ASRock X79 Extreme9 Motherboard Review

[Eldonko]

BIOS Rundown

BIOS Rundown

The Extreme9 features a UEFI BIOS with support for hard drives above 3TB and mouse support for easy navigation. The BIOS featured in this section is version 1.90 dated 02/09/2012 which was the latest official BIOS available. It may look a bit juvenile but this BIOS is surprisingly capable from an overclocking standpoint and relatively bug free.

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Like with many other boards, the Extreme9’s main BIOS page displays information about the motherboard, processor and memory. The System browser is a sub screen that shows all of the installed hardware and can help with troubleshooting if there are issues with certain items.

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The OC Tuner page is where overclockers will spend the majority of their time since this section includes overclocking presets under CPU EZ OC Setting (up to 5200Mhz in increments of 200Mhz) as well as full manual control for items such as CPU ratio, BCLK, and PLL Overvoltage. Further down are three slots for saving overclocking profiles.

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The DRAM Timing Control sub screen contains a number of memory timings as well as settings like channel and rank interleaving. The Voltage Configuration page includes all of the voltages needed for overclocking such as Vcore, VCCSA, DRAM, VTT, and PLL.

 

[Eldonko]

BIOS Rundown p.2

BIOS Rundown

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The Advanced page contains settings for CPU, chipset, storage, I/O, ACPI, and USB as well as an Instant Flash which is used to flash the BIOS. CPU Configuration meanwhile has the CPU ratio and CPU features as well as a sub screen for power saving options.

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Under CPU Power Management Configuration all power options are found such as Speedstep, Thermal Throttling, C1E, C-states, Internal PLL Overvoltage, and Core Current Limit. Core Current Limit must be increased for overclocking, otherwise the CPU will not receive sufficient power for stability. North Bridge Configuration is where PCI-E slots can be changed to Gen 1, Gen 2, or Gen 3.

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The H/W Monitor section contains the system temperature/power status, and adjustable fan settings. Fan speeds are customizable based on temperature or desired speed (level 1 to 4) and there is an Over Temperature Protection setting which is enabled by default. The Boot tab meanwhile contains boot priority options along with POST configurations so you can change the POST screen to use either the ASRock logo or typical information.

 

[Eldonko]

Test Setup and Testing Methodology

Test Setup and Testing Methodology

Our test setup consists of an Intel Sandy Bridge-E 3960X, ASRock Extreme9 motherboard, three GTX 470s, 16GB of Mushkin Redline DDR3-2133 9-11-10, and a Crucial M4 128GB SSD. All this is powered by a Corsair AX1200w PSU. Here are a few shots of the setup and hardware:

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First we have the whole test bench up and running. As you can see we used watercooling (Apogee XT) for the CPU along with two heatercores.


Overclocking Methodology

At Hardware Canucks, we understand we have a diverse reader base and to represent a variety of user types, so we put the Extreme9 through three types of tests.

• Beginner Overclocker - To represent a beginner overclocker or a mainstream user that wants to have a quick and easy way to get some extra performance we used the EZ OC Settings found in the UEFI BIOS.
• Experienced Overclocker - To represent an experienced overclocker that is looking for the optimal 24/7 overclock to maximize system performance while keeping voltage and temperatures in check we overclocked the Extreme9 manually and stopped when we started to get concerned with voltage levels and temperatures.
• Advanced Bencher - To represent the bencher that is looking for short benchmark runs at absolute maximum CPU and memory clocks we tested with sub-zero cooling and higher than recommended voltages. More on this is found in the sub-zero testing section.

We did stability testing a little differently for the Sandy Bridge-E platform than usual. The main stability test used was Linpack (LinX version 0.6.4) with memory usage set to 2,048MB and 20 loops run. In the enthusiast world, Linpack is a benchmark designed to measure performance on Intel CPUs in GFlops. However, it's also a very useful tool for checking the stability of a CPU and memory. LinX picks up very quickly and if you are able to complete a 20 loop test with the specifications above your system is likely stable or very close to it. For testing memory stability we used HyperPI as this bench picks up memory errors quickly.

After LinX/ HyperPIstability was achieved, 2 runs of 3DMark 11 were run to test 3D stability. Once an overclock passed these tests, this is the point deemed as “stable” for the purposes of this review.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 was installed to take advantage of the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) with Sandy Bridge processors. Intel AVX is a 256-bit SIMD floating point vector extension of Intel architecture. The BIOS used for overclocking and benchmarking was version 1.90.

Benchmarking Methodology

Benchmarks in the System Benchmarks section will be a comparison of the i7 3960X and Extreme9 at stock speed, at auto overclock speed as set by max stable EZ OC Setting, and at maximum 24/7 overclock to give an idea of how much performance a user can gain when overclocking the Extreme9.

For stock testing, optimized defaults were loaded putting the CPU at 3,300Mhz (33 x 100.0) and memory at 1,333Mhz and 9-9-9-24 1T timings. Optimized defaults do not enable Turbo by default hence the 3,300Mhz instead of 3,900Mhz like we saw with some other boards. The auto overclocked speed on the 3960X (EZ OC Setting) was 4,800Mhz (48 x 100.0) with memory at 1,333Mhz and 9-9-9-24 1T timings. The overclocked speed on the 3960X for 24/7 stability was 5,000Mhz (50 x 100.0) with memory at 2,133Mhz and 9-11-9-281T timings. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit was used with SP1 installed.

 

[Eldonko]

Overclocking Results

Overclocking Results

As we typically do for reviews, we put the Extreme9 through countless hours of overclocking and testing; from auto overclocking through each level of CPU EZ OC Setting to manual overclocking where tweaking is king. Since the Extreme9 is dubbed the Overclock King we also had to put that claim to the test by including a section on sub-zero testing.


Auto Overclocking

ASRock does auto overclocking a little different than most; instead of an auto overclocking feature, seven "CPU EZ OC Settings" are included ranging from 4.0GHz to 5.2GHz in 200Mhz increments. So instead of simply clicking a button and hoping that everything runs perfectly fine, we went through each EZ OC Setting manually until we lost stability and had to drop back one level. Going through the presets one at a time, we got to 5GHz before the system failed to retain full 24/7 endurance without problems.

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Dropping back to 4.8GHz we were able to run every stress tests and benchmark without any issue and ran at this speed to ensure full stability. The EZ OC presets don’t overclock the memory at all so it stayed at 1333 and 9-9-9-24 1T. Vcore ended up at 1.465v which is a tad high but still within safe limits and the highest LLC level of 1 was used

In the end we were happy with the auto overclocking performance of this board, particularly considering how well the system can be adapted for each individual’s needs. It would have been nice to see a memory overclock as well but 4800Mhz with virtually no work is great. Keep in mind however that overclock results will differ by the quality of your CPU and another CPU could be stable at 5GHz, 4.8GHz or even less. This may not be a “set it and forget it” feature like the one on ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI boards but it feel infinitely more adaptable.


Manual Overclocking

Starting with the CPU overclock and leaving the RAM at stock we went directly for the overclocker’s holy grail of 5GHz. After a few days of tweaking and experimenting with voltages and other settings we were able to achieve our goal.

Throughout the trial and error proves, the Extreme9 was reasonably easy to work with. However, hitting the 5GHz plateau wasn't quite as straightforward as with some of competitors’ boards since the Extreme9 often needs a CMOS clear settings to recover from an instable overclock. So much for the “Crash Free BIOS”, eh?

We also struggled with CPU throttling until we discovered a second Over Temperature Protection (also VRM protection under Voltage Configuration) at the bottom of the H/W monitor page. The CPU would throttle when hitting the low to mid 80s but disabling this oddball feature allowed for clear sailing on the throttling front.

Achieving 5GHz was possible with a number of BCLK and multi combinations but in the end we ended up going with 50 x 100.00 so we could run our Redline kit at 2133Mhz. The VCore required for 5GHz at 50 x 100 was 1.475V with and LLC at level 1. However, using different BCLK and multi combinations requires different levels of Vcore so keep that in mind when overclocking.

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After finding that point of CPU stability, the next step is always to maximize the memory overclock. Since the Redline kit is rated for 2133Mhz at 9-11-10 and 1.65v that was a natural first step. We achieved this speed without issue with only 1.0V VCCSA and 1.15V VTT.

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Since spec speed is never enough, we decided to drop the CPU frequency and move up on the Redline overclock to see how far we could take things. The 16GB kit pushed itself up to the 2218Mhz mark at 9-11-10-32 2T but the board just wouldn’t allow it to do so with 1T command rate. In addition, our kit has been proven to easily run at upwards of 2400MHz on some other boards but that achievement proved to be a bridge too far for the ASRock as it could only run in dual channel mode on the Extreme9. We were simply unable to pass the 2218Mhz mark with more voltage and looser timings did not help either.

Next up we tested the max BCLK on your 3960X chip which got us to 159 BCLK (166 strap) on the RIVE with clockgen filter disabled. The Extreme 9 meanwhile maxed out at 132 BCLK and there was no setting in the BIOS to surpass this mark.

Overall, overclocking performance was decent but we saw better memory clocking and a higher max BCLK on other X79 boards. The Extreme9 is not exactly the “Overclock King” it claims to be thus far, but let's see what sub-zero gives us.

 

[Eldonko]

Sub-Zero Overclocking Results

Sub-Zero Overclocking Results

The phase change cooler used is these tests a large single stage unit with a 10,500 btu rotary compressor, a mix of r410a and r22a gasses, and a 5 foot flex line. The cooler is tuned for a 300W heat load at -30C so it can handle even Sandy Bridge-E with ease. We also had our trusty digital multimeter and thermometer as per usual.

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We had heard some rumours about issues with sub-zero abd the Extreme9 so we contacted ASRock before freezing the CPU and we were given a beta BIOS that was supposed to fix past problems. The original issue was a lack of multi modification past the 12x mark under sub-zero cooling so before testing we took all of the precautions and flashed the BIOS to 1.98C.

Before we go on, let’s remember that our 3960X easily runs about 5500Mhz when paired up with the right board.

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Unfortunately, an overclocking king this board is not…at least not with our CPU. Looking at the above we are sure you are as disappointed as we were with the sub-zero outcome. Despite using a BIOS with a fix for the 12x multi issue we still had that exact same problem and once again the board would not exceed 12x no matter what we tried. We contacted ASRock and they told us that their latest fix was for C1 and C2 stepping CPUs and unfortunately ours is a C0 so for now we are out of luck. ASRock is working on a fix for C0 CPUs as well but until then if you have a C0 sub-zero testing is pointless.

 

[Eldonko]

System Benchmarks

In the System Benchmarks section we will show a number benchmark comparisons of the 3960X and Extreme9 using the stock speed, applying the EZ OC, and our manual overclock. This will illustrate how much performance can be gained by overclocking the 3960X using the Extreme9. For full comparisons of 3960X vs. a number of different CPUs have a look at the Intel Sandy Bridge-E Core i7-3960X CPU Review.


SuperPIBenchmark

SuperPi calculates the number of digits of PI in a pure 2D benchmark. For the purposes of this review, calculation to 32 million places will be used. RAM speed, RAM timings, CPU speed, L2 cache, and Operating System tweaks all effect the speed of the calculation, and this has been one of the most popular benchmarks among enthusiasts for several years.

SuperPi was originally written by YasumasaKanada in 1995 and was updated later by snq to support millisecond timing, cheat protection and checksum. The version used in these benchmarks, 1.5 is the official version supported by hwbot.

Results: A 28% increase in SuperPI 32M is noted going from stock speed of 3300Mhz (optimized defaults) to the EZ OC speed of 4800Mhz on the i7 3960X and Extreme9. Jumping up to the manual overclock speed of 5000Mhz a 34% gain is noted.


CINEBENCH R11.5

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation.

In this system benchmark section we will use the x64 Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario.The Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario uses all of the system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene (from the viral "No Keyframes" animation by AixSponza). This scene makes use of various algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.

Results: The CINEBENCH R11.5 results show an impressive increase in performance in rendering moving from a stock system to two levels of an overclocked system. For CPU rendering, a 47% and 52% improvement (in points) is noted when moving to auto and manual OC speeds.


Sandra Processor Arithmeticand Processor Multi-Media Benchmarks

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. The software suite provides most of the information (including undocumented) users like to know about hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. The name “Sandra” is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means "defender", "helper of mankind".

The software version used for these tests is SiSoftware Sandra 2012. In the 2012 version of Sandra, SiSoft has updated the .Net benchmarks and the GPGPU benchmarks have been upgraded to General Processing (GP) benchmarks, able to fully test the new APU (CPU+GPU) processors. The two benchmarks used are the Processor Multi-Media and Processor Arithmetic benchmarks. These three benchmarks were chosen as they provide a good indication of three varying types of system performance. The multi-media test shows how the processor handles multi-media instructions and data and the arithmetic test shows how the processor handles arithmetic and floating point instructions. These two tests illustrate two important areas of a computer’s speed and provide a wide scope of results.

Results: Sandra processor arithmetic and multi-media benchmarks also show impressive improvements on an overclocked system, with 45% to 53% gains in performance across the board for the EZ OC and manual overclock.


MaxxMemBenchmark

Created by MaxxPI², the MaxxMem benchmark tests your computer’s raw memory performance, combining copy, read, write and latency tests into one global score. This memory benchmark is a classic way to measure bandwidth of a memory subsystem.

MaxxMem uses continuous memoryblocks, sized in power of 2 from 16MB up to 512MB,starting either writing to or reading from it. To enable high-precision memory performance measurement, they both internally work with multiple passes and averages calculations per run.

Further, the main goal was to minimize (CPU) cache pollution on memory reads and to eliminate it (almost completely) on memory writes. Additionally, MaxxMem operates with an aggressive data prefetching algorithm. This all will deliver an excellent judge of bandwidth while reading and writing.

Results: Moving from stock speed to the EZ OC on the Extreme9, we see nice gains of 17-45% in memory read, write, and copy. When we up to the manual overclock, bandwidth goes up even more with improvements of 50-52%!

The results are similar when looking at latency; 12% is gained by EZ OC and 32% with the manual overclock. Since EZ OC does not overclock memory the real gains in bandwidth and latency are seen with a manual overclock.

 

[Eldonko]

Feature Tests - Creative Sound Core 3D Audio and Xfast USB

Feature Tests - Creative Sound Core 3D Audio and Xfast USB

Creative Sound Core 3D Audio

You don't see a whole lot of audio testing here at Hardware Canucks simply because of its subjective nature but when a board comes a quad core audio processor along with Creative's THX TruStudio PRO software suite it is worth taking a closer look.

Subjectively speaking, we think that the Game Blaster module with the Extreme9 sounds excellent when paired up with the right headphones or stereo system but to give a more objective take we also used RightMark Audio Analyzer (RMAA) 6.2.3 for testing. We tested the Extreme9 Creative Sound Core 3D audio against a typical onboard audio chip: the Realtek ALC889 on EVGA’s P67 FTW. The results of the testing are as follows:

As you can see the Creative Sound Core 3D outperforms the Realtek chip in four tests but the Realtek takes the win in the other four. The tests were ASRock’s Extreme9 came up weak are all related to sound accuracy and distortion: THD + N and IMD.

THD + N represents total harmonic distortion plus noise and is a measurement of sound accuracy. For high fidelity, THD + N is typically expected to be less than 1% so although the Creative Sound Core 3D got a “low” rating it is still well within the range to meet this requirement.

IMD or intermodulation distortion is the result of two frequencies combining to make a third, unwanted sound. IMD is something audio engineers try to keep as low as possible since it introduces frequency components that tend to sound unpleasant. Again, the IMD results are less than 1% off of reference and would probably not be recognizable by the human ear. Thus, we have no concerns about the noise levels and sound accuracy of ASRock’s Game Blaster module, even though on paper, they could have been better.

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When showing audio tests, we always like to mention that a high end sound card isn’t something you’ll want to pair up with inexpensive speakers or headphones. To get the best out of your source material, every part of the audio steam needs to be in tip top shape. So while the Game Blaster may work wonders in a test environment, it would be totally pointless if used with a cheap output device.


XFast USB

As we saw in the software section, ASRock has developed a USB boost utility called XFast USB. It works by creating a Quality of Service (QoS) protocol which prioritizes bandwidth from the USB bus and thus allows for quicker data transfer speeds. ASRock claims that XFast USB will be up to five times faster than a board without XFast USB.

To see if ASRock’s claims live up to reality we tested file transfer speeds using Nodesoft Disk Bench 2.6.2.0 on the X79 Extreme 9 (using Xfast USB) and then on EVGA’s P67 FTW. We transferred a 2.8GB file from a Mushkin Ventura Pro 32GB USB 3.0 drive.

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First we have file transfer from the flash drive to a HD. As you can see the transfer rates for XFastUSB are outstanding and ASRock claims of five times faster performance live up to the marketing hype. Please note that the best results will come with the latest version of Xfast USB (3.02.30 at the time of this review) which is found here.

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Next we copied a file of the same size from a HD to the flash drive. Transfer rate is nowhere near the 620Mb/s we saw when transferring from the flash drive but Xfast USB comes out on top nonetheless.

Since the above tests were done with a smaller file (2.8GB) and data could be cached to RAM (thus speeding up transfer times) we wanted to see how XFast USB would handle much larger files. We used RichCopy to copy 12GB and 20GB files to and from the flash drive on both the Extreme9 and P67 FTW. Each test was repeated 3 times and the average is reported above. As you can see XFast USB once again comes out on top in every test with close to double the speed when copying from the flash drive to a hard drive.

 

[Eldonko]

Load-Line Calibration Testing

Load-Line Calibration Testing

Load-line Calibration is defined by Intel’s VRM spec and it affects CPU voltage. In short, the CPU’s working voltage will decrease proportionally to load so higher load-line calibration nets higher voltage, increased stability and better overclocking performance. However, in some cases LLC has been known to apply too much voltage (potentially damaging the CPU) in order to compensate for these decreases while other boards have been known to apply insufficient voltage and thus, stability remains a bridge too far.

The Extreme9 has five levels load-line calibration, ranging from level 1 to 5 with level 1 being the highest setting. In this section we will test each level of LLC at three different voltages (1.3v, 1.4v, 1.5v) so we can give users an idea of what to expect from each level. Both actual readings (measured via a multimeter) and BIOS set voltages are displayed below to give you an idea of how much voltage you get versus how much you set.

Unfortunately the Extreme9 does not include voltage measure points so the best bet was to solder some leads underneath the board on the MLCC caps beneath the socket. This is typically the most accurate spot to measure voltage on any board.

For VCore measurement we used our digital multimeter connected to the wires we soldered to the cap through legs. To get a good idea of how the Extreme9 will react to different levels we measured idle and load voltages with a digital multimeter accurate to three decimal places. Each load voltage was recorded at the 1 minute mark using of using Prime95, all tests were run with the CPU speed at 4GHz and memory at 2133 9-11-10.

Starting at 1.3V, the idle voltage starts as low as 1.256V and moves up to 1.304v with the Level 1 LLC setting. Load voltage starts lower at 1.215V but climbs up to 1.315V with the 1.300V BIOS setting. The closest we go to the 1.3V set in the BIOS was with Level 2 which gives 1.289V under load.

At 1.4V results are similar to those previously with every setting still giving vDroop except Level 1 which overvolts slightly. Again, the closest level of LLC to the BIOS set voltage was the second position which resulted in 1.390V under load.

Moving to 1.5V, the LLC results become a little more extreme with load voltages as high as 1.526V and as low as 1.387V. Levels 3, 4, and 5 all give a fair amount of vDroop at 1.5V and as we saw at 1.3V and 1.4V, an LLC of Level 2 will give the closest to what is set in the BIOS.

Above is a table summarizing all LLC testing results and as you can see the Extreme9 overvolts slightly at Level 1 with Level 2 consistently being the closest to BIOS set voltage. As we mentioned above, levels 3, 4 , and 5 will give increasing levels of vDroop so it is best to avoid them if you are oveclocking. As voltage increases, the level of vDroop also increases and we see as low as 1.387V under load at an LLC Level of 5.

 

[Eldonko]

Conclusion

Conclusion

There is no denying it; ASRock has made some huge gains in the last year or so by moving away from their old “one size fits all” mentality. Now, with the introduction of the Extreme9 they’re aiming to be a bona fide competitor against the likes of ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI in the overclocking realm. To move forward with some of these ambitious goals this task, one of the world's to overclockers Nick Shih has been hired to help things along and provide some much needed street cred. To add some fuel to the fire of the competitive landscape, ASRock has dubbed the Extreme9 the “Overclocking King” which stakes a claim to an exclusive spot within the enthusiast market.

Before we go on, let’s take a look at what happened when ASRock’s marketing of this board met with cold, hard reality. Overclocking on the Extreme9 went well overall and we were able to achieve our coveted 5Ghz with few headaches. But that isn’t to say that things went perfectly. Memory clocking wasn’t quite up to the level set by some other X79 boards and sub zero overclocking was impossible due to our CPU’s stepping not being supported by the Extreme9 for ultra low temperatures. With that being said, progress is being made since ASRock has already fixed this issue with C1 and C2 CPUs. Luckily, the BIOS is relatively bug free and easy to work with but expect to clear the CMOS regularly when dealing with the edge of stability. This can become a royal pain in the butt if you are trying to dial in an overclock.

Auto overclocking on the Extreme9 works a little differently from we have seen with some other boards and yet its success or failure largely comes down to personal preference. ASRock’s algorithms allow for the selection of a wide variety of quick and easy speed increases but some of the presets are nowhere near as stable as they should be. Unfortunately, unlike ASUS boards the Extreme9 doesn’t allow for memory overclocking in its auto overclocking settings.

For gamers and enthusiasts in particular, the Extreme9 has quite a few appealing features. The Game Blaster module, SLI capabilities, PCI-E Gen 3, 8 DIMM slots, and excellent USB transfer rates are all items which will benefit both sets of consumers. This board is as “future-proof” as it gets and today’s users will appreciate that. The layout does post some issues for open chassis triple GPU setups since the lowest placed card unfortunately overhangs the onboard power and reset buttons but if you can overlook this minor SNAFU, the Extreme9 equals some of the best out there.

One of the most important aspects of a motherboard is the manufacturer’s willingness to roll out updates and listen to the community’s feedback. ASRock's tech team seems to be top notch and was willing and able to quickly address the few issues we found with the Extreme9. Memory overclocking can also be improved with a BIOS update and if you are looking towards the future we don’t see anything major to worry about.

With that being said, there are a number of areas that desperately need improvement here. <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">First and foremost among these is the one year warranty which lags far behind the three and five year coverage given by some of ASRock’s competition.</span> (EDIT: Please note that even though ASRock's website says differently at the time of this review, we are now told that all of their X79 boards have a 3 year warranty.) The Instant Boot utility was a disaster from beginning to end and we really expected something more out of such a simple piece of software. Pricing also seems to be an issue since the Extreme9’s cost varies wildly from one region to another, resulting in a bit of an identity crisis depending on where you buy it. In the States, it competes directly against ASUS’ X79 Deluxe and Gigabyte’s UD5 and really does stand out with a more complete feature set. However, in other areas of the globe ASUS’s Rampage IV Extreme and MSI’s Big Bang series retail for the same amount and we just can’t recommend the Extreme9 over either of those boards.

ASRock has set some ambitious goals for themselves and in many ways the Extreme9 was able to exceed our expectations. With that being said, it obviously has a ways to go before consumers will place it in the same category and price point as ASUS’ legendary RoG series and MSI’s highly regard Big Bang line. Until then, ASRock has constructed a solid foundation onto which they can build a strong lineup of next generation boards.


Pros

- Relatively bug free UEFI BIOS
- Stable EZ OC of 4.8Ghz
- Game Blaster module is a nice addition
- XFast USB gives huge USB 3.0 transfer speeds
- HyperDuo Plus Technology included for those that want SSD caching
- 8 DIMM slots allow for 32GB of memory on a budget


Cons

- No cold bug fix for C0 CPUs
- No onboard sound, Game Blaster only
- BCLK and memory overclocking could use some work
- Instant boot utility did not work
- Onboard power / reset buttons blocked by GPU install in third PCI-E slot