ASRock Shows Off Three Motherboards for Enthusiasts

By Jane McEntegart
published

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:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ASRock Boards Technical Specifications
Row 0 - Cell 0 ChipsetForm FactorSocketPower Phase DesignMemPCIePCI
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 FormulaZ77ATXLGA 115512+44 DDR3 3000+ (OC)2 PCIe 3.0 x16 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 2 PCIe 2.0 x1n/a
X79 Extreme 11X79CEBLGA201124 + 28 DDR3 2400+ (OC)7 PCIe 3.0 x16n/a
Z77 Extreme6/TB4Z77ATXLGA 11558 + 44 DDR3 3000+ (OC)2 PCIe 3.0 x16 2 PCIe 2.0 x12
ASRock Boards Technical Specifications
Row 6 - Cell 0 AudioSATARAIDUSBLANIEEE 1394Lucid Vertu MVP
Z77 OC FormulaRealtek ALC 898 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio6 SATA34 SATA20/1/5/10 Intel RST, Smart Response10 USB 3.012 USB 2.0PCIe Gigabit Ethernetn/ayes
X79 Extreme 11Creative SoundCore 3D 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio PRO8 SAS/SATA3,2 SATA3,2 eSATA3,4 SATA2Intel SATA: 0/1/5/10Marvell SATA: 0/1/108USB 3.014 USB 2.02 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet (Teaming)2yes
Z77 Extreme6/TB4Realtek ALC 898 7.1 Ch, THX TruStudio4 SATA31 eSATA34 SATA20/1/5/10 Intel RST, Smart Response6 USB 3.08  USB 2.0PCIe Gigabit Ethernet2yes

*Quad SLI and Quad CrossFireX refer to a combination of two dual-GPU boards. 4-way refers to four actual boards.

Jane McEntegart
34 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dragoon21b
    GIMMIE, GIMMIE,GIMMIE!!!
    Reply
  • vrumor
    Yay.
    Reply
  • boiler1990
    ...three LGA 1155 motherboards...

    ...the X79 Extreme 11...

    C'mon guys...
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    isnt 16x quadfire or quad sli going to be bottlenecked by the sandy-bridge e chips?
    Reply
  • Pyree
    9374726 said:
    ...three LGA 1155 motherboards...

    ...the X79 Extreme 11...

    C'mon guys...
    My English not good enough. I may make grammatical mistake so I am not fixing it.
    Reply
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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.
    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.
    Reply
  • 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