating in a x16/x8/x8 mode and the final configuration allows for a x16/x8/x8/x8 option using slot one, three, five and seven. The board also has space for two x1 PCI Express slots, of which at least one could be usable if needed, as long as no more than three dual-width cards are being used.Beyond the six Intel SATA ports – two SATA 3Gbps and two SATA 6Gbps – ASRock has added a Marvell SE9230 four port SATA 6Gbps controller to the Fatal1ty X79 Champion, although it's not clear if this uses one or two PCI Express lanes, as the chip has support for both options. Other board level features include two front USB 3.0 headers via a TI TUSB7340 host controller, three headers for six USB 3.0 ports, a header for a FireWire port and a serial port, power and reset buttons, a Voltage readout point and a POST80 debug LED.At the rear of the board we have a PS/2 port, two USB 2.0 ports, no less than eight USB 3.0 ports via two TUSB7340's, two eSATA ports via an unspecified SATA 3Gbps controller, a FireWire port, two Gigabit Ethernet ports via a pair of Broadcom chips and 7.1-channel audio with S/PDIF out courtesy of a Creative Sound Core3D.
Considering the insane amount of on board features, we can't but feel a little bit disappointed with the bundled accessories, as all you get is a front USB 3.0 unit, a rear USB 3.0 bracket and the various SLI bridges and a mere six SATA cables. Another issues with the Fatal1ty X79 Champion is the form fact, as for whatever reason, ASRock saw fit to go with a server/workstation CEB form factor which measures 305x267mm. This means that the Fatal1ty X79 Champion might not fit in some standard ATX chassis, as although the board is as wide as an ATX motherboard, it's 23mm wider. ASRock appears to have gone with a standard ATX layout for the screw holes though, but this is something worth keeping in mind.We presume you've already guessed that this is a seriously expensive motherboard and although we only have Japanese pricing to go by at the moment, ASRock is selling the board for a massive 37,980 Yen in Japan. In more familiar currencies, that's US$466 or S$582, which you could get a good motherboard and a CPU for if you'd pick something a bit more sensible. Then again, if you were sensible, then this would probably not be the kind of motherboard you'd be considering buying in the first place. The official retail date is apparently set for the 27th of this month, so you'll have to wait a little bit longer to spend your hard earned cash in this case.Source: ASRock
Read more: ASRock's Fatal1ty X79 Champion arrives, will cost you a kidney by VR-Zone.com
ASRock's Fatal1ty X79 Champion arrives, will cost you a kidney
Originally Posted by ALaude
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