ASRock Shows Off Three Motherboards for Enthusiasts
Not one to miss out on a party, ASRock was at Computex in Taipei last week with a host of new technology. Among the products on show at the company's booth were three LGA 1155 motherboards, the X79 Extreme 11, the Z77 OC Formula, and the Z77 Extreme6/TB4.
First up is the X79 Extreme 11, which boasts two PLX PEX9747 chips for seven PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and can run 4-way SLI or CrossFireX in x16/x16/x16/x16 mode. It comes equipped with an LSI SAS2308 chip for SAS (eight ports), Broadcom Dual Gigabit Ethernet (with Teaming), a Ceative SoundCore 3D audio chip, a 24 + 2 power phase design and USB 3.0 front panel and USB 3.0 back bracket.
Next is the Z77 OC Formula, an overclocking-orientated mobo developed by world champion overclocker Nick Shih. Based on an eight layer PCB with 4 x 2 of copper, the board features a high density CPU power connector, reducing power loss by 23 percent and heat by 22° K. It packs a twin heatsink that works as a standard heatsink with 40 mm fan or doubles as a waterblock (comes with connectors), a 12 + 4 phase DigiPower VRM, four memory slots, dual channel memory (supports DDR3-3000+) and USB 3.0 front panel and USB 3.0 back bracket.
Lastly, there's the Z77 Extreme6/TB4, which features a four channel (Cactus Ridge 4C) Thunderbolt controller driving two ports, each port with 10Gb/s of bandwidth and capable of driving six devices. It boasts two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, 7.1 HD-Audio (Realtek ALC 898) with THX TruStudio, and comes with two free TH cables, as well as a USB 3.0 front panel and USB 3.0 back bracket.
For full specs, check the tables below:
| ASRock Boards Technical Specifications | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Chipset | Form Factor | Socket | Power Phase Design | Mem | PCIe | PCI |
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | Row 1 - Cell 1 | Row 1 - Cell 2 | Row 1 - Cell 3 | Row 1 - Cell 4 | Row 1 - Cell 5 | Row 1 - Cell 6 | Row 1 - Cell 7 |
| Z77 OC Formula | Z77 | ATX | LGA 1155 | 12+4 | 4 DDR3 3000+ (OC) | 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 2 PCIe 2.0 x1 | n/a |
| X79 Extreme 11 | X79 | CEB | LGA2011 | 24 + 2 | 8 DDR3 2400+ (OC) | 7 PCIe 3.0 x16 | n/a |
| Z77 Extreme6/TB4 | Z77 | ATX | LGA 1155 | 8 + 4 | 4 DDR3 3000+ (OC) | 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 2 PCIe 2.0 x1 | 2 |
| ASRock Boards Technical Specifications | |||||||
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Audio | SATA | RAID | USB | LAN | IEEE 1394 | Lucid Vertu MVP |
| Z77 OC Formula | Realtek ALC 898 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio | 6 SATA34 SATA2 | 0/1/5/10 Intel RST, Smart Response | 10 USB 3.012 USB 2.0 | PCIe Gigabit Ethernet | n/a | yes |
| X79 Extreme 11 | Creative SoundCore 3D 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio PRO | 8 SAS/SATA3,2 SATA3,2 eSATA3,4 SATA2 | Intel SATA: 0/1/5/10Marvell SATA: 0/1/10 | 8USB 3.014 USB 2.0 | 2 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet (Teaming) | 2 | yes |
| Z77 Extreme6/TB4 | Realtek ALC 898 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio | 4 SATA31 eSATA34 SATA2 | 0/1/5/10 Intel RST, Smart Response | 6 USB 3.08 USB 2.0 | PCIe Gigabit Ethernet | 2 | yes |
*Quad SLI and Quad CrossFireX refer to a combination of two dual-GPU boards. 4-way refers to four actual boards.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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TheBigTroll isnt 16x quadfire or quad sli going to be bottlenecked by the sandy-bridge e chips?Reply -
Pyree Reply
My English not good enough. I may make grammatical mistake so I am not fixing it.9374726 said:...three LGA 1155 motherboards...
...the X79 Extreme 11...
C'mon guys... -
wiyosaya The x79 extreme 11 seems a bit extreme and maybe aimed at the inexperienced who actually thinks they are going to fit 7 graphics cards or teslas on this board. If the board had a larger footprint, or if all the graphics cards were water-cooled and the card + water cooler take only one slot each, maybe, but could you even get a power supply that would supply enough power for 7 high-end GPUs?Reply
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Actually, the x79 isn't designed for seven cards. Given that high end graphics use two slots (or even three in some cases) you are only going to fit a maximum of seven cards in there. The other slots are there for other PCIe devices.Reply
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eddieroolz wiyosayaThe x79 extreme 11 seems a bit extreme and maybe aimed at the inexperienced who actually thinks they are going to fit 7 graphics cards or teslas on this board.Reply
I may be wrong, but I only count 4 PCIe-3.0 x16 slots and it specifically states 4-way SLI on the board, not 7. -
Pyree Well, you can get 7 single slot 7850. But of course it will be difficult to power them all. They will not all crossfire. It will also be an inferno in the case.Reply -
K2N hater eddieroolzI may be wrong, but I only count 4 PCIe-3.0 x16 slots and it specifically states 4-way SLI on the board, not 7.The fact it supports 4-way SLI has no relation to the number of slots. Most probably it does x16 if up to 3 add-in cards are detected and x8 if 4 or more. As evil as marketing goes a pair of "open" x1 slots also allow quad CF and quad SLI.Reply