ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: * Still working (2 yrs)
* Stable 4.5ghz like nothing
* Nice easy to navigate save-a-ble Bios.
* Windows view of BIOS and basic controls.

Cons: * Almost 2 years now and it seems like every time I boot my keyboard isn't getting power. I either a) unplug and try a different port or b) reset the machine and it works fine. It's getting more and more annoying but I'm out of warranty.

Other Thoughts: * I bought a 2600k and Asrock Extreme4 back in 5/2011. With experimenting I was able to overclock it to 4.5ghz at 1.385v. Idles at 35C, Load at 62C. To this day the overclock is still running solid. Used with Arctic Silver and Zalman 9700.
* I always buy Asus, but at the time the Asus boards were out of stock and TomsHardware had just announced this board as a solid contender so I went with it. I'm hoping it lasts in the long run.

Pros: Had it a year now, still great.

Cons: None

Pros: I purchased this MB after reading many reviews and seeing the vids on youtube. So far it has been trouble free and works very well. I didn't feel I needed the 77 mb

Cons: None yet

Pros: This mobo has everything I need for gaming. I did some research on the chipset and there really isn't much of a difference between this one and the Z77. No point in waisting the extra dough. The Bios is very user friendly(an idiot could these Bios); much better than the outdated Gigabyte board I had with the X58 chipset. Looks great with my set up and to top it off I got the open box price at like $70 off, and it came with everything it was supposed to come with! There was even an SLI bridge that I do plan on using shortly with a couple EVGA GTX 560 Ti's. Can't beat that!

Cons: I was skeptical about the open box but all has been well so far. Installing my Windows 7 Ultimate x64 was a breeze. I haven't had one problem that others have reported with this mobo.

Other Thoughts: AZRock Z68 Extreme4 Mobo
Intel Core i5-2310 Sandy Bridge 2.9GHz
COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520
EVGA GTX 460 (1)
CORSAIR XMS3 (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
Kingwin Lazer 1000w PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

Thank you for your purchase and review. Your feedback is important to us. If you have any technical questions or warranty issues in the future please contact us at user@asrockamerica.com

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: Very happy with all aspects of this unit

Cons: none yet

Pros: Very good value.
Plenty of features
Good layout... just enough room to put in both channels of RAM without making me struggle to get it in.

Cons: 1st mobo was DOA - Newegg swapped it no prob.
The RAID is on Marvell controller - not Intel.

Pros: Easy setup

Cons: Realtek audio does not work in windows 7 64 bit! just get a static/buzz sound from audio speakers or headphones from both rear and front panel audio jacks. Have updated bios to 1.60 and audio drivers, no luck!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize that you having difficulty with mainboard. Please verify under device manager having yellow mark for these audio devices. In some case, ATI VGA card audio driver will causing onboard sound to malfunction, reinstalling fresh Windows, and then mainboard drivers and see if it's solved the issue. In addition, please download the mainboard drivers at "http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4". If still having same issues please contact our Tech Support at 909-590-8308. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: Was an easy setup with pins and overrall layout

Cons: Audio does not work. Used latest drivers. Windows 7 detects device is plugged in but there is no audio, but instead a faint buzz/static coming, from both rear and front panel ports. Unfortunately, i waited more than 30 days to get this machine setup after i purchased the motherboard, else i would return it/exchange it.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please verify under device manager having yellow mark for these audio devices. In some case, ATI VGA card audio driver will causing onboard sound to malfunction, reinstalling fresh Windows, and then mainboard drivers and see if it's solved the issue. In addition, please download the mainboard drivers at "http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4". If still having same issues please contact our Tech Support at 909-590-8308. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: I love the instant boot. paired with a Corsair ssd it boots up in about 3 seconds. great amount of sata and usb. and the extra usb 3.0 front panel is great.

Cons: None

Pros: The motherboard touts a lot of nice features, tomshardware gave a nice review on this board and it influenced me to purchase it.

Cons: - NOT Compatible with Ivy Bridge CPU's unless you Flash and Update the Bios. This means you must get an earlier CPU Model and do this before attempting to use an ivy bridge processor.
- Go with a Z77 board if you're buying a new Ivy Bridge model, because if you're like me I had to go buy a completely different board
- Gives a lot of Memory errors, do a google search and you will see plenty of people complaining about Memory Error 55 and 45, this board did not recognize my Corsair Vengeance DDR 3 1600 memory so I had to buy new memory as well

Other Thoughts: - Many hours wasted trying to get this motherboard to recognize my Ivy Bridge CPU
- Many hours wasted trying to resolve memory compatibility issues.

- Do yourself a favor and get a Z77 board if you're looking for an 1155 socket board that works with 3rd gen CPU's

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Due to the mainboard has been released before ivy bridge processor, the BIOS update is needed to fixing issue. Code 55 will also fixed once BIOS's updated. Please contact us at 909-590-8308. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com