• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

ASRock Z87 Extreme9/ac World's First Thunderbolt-certified Motherboard

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
46,274 (7.69/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
If you've been following news of computing technologies, you've probably already noticed the presence of Thunderbolt technology. Now the maestros of motherboard manufacturing, ASRock is the world's first to add more of these wonderful Thunderbolt ports to the upcoming Intel 8 Series motherboards! What's more, the company's top-of-the-line Z87 Extreme9/ac motherboard is the world's first Intel 8 Series motherboard to pass the Intel Thunderbolt certification.

These Thunderbolt ports will come on ASRock's Z87 Extreme9/ac, which are allegedly arriving to the market very soon, along with dozens of other exciting new features, such as ASRock's A-Style. So, if you're looking forward to build a solid next gen desktop rig with insanely fast data transfer abilities and innovative new software or hardware features, keep your eyes open for this bad boy.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
I swear that is the sexiest board I have ever seen. It would go so well with Corsair Dominator Platinums with the black and clean aluminum.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
I cant wait to see cadaveca's reviews of these new boards. Not to mention the haswell reviews in general.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
I cant wait to see cadaveca's reviews of these new boards. Not to mention the haswell reviews in general.

Im not expecting much from Haswell. as long as its on par with Ivy Bridge ill still upgrade to it.

Id like to be on the new socket even if performance isn't that much of an improvement.
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2013
Messages
895 (0.22/day)
Asrock has improved their mobo products in recent years and they now can be considered on par with Asus and Gigabyte as far as mobo performance is concerned, with the nod definitely going to Asrock tech support over both Asus (sic) and Gigabyte, (poor IME).

That being said, Thunderbolt is a technology looking for something to use it. It really is a solution for few people/devices so unless you have some real need for it, it's just marketing hype.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
Im not expecting much from Haswell. as long as its on par with Ivy Bridge ill still upgrade to it.

Id like to be on the new socket even if performance isn't that much of an improvement.

If it overclocks to 5ghz like sandy did to 4.5ghz I might upgrade myself.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
If it overclocks to 5ghz like sandy did to 4.5ghz I might upgrade myself.

I really would like to get a chip with hyper threading for video editing rendering. That's why I am looking at Haswell to get the 4770k.
 
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
2,132 (0.39/day)
Location
Chicago burbs
System Name Halloween Boo!
Processor Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-Up7
Cooling Custom Water/ Thermalchill TA 120.3/ Swiftech Apogeee XT/ MCP655/ Swiftech M icrores/ XSPC RX 240
Memory 16G G.Skill trident 2400MHz
Video Card(s) 3 x Radeon 7970
Storage OCZ Revo Drive 240G
Display(s) 24 inch Viewsonic
Case Phobia WayCoolIt Test Bench
Power Supply Nexus 1100 watt
I really would like to get a chip with hyper threading for video editing rendering. That's why I am looking at Haswell to get the 4770k.

Buy my 3930K LOL
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
12,062 (2.77/day)
Location
Gypsyland, UK
System Name HP Omen 17
Processor i7 7700HQ
Memory 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s) GTX 1060
Storage Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s) 1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s) Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply 230W
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD+
Software Win 10 Pro
I cant wait to see cadaveca's reviews of these new boards. Not to mention the haswell reviews in general.

Could be pretty soon, but along with the wonderful review I'm sure we'll see the ugly sides of Z87.
Loving the board, still waiting on a board to go with my block white with black highlight theme.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
3,145 (0.69/day)
Processor 8700k Intel
Motherboard z370 MSI Godlike Gaming
Cooling Triple Aquacomputer AMS Copper 840 with D5
Memory TridentZ RGB G.Skill C16 3600MHz
Video Card(s) GTX 1080 Ti
Storage Crucial MX SSDs
Display(s) Dell U3011 2560x1600 + Dell 2408WFP 1200x1920 (Portrait)
Case Core P5 Thermaltake
Audio Device(s) Essence STX
Power Supply AX 1500i
Mouse Logitech
Keyboard Corsair
Software Win10
If it overclocks to 5ghz like sandy did to 4.5ghz I might upgrade myself.

Well, Sandy already does 5Ghz so it's not like it would be a feat
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
Am I the only person who thinks that it is interesting that the picture of that board has 10 SATA ports on it and that they're all the same color? Thunderbolt is cool, but if those are all SATA3 ports, that's pretty nifty and it's about time. :p Makes me wonder how many of them are off the PCH and what controller they're using for the rest.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
3,145 (0.69/day)
Processor 8700k Intel
Motherboard z370 MSI Godlike Gaming
Cooling Triple Aquacomputer AMS Copper 840 with D5
Memory TridentZ RGB G.Skill C16 3600MHz
Video Card(s) GTX 1080 Ti
Storage Crucial MX SSDs
Display(s) Dell U3011 2560x1600 + Dell 2408WFP 1200x1920 (Portrait)
Case Core P5 Thermaltake
Audio Device(s) Essence STX
Power Supply AX 1500i
Mouse Logitech
Keyboard Corsair
Software Win10
Am I the only person who thinks that it is interesting that the picture of that board has 10 SATA ports on it and that they're all the same color? Thunderbolt is cool, but if those are all SATA3 ports, that's pretty nifty and it's about time. :p Makes me wonder how many of them are off the PCH and what controller they're using for the rest.

And this is not the Extreme11 which will probably have an LSI controller onboard.

Let's hope they get the memo and make Raid5 possible, the only reason I didn't pick up an X79 E11 is the lack of Raid5.

Oh and also retarded latency given by PLX chips.
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
Let's hope they get the memo and make Raid5 possible, the only reason I didn't pick up an X79 E11 is the lack of Raid5.

Oh and also retarded latency given by PLX chips.

+1: There is no reason to have a PLX chip on a X79 board IMHO. Also the lack of RAID-5 was the biggest turn off with the board. I already had my board when it came out so I wouldn't have swapped, but it definitely was a turn off.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
3,145 (0.69/day)
Processor 8700k Intel
Motherboard z370 MSI Godlike Gaming
Cooling Triple Aquacomputer AMS Copper 840 with D5
Memory TridentZ RGB G.Skill C16 3600MHz
Video Card(s) GTX 1080 Ti
Storage Crucial MX SSDs
Display(s) Dell U3011 2560x1600 + Dell 2408WFP 1200x1920 (Portrait)
Case Core P5 Thermaltake
Audio Device(s) Essence STX
Power Supply AX 1500i
Mouse Logitech
Keyboard Corsair
Software Win10
I think that the X79 E11 had some nifty engineering choices but those were eclipsed by some other poor choices.

They probably implemented that half assed LSI controller just to have all those ports and the PLX chips just to cram everything they could on the platform.

The idea was nice but the implementation just came as a mix of too many things which made the strong points much more weaker.

Let's hope they will understand the message and show that on upcoming E11s because ASRock has gained my interest lately and this is tough to say by an ASUS fanboy.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
Well, Sandy already does 5Ghz so it's not like it would be a feat

5ghz is not something every sandy can do. 4.5ghz is something nearly every sandy can do with ease. I can at max get 4.6ghz but no higher. 5ghz or maybe more with a small bit of an ipc improvement combined is what might make me upgrade, but not till I read many many reviews. I desire more single threaded performance. In the end I may not upgrade and live happy with sandy.
 
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
2,132 (0.39/day)
Location
Chicago burbs
System Name Halloween Boo!
Processor Intel Core i7 3770K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77-Up7
Cooling Custom Water/ Thermalchill TA 120.3/ Swiftech Apogeee XT/ MCP655/ Swiftech M icrores/ XSPC RX 240
Memory 16G G.Skill trident 2400MHz
Video Card(s) 3 x Radeon 7970
Storage OCZ Revo Drive 240G
Display(s) 24 inch Viewsonic
Case Phobia WayCoolIt Test Bench
Power Supply Nexus 1100 watt
5ghz is not something every sandy can do. 4.5ghz is something nearly every sandy can do with ease. I can at max get 4.6ghz but no higher. 5ghz or maybe more with a small bit of an ipc improvement combined is what might make me upgrade, but not till I read many many reviews. I desire more single threaded performance. In the end I may not upgrade and live happy with sandy.

James, Sandy can do 5GHz FYI
 
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Messages
2,067 (0.41/day)
System Name The Stone that the Builders Refused / iJayo
Processor R5 1600/ R7 3700X
Motherboard Asrock AB350 Pro4 / Asus Rog Strix B450-F gaming
Cooling Cryorig M9 / Noctua NH-D14
Memory G skill 16 Gigs ddr4 / 16 gigs PNY ddr4
Video Card(s) Nvdia GTX 660 / Nvidia RTX 2070 Super
Storage 120gig 840 evo, 120gig adata sp900 / 1tb Mushkin M.2 ssd 1 & 3 tb seagate hdd, 120 gig Hyper X ssd
Display(s) 42" Nec retail display monitor/ 34" Dell curved 165hz monitor
Case Pink Enermax Ostrog / Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Tempered Glass edition
Audio Device(s) Altec Lansing Expressionist Bass/ M-Audio monitors
Power Supply Corsair450 / Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 650
Mouse corsair vengence M65 / Zalman Knossos
Keyboard corsair k95 / Roccat Vulcan 121
Software Window 10 pro / Windows 10 pro
Benchmark Scores meh... feel me on the battle field!
......ouch!!!!!!.......... tech woodie....... credit card on stand by......
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
702 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) R9 Nano
Storage 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s) 1920x1080
Case Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply CX650M
Software Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
Can do, and does consistently are two very different things. That is his point.

That depends on the board and the CPU. Where my 3820 might not go above 4.94Ghz at the highest, there are a lot of boards (in particular, ROG boards,) that will let it get much closer to 5.4Ghz, so with a good board a 5Ghz overclock with a 2600k shouldn't be unreasonable. 5Ghz for a 2700k should be a walk in the park though, assuming your motherboard can handle it.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2011
Messages
3,145 (0.69/day)
Processor 8700k Intel
Motherboard z370 MSI Godlike Gaming
Cooling Triple Aquacomputer AMS Copper 840 with D5
Memory TridentZ RGB G.Skill C16 3600MHz
Video Card(s) GTX 1080 Ti
Storage Crucial MX SSDs
Display(s) Dell U3011 2560x1600 + Dell 2408WFP 1200x1920 (Portrait)
Case Core P5 Thermaltake
Audio Device(s) Essence STX
Power Supply AX 1500i
Mouse Logitech
Keyboard Corsair
Software Win10
That depends on the board and the CPU. Where my 3820 might not go above 4.94Ghz at the highest, there are a lot of boards (in particular, ROG boards,) that will let it get much closer to 5.4Ghz, so with a good board a 5Ghz overclock with a 2600k shouldn't be unreasonable. 5Ghz for a 2700k should be a walk in the park though, assuming your motherboard can handle it.

Yes many 2700k can hit 5,0 Ghz easily ;)
 

Fourstaff

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
10,020 (1.91/day)
Location
Home
System Name Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor 3570K // 10400F
Motherboard ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling Stock // Stock
Memory 2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s) Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s) LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w
Which one should come first, lots of Thunderbolt devices and then motherboards to take advantage of them, or lots of Thunderbolt equipped motherboards, and then the devices?
 
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
2,516 (0.50/day)
Location
Canada
System Name m1dg3t | DeathBox | HairPi 3
Processor 3570k @ 4.0 1.15v BIOS | q9550 @ 3.77 1.325v BIOS
Motherboard Asrock z77e iTX | p5q Dlx 2301 BIOS
Cooling Custom Water | D-14 & HR-03gt | Passive HSF
Memory Samsung MV-3V4G3D 4g x 2 @ 1866 1.35v | OcZ RpR 2g x 4 @ 1067 2.2v
Video Card(s) MSi 7950 tf3 @1000 / 1350 | Asus 5870 V2 @ 900 / 1275
Storage Adata sx900 256Gb / WD 2500 HHTZ | WD 1001 FALS x 2
Display(s) BenQ gw2750hm | 46" Sharp Quatron
Case BitFenix Prodigy - m0dd3d | Antec Fusion Remote MAX
Audio Device(s) Onboard Toslink > Yamaha HTR 6290 | Xonar HDAV1.3 > Yamaha DSP z7
Power Supply Ocz mXp700w | Ocz zx850w | Cannakit 5v 2.5a
Mouse Logitech G700s | Logitech G9x - Cable Repaired
Keyboard TT Meka G1 - Black w Cherry Blacks| Logitech G11
Software Win7 Home | Xp sp3 & Vista ultimate | Raspbian
Benchmark Scores Epeen!! Who needs epeen??
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
702 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling Hyper 212 Evo
Memory 16GB
Video Card(s) R9 Nano
Storage 256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s) 1920x1080
Case Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply CX650M
Software Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
413 (0.10/day)
I have low expectations for haswell but this motherboard looks SO GOOD! :respect:
 
Top