ASRock X79 Extreme4

Zitat: Pro: + Good layout, features, looks + Easy-to-use BIOS + Competitive price Con: - £175, while cheap for X79, is still a lot of money Readers wanting access to the very best CPU technology need to invest in a Sandy Bridge Extreme CPU and X79 chipset-based motherboard. Setting aside the pros and cons of this platform against the mainstream 6-series boards and upcoming Ivy Bridge-support 7-series, X79 simply isn´t cheap. £170 is the minimum one pays for an X79 offering, rising up to £350 for the Kitchen Sink™ model. ASRock plies the low end of the market with the Extreme 4, currently retailing for £175 or so, and it´s refreshing to see that genuine thought has been put into the choice of features, layout and overall appeal. The Extreme 4 is capable in all areas, featuring a strong BIOS, well-chosen extras and solid performance. It punches well above its financial weight and we would have little to criticise even if was priced at £225, given just how X79 boards stack up. ASRock´s been make the right noises of late. The Extreme 4 represents a wake-up call to other manufacturers, for you can have a decent X79 board without (totally) breaking the bank.

Zitat: I find myself really surprised with the performance of the ASRock X79 Extreme4 and only in the best possible way. Overclocked performance while done slightly differently with a lower BCLK and higher multiplier, we can see that it still helps manage achieve a really strong overclock in the end with that 4.72GHz result we managed to achieve.

Zitat: Auf der Asrock-Platine fällt der Lüfter im Chipsatz-Kühlkörper auf. Er läuft aber erst an, wenn die Temperatur des X79-Chips 50 Grad übersteigt. In unserem test war das nie der Fall. Als einzige Platine im Testfeld verfügt das Asrock X79 Extreme4 über zwei PCI-Slots.