ASRock X79 Extreme3 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: 3 pcie slots, stable after mod.

Cons: Needs additional cooling on/above MB CPU bridge heat sinks, locks up without direct cooling from small high speed fan, after this it worked great.

Other Thoughts: The utilities are nice.

Pros: Works as advertised. Enough bells and whistles to keep an average user like myself happy. Easy to use bios with some nice extra features.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Working great so far. No problems whatsoever. Couldn't be happier for such a bargain price.

Pros: Very affordable
OCs great!
Looks good

Cons: Kind of small but that's to be expected

Other Thoughts: Very disappointed they discontinued this product might of built another computer with the same motherboard.

Pros: Works great with Xeon E5-2665 processor.

Cons: South bridge fan does not spin constantly. Mine spins at boot only. Corsair radiator covers two of the ram slots. Problem for sticks with large heat spreaders.

Other Thoughts: Tad pricey, but that is the cost of quality.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

Thank you for your purchase and review. For the X-FAN, it can be set full on or automatic ( Spin for a few seconds and off until reach the certain temperature) at BIOS, H/W Monitor, SB Fan 1 Setting [Full on] or [Automatic mode], save and exit. If you have any technical questions please contact us at http://www.asrock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: Shiny, worked for 6 months...

Cons: South bridge fan bearing already going out. Motherboard sounds horrible when operating.

Now my second PCI-E X16 slot no longer works and Windows throws video / PCI-E errors constantly. Switched video cards and occurred the same exact problem.

Now to start the RMA process, better start cutting off my arms and legs for this one...

AVOID THIS MOTHERBOARD. PICK A MORE REPUTABLE COMPANY.

Other Thoughts: I need to quit being stupid and stop ordering pieces of garbage.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Sorry to hear that the mainboard has malfunctioned after 6 months of use which’s due to nature of electronic product, it can happen. If you have any technical questions please contact us at http://www.asrock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: I have 6 computers, 4 of which are basically the same setup with minor differences. 3 of them are identical with the MOBO, water cooled, i7 3930ks.

No problem yet with them, and overclocking is easy as heck. Never once had a problem... I see complaints about DOA, but maybe I was just lucky or the bugs were worked out before I got mine.

Plenty of slots for having all sorts of fun.

Cons: None that I know of.

Other Thoughts: Looks to me like, as long as you dont get it DOA or almost DOA, then it's a good board.

Pros: When it worked, it was fast and offered the features we wanted in the gaming machine we built to sell at our store.

Cons: The board worked for a few days only. After testing it and putting on our showroom floor for display (turned off and unplugged), when we went to fire it back up, it would not post. The CMOS reset button stays on and we could not get it to even beep when testing it for errors.

Other Thoughts: After dealing with ASRock's support to try and get it replaced under warranty (some 3 year warranty). I won't be buying another ASRock product ever again. Stick to a reputable company that actually backs their warranty.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Sorry to hear the mainboard has malfunctioned. Please trouble shooting the mainboard for below steps with known good components; remove the mainboard from inside computer to outside. Place the mainboard on empty mainboard box, clear the CMOS, reseat the CPU with heatsink fan as well, inserts 1 memory module only in A1 slot, video card with 6+6 power (if applied), power supply with connecting 24 pins + 8 or 4 pins ATX power to the mainboard, plug the computer case’s power switch to mainboard's front panel header and try again. If still having same issues please contact our tech support at http://www.asrock.com/support/tsd.asp. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: Bios interface is easy to navigate. Setup was flawless.

configuration below:
Intel Xeon E5-2609
Kingston 8GB KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G
Kingston SSD KR-S3040-3H
nVidia Quadro FX 1800
hec ZEPHYR ZEPHY580MX

Cons: Could use more USB ports.

Pros: Fast board, lots of soft-gizmos for monitoring, inexpensive.

Cons: large on board heatsink near processor needed overhead fan to prevent freezes at stock clocks, after installing small fan no lockups. In a server-class case with ample fresh air. This problem was due to their ART department covering the heatsink with a shield- does anyone there understand thermal engineering? It's the heatsink cover that says X-79, after putting a 4500rpm cooling fan about 4" above it to hit the whole thing, the lockups stopped occuring. Designed to fail? Perhaps or just another art department mistake, try using "paint" on the board next time and don't get in the way of the cooling maybe this heatsink should also get a factory fan and/or a slightly larger heatsink in the future USB 3.0 lga-2011 board (extreme ivy-bridge). it worked without issues for around 3 months.

Other Thoughts: Inexpensive board, quick and fun out of the box.

Pros: Well designed motherboard. Lots of features.

Cons: Dead-on-Arrival.

Other Thoughts: I tried to cut corners on building a new gaming system, and decided to buy this motherboard to save a few bucks. Unfortunately, I got what I paid for. The motherboard was able to power a few case fans, but would not POST no matter what I tried. Sending this back to Newegg, and will be getting my money back.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. AsRock mainboards are fully tested to assure that they're working before shipped. Unfortunately, due to nature of electronic product, it can happen. Please trouble shooting the mainboard for below steps with known good components; remove the mainboard from inside computer to outside. You can place the mainboard on empty mainboard box, check the CPU socket pins on the mainboard should not be bent or missing then reseat the processor to the CPU socket with heatsink fan as well, inserts 1 memory module only in A1 slot, VGA card with 6+6 pins (if applied), clear CMOS, power supply with connecting 24 pins + 8 pins ATX power to the mainboard, and try again. 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