ASRock Intros 870 Extreme3 Motherboard with CrossFire Support

[btarunr]

ASRock is ready with its premium motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset, the ASRock 870 Extreme3. Either the company seems to have jumped the specifications of the 870 by adding external PCI-Express lane switching that gives it proper CrossFire capability, or that the 870 will indeed support 2-way CrossFire with its lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link split into two x8 links between the two cards, leaving no room for a "890X" chipset. The 870 Extreme3 supports socket AM3 processors with a 4+1 phase VRM that can take 140W TDP processors. It will support upcoming Phenom II X6 and Phenom II X4 T series processors. It integrates ASRock's proprietary UCC chip that unlocks disabled cores on certain processors.

The board is advertised to support DDR3-1800 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated), PCI-E x1, and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out five internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, with one eSATA. Other connectivity features include 8 channel HD audio, a 2-port USB 3.0 controller, a number of USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. Diagnostic LED display and onboard power and reset switches make for the rest of it. The ASRock 870 Extreme3 will retail a little later this month.



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[AlienIsGOD]

Sweet!!!! now just some pricing info on this lil bad boy needs to be revealed

 

[roadie]

Perfect layout. Could be a bargain if it overclocks heavily too. We shall see...

 

[Lionheart]

Nice looking board!

 

[Zubasa]

Perfect layout. Could be a bargain if it overclocks heavily too. We shall see...

TBH all the decent 770 boards have no problems overclocking at all.

Looks like is the only 8 series chipset that is truly superior than its predecessor.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

My Asrock 785G overclocks nicely, wether using the auto cpu settings or doing it manually, AsRocks quality has skyrocketed since the old P4 & Athlon days IMO. I mean im the kind of guy that sticks to a brand if their quality is good, which is why I usually go with Sapphire, Gigabyte, and Asrock build after build.

 

[Para_Franck]

Newby question, when it is said: Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated)

does it mean that if I have a cross fire setup, I wont get maximum X16 bandwith for each card?

 

[btarunr]

Newby question, when it is said: Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated)

does it mean that if I have a cross fire setup, I wont get maximum X16 bandwith for each card?

Yes, if you have a Crossfire, you will get x8 per card. But don't worry, x16 to x8 is like 5% performance deficit even with the HD 5870.

 

[Disruptor4]

870 = premium? I thought that the 890FX was premium... or am I reading this wrong?

 

[btarunr]

870 = premium? I thought that the 890FX was premium... or am I reading this wrong?

There are two boards from ASRock based on 870. The other one is el-cheapo $100-ish, while this one looks to be $130-ish. Relatively this is the premium part.

 

[WarEagleAU]

True, but with a new NB/SB, Id think that they could increase the x16 to at least TWO slots.

 

[vagxtr]

Yes, if you have a Crossfire, you will get x8 per card. But don't worry, x16 to x8 is like 5% performance deficit even with the HD 5870.

Ofc not. It's 870 series. And all you'll get from it is the same as Asrock Hybrid mobos based on 780G/785G chipset 16x first pcie 4x third pcie. I agree with perfect layout where pcie x1 0 & 2 are above large ones.
But it's SB850 chipset. Not really what you need now is USB 3.0 & SATA 3.0 support. Specially when these SATA's on AMD chipsets are heavily CPU dependent (and have poor performance when AHCI is not enabled like on pre SB750 series chipsets) and their performance is based on raw CPU speed. And nowhere near 6Gbps. And if all manufacturers stick to sB850 specifications and dont cut down link connection speed USB 3.0 will be a pretty decent just like on 890GX. I dont need USB 3.0 now maybe in 2 years or so.

There are two boards from ASRock based on 870. The other one is el-cheapo $100-ish, while this one looks to be $130-ish. Relatively this is the premium part.

So it's premium when you waste an exta buck. I'd rather get that 890GX-UD3P for same 140USD than waste 30 extra bucks on nothing. Nice way of budget manufacturers to earn extra profit by selling cheaper chipset mobo to enthusiasts

 

[vagxtr]

... or that the 870 will indeed support 2-way CrossFire with its lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link split into two x8 links between the two cards, leaving no room for a "890X" chipset

Do you know what x90X chipset really means in AMD club. It's 4-way CrosfireX not 2-way ... and again even if they really decided to split x16 into 2-way x8 setup it's way cheaper buy 890GX board which by default have x8/x8 CFX with some extra features out of the box (like decent graphics) than these overpriced solution