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ASRock X79 Motherboard Headed by Feature-Rich Extreme9 Model

btarunr

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ASRock's socket LGA2011 motherboard lineup doesn't end with X79 Extreme7 as thought before, the company thinks there's scope for an even more loaded model that's literally bursting with connectivity and expansion features. Enter the X79 Extreme9. This board uses high-grade digital PWM circuitry to power the CPU. It draws power for the CPU VRM from two 8-pin EPS connectors. Unlike the X79 Extreme7, this board features eight DDR3 DIMM slots, two per memory channel. Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and a PCIe x1.

Since it completely ran out of room on the main PCB, ASRock put two important connectivity features on a separate (included) addon card, called the ASRock "Game Blaster". This card occupies the PCIe x1 slot, it packs a next-generation Creative SoundCore3D audio processor (more advanced than X-Fi), and a low-overhead/low-latency gigabit Ethernet connection. It's not exactly known if this connection is driven by a Killer 2100 or a more common PCIe GbE PHY backed by ASRock's proprietary packet prioritization software (XLAN).



Moving on to storage connectivity, all six SATA ports from the PCH are wired as internal ones, with two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s from the PCH. There are six additional SATA 6 Gb/s and eSATA 6 Gb/s ports, all driven by Marvell-made controllers. There are four USB 3.0 controllers, which give out eight ports: four on the rear panel, and four via headers. Apart from the network connection on the addon card, there's another port on the board. Firewire and USB 2.0 ports make for the rest of it. The board will be driven by UEFI firmware. Expect it to be one of the more expensive LGA2011 offerings out there.

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Mmm,this thing is damn swexy. Asrock is right up there with the big boys these days.
Loving that add-on card.
 
Mmm,this thing is damn swexy. Asrock is right up there with the big boys these days.
Loving that add-on card.

ASRock is already a big boy. It's the third largest motherboard vendor in terms of sales (after ASUS and Gigabyte).
 
AsRock is becoming the best little by little....
 
That's one beautiful board! I thought of getting the Rampage IV, but this board is giving me second thoughts. :p

The only thing I don't like is how the PCI-E 1x slot was positioned between the 16x slots, for 3-way SLI I would have to move the top video card to the 2nd slot and use the first 16x one for the sound card in order to use the SLI bridge.

Why not place that 1x slot on top of the 16x slots in the first place? :confused:
 
Wonder how much more expensive.... aslong as its not china pricing I think I've found my next board:)
 
That's one beautiful board! I thought of getting the Rampage IV, but this board is giving me second thoughts. :p

The only thing I don't like is how the PCI-E 1x slot was positioned between the 16x slots, for 3-way SLI I would have to move the top video card to the 2nd slot and use the first 16x one for the sound card in order to use the SLI bridge.

Why not place that 1x slot on top of the 16x slots in the first place? :confused:

It might come with a sli bridge to allow that. I can see those problems also.

1 card taking 2 slots, 1x in the middle, then the other 2 cards, they might have a modded bridge for that little issue, hopefully they do or high-end builders, probably wont play with this as much as asrock might wants
 
I like the looks of it, but I'm not big on fans on the motherboard. I hope they keep this "feature" exclusive to the SB-e line.
 
I've seen SLI bridges available in all sizes, pretty sure. Except maybe slot 1 to slot 7. That's when you have to make it yourself.


Overall, loving the board. Also holding a little hope that it's a single 8-port Marvell chip instead of multiple 2 port controllers.
 
WOOOOOW Looking Sexy ASRock Is Now Really Getting In The Competition
 
It might come with a sli bridge to allow that. I can see those problems also.

1 card taking 2 slots, 1x in the middle, then the other 2 cards, they might have a modded bridge for that little issue, hopefully they do or high-end builders, probably wont play with this as much as asrock might wants

I sure hope they include such a custom SLI bridge :) throw that in the package and you have a serious contender IMHO ;) you know how people say to never judge a book by its cover, but if the board is stable enough at high OC, it may actually give the ROG board a run for its money :p

In my personal case I had already decided to get the ROG board and a SoundCore PCI-e card (I already have the USB version) but if this board is price competitive I might go back to Asrock, I used to have this Frankenstein board that had both AGP and PCI-E slots coupled with DDR2 and 3 sockets many years ago, and I've heard nothing but good things about Asrock in the past few years.
 
Also holding a little hope that it's a single 8-port Marvell chip instead of multiple 2 port controllers.

It's multiple 2-port controllers.

bta096.jpg
 
Very nice looking board! Can't wait for release. :rockout:
 
Now all I need is a black/silver+Gold HAF-X and I'm all set up! :rockout:
 
It might come with a sli bridge to allow that. I can see those problems also.

1 card taking 2 slots, 1x in the middle, then the other 2 cards, they might have a modded bridge for that little issue, hopefully they do or high-end builders, probably wont play with this as much as asrock might wants

You could put the soundcard in the top x16 slot, then put the GPUs in 2, 4 and 6, no?
 
Man AsRock's latest stuff has been pretty sweet. Kinda wish they'd go into the graphics card market (and maybe now sound cards?)
 
this board can't do 4-way SLI? it says 3-way SLi not 4-way?

Still pretty nice they got that core audio on there.
 
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Hmm... that vrm heatsink shape seems to hinder the last ram slot closes to the i/o unusable if you have tall heatspreaders. Lets hope its a bad camera angle
 
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You could put the soundcard in the top x16 slot, then put the GPUs in 2, 4 and 6, no?

Yes, that's precisely what I said in my first post:

The only thing I don't like is how the PCI-E 1x slot was positioned between the 16x slots, for 3-way SLI I would have to move the top video card to the 2nd slot and use the first 16x one for the sound card in order to use the SLI bridge.

Why not place that 1x slot on top of the 16x slots in the first place? :confused:

Dunno how much of an ideal arrangement that would make considering in multiple GPU configurations most board manufacturers usually wire the top or "master" PCI-E slot to be a 16x electrical and the lower slots 8x when populated, one notable exception is my current board which has a 8x16x16x configuration in 3-way SLI, either way, not ideal an ideal setup, but it can certainly be done :)
 
Can I believe my eyes? No PCI?!? There is an extreme amount of stuff going on that motherboard though.
 
2 8-pins for cpu power, that rocks.
 
This has everything I am looking for I think I have found my LGA 2011 board.
 
Its a very exciting time to be involved in the wonderful world of technology, seriously!

Thankyou for the article, always great to note what of the latest features you may have missed out on in your last tech purchase!! lol.
 
Holy crap, 8 USB 3.0 ports, 12 internal SATA and a wtf expansion card. Rock on!
 
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