Intel's Q77 chipset isn't expected to launch for another week and a half or so, but that hasn't stopped ASRock from launching its first product based on the chipset, the Q77M vPro motherboard. As the name inclines, this is a motherboard for business users and as such it comes with Intel's Small Business Advantage in the box.
The first of the super-premium Z77 motherboards has arrived, ASRock's Z77 Extreme9 and it comes with a price to match. As loaded with features as this motherboard is, it looks like ASRock missed out on one must have feature for this segment – or at least so it appears – namely Thunderbolt.
We're not unfamiliar with high-end motherboards by any means, but ASRock's Fatal1ty X79 Champion is only likely to be overshadowed by ASRock's own X79 Extreme11 and that is if ASRock actually decides to launch that beast of a board. That said, features don't come cheap and you'll have to pony up the cost of about two regular motherboards to get your hands on the Fatal1ty X79 Champion if early pricing is anything to go by.
Today we take a look at one of ASRock's entry level X79 boards, the X79 Extreme4. Not only is this board reasonably priced, but also carries many of the features of more expensive boards. Follow us as we take a look at the Extreme4 and its many extremities.
We know many of you have been waiting for quite some time to get your hands on one of the very soon to launch – and already available in some countries – Intel 7-series chipset based motherboards. As such we thought it would be helpful to give a bit of an overview as to the pricing of some of the new boards and compare what you get for your money.
ASRock, originally spun off from ASUSTeK almost a decade ago, has risen from its humble beginnings to become the 3rd largest motherboard vendor behind ASUS and GIGABYTE in terms of volume shipments. Their growth has been attributed to an aggressive pricing strategy coupled with feature-filled offerings to give them the competitive edge. With the recent acquisition of legendary overclocker Nick Shih to augment their R&D team, we can expect them to scale greater heights. Today we preview an impressive and well rounded board - their upcoming Fatal1ty Z77 Professional!
We've seen a fair few motherboards during CeBIT, but none of them were as insane as ASRock's new X79 Extreme11, as the company appears to have gone out of its way to create the most feature packed motherboard you could imagine and then some.
Come Cebit next week we'll get the first sneak peeks of what should be the final motherboard designs based on Intel's upcoming 7-series chipsets for Ivy Bridge, but details of ASRock's upcoming motherboards have made their ways online via a range of different sources, including pictures and specs of some of the models we can expect at the show. The pictures are of a pair of Fatal1ty branded models as well as of an Extreme board which all are the high-end modesl in ASRock's new line-up.
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Intel's Sandy Bridge-E processors are still in fairly short supply, especially the Core i7-3930K, but that hasn't stopped ASRock from launching its eighth X79 motherboard, the Fatal1ty X79 Professional. The new model is as with ASRock's previous Fatal1ty boards targeting gamers, but it's by far not the most feature rich board on offer by ASRock.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've noticed that ASRock and Creative started to go more and more "hand in hand" with each other. Today, ASRock announced a "Blaster" sound card.
Industrial PC motherboards are generally not that interesting, but at least a couple of ASRock's new models could be quite suitable for HTPC usage. The company has quietly added three IPC motherboards to its range of otherwise consumer focused products and for a first attempt, the company has done a pretty good job.
On Wednesday, Taiwanese tech community site XFastest ran a public event where it tested five similarly-priced mid-range socket LGA2011 motherboards for CPU VRM performance and stability. This comes at a particularly-important time for Gigabyte, when it's faced with CPU VRM problems that it's dealing with. The results are in.
The ASRock related news aren't over quite yet, as alongside its high-end boards, the company has also unveiled three new entry level Atom mini-ITX motherboards, all with Intel's new D2x00-series of Atom processors. One of the new models sports the 1.86GHz Atom D2500, while the other two comes with the 2.13GHz Atom D2700.
We're not quite sure we're following ASRock's X79 motherboard line-up as the company has introduced the X79 Extreme6/GB, a model inferior to the X79 Extreme7, yet somehow packing more features and a bundle. The bundle is ASRock Game Blaster, the same card that comes with the X79 Extreme9.
We're still not sold on the whole Fatal1ty branding from ASRock, but the upcoming Fatal1ty X79 Professional motherboard from the company is definitely a competitor when it comes to high-end X79 motherboards. It's by far not the most feature rich X79 motherboard out there, but it still has enough features to make it an attractive choice for those that are digging the colour scheme and branding.
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