ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: The mobo itself is great. The bios is simple and easy to use, it's very user friendly and overall is great buy. I've always been a fan of the company and I always will be.

Overclocking is a breeze, and though I'm not a fan of everything that comes with the drivers, the actual programs are rather nice and interesting.

Cons: The audio card that comes attached to it. This card has given me so many problems trying to set it up that it made me want to make this review.

The Creative tech are an absolute joke and have failed to respond to any questions I've had to getting this card working.

Other Thoughts: Would be five stars had they not included this paperweight.

Pros: I,m running windows 7 and besides the hard drive I have scores 7.0 to 7.9. The system boots really fast. so far I have only run Doom 3 but looks and sound are great.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: WIN 7 PRO 64 BIT
CM STRYKER CASE
OCZ 750 MODULAR BRONZE
ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB LGA 2011
INTEL i-7 3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6 GHz 2011 130W
G-Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4X8)240 PIN SDRAM DDR3 1600 (F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL)
WD VELOCIRAPTOR 300 GB 10,000 RPM SATA 6
LG BLACK BLUE RAY,CD, DVD READER-WRITER BH14NS40

Pros: The board is decent for price with the features and sound card

Cons: First of all you have to update Uefi to fix the USB 2.0 disconnecting bug. There is a current issue now though with the current version 2.1 where if asmedia sata3 drivers are installed you boot time will be about 7 seconds longer. To fix you need to disable the asmedia sata ports or uninstall the driver. Also drivers on the asrock website are OLD, especially intel's RST, update on intel's website. Asrocks Uefi isn't the greatest either.

Other Thoughts: Asrock needs to fix some Uefi bugs soon, and update their drivers

Pros: Good build quality
Feature-rich EFI

Cons: - At random intervals (sometimes once in a month, sometimes twice a day), it will completely lock up and have to be power cycled manually. There are no errors or warnings in the Windows event logs, and I have MemTest-ed the bejeesus out of my RAM. I currently suspect the sub-par USB 3 controller.

- Windows-based BIOS updaters do not work, but fail with a reassuring "Firmware file size does not match existing Firmware size" error.

- USB 2 controller for the front-mounted ports is pretty fubared. By that I mean that plugging certain devices into those ports will cause all other USB ports on the board to stop functioning.

Other Thoughts: I had high hopes for this board after reading the reviews and comparing it to other X79 offerings on paper, but it has been quite disappointing. I know the X79 is a bit of a "redheaded stepchild" of a chipset, falling on the PCI 2/3 and USB 2/3 transitions, but I would choose a different motherboard manufacturer if you are interested in going that route.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. For the system freeze issue, please check the CPU and system are not overheated, set the UEFI BIOS default, test with 1 stick memory in A1 slot, try with another known good memory to check if the symptom still occurs. For the BIOS update, please verify the corrected mainboard’s model at BIOS, Main, UEFI BIOS version and download appropriate BIOS for update. 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: It works fine, for the most part. The UEFI is pretty cool.

Cons: -The game-blaster card is not recognized when seated fully. I actually have to keep it unscrewed from the tower and pull it out a little just so it keeps in contact.

-Another issue with the board and included sound-card is when I try to connect front headphones, it sometimes freaks out and I lose sound completely (and have to restart.) But when it does work, an annoying center-window comes up (from the included software) letting me know that I plugged headphones in.

I tried running fan control through a 3rd party program, but it conflicted with the board's control, even when it was disabled.

Other Thoughts: The most important issue to me is that only 2 SATA3 connections have the ability to do "quick boot" and "fast storage". The problem is, that I wanted to use an SSD for my primary (OS) drive, and then but my secondary HD (media) drives in RAID. In this case, you have to sacrifice one ability or the other because there are not enough capable connections.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. The device connected Windows will pop-up once plugged the devices (speaker, MIC, headset) to the sound ports to notify user. For the fan control, please download AXTU utility at “ http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X79%20Extreme6GB/?cat=Download “ to controlling the fan speed. 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: For a mid range X79 MB has quite a few features that are compeativie to motherboards even twice the price. Secondly is the Game Blaster sound card you receive, that in itself is a steal to be included with the motherboard!

Cons: Lack of 3 pin connectors for fans

Pros: Quick Shipping

Cons: There must have been some abnormality with how the product was shipped because upon opening the shipping box the contents of the motherboard box were all out of the product box and the Game Blaster was no where to be found.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Sorry to hear that the game blaster card has missing. Please contact us 909-590-8308. We can assist you shortly.

Thank you

AsRock SUPPORT
Tech Support Email: user@asrockamerica.com

Pros: This motherboard is a stable board. With the 3930k and the H100 with modified fans I was easily able to get to 4.2Ghz without batting an eye. The voltages were perfect to keep it stable and keep my temps below 70C at full load with Prime95. Really like this board's features with the added creative card. It's an easy CPU overclocker that keeps your computer stable.

Cons: Make sure you get either 1866 or 2133 memory for this, if you think it will sit at 1866 and OC the main clock to get 2000, you will hit 105 and the machine will stop booting. I verified it was the board and not the voltage of the ram nor the timings I had it set at. In addition, when I got the board, the MOSFET heat sink above the CPU was damaged. It looked like when they installed it someone stabbed the heatsink and the x79 logo at the top. I know this wasn't from shipping because the box is in great condition and there were no marks to the bag nor dents on the box. It was a quality control piece from the AsRock plant to newegg. I would like it if they shipped me a new part so I can install it myself and not need to RMA the board, please contact me and I will send you pictures.

Other Thoughts: Great board, and extremely stable. It will do the trick if you're looking to push your 2011 CPU to its limits. Make sure you have a stable Power supply and proper cooling and you will go far with this board. The small cosmetic blemishes are not enough to tell you to not get this board. I switched from ASUS to Asrock and this board's quality is exactly what I was looking for.

Pros: It seems to be a stable board with a fantastic feature set. Very fast and reliable and I would have no major complaints overall if everything were 100% functional. It does seem to be a solidly built item and quality appears good. The Game Blaster seems like a great feature and for what I could use it worked well with Windows 8.

Cons: The system had some minor defects and needed to be RMAed. The onboard audio would deliver only static line/MIC inputs via the Game Blaster or the onboard HD Audio under clean installs of Win 7 and 8. I tried several different RAM configurations and a known working GTX 570 and brand new 670 with minimal system components and the results were always the same.

The system would also power itself on randomly and the only way to get it truly shut down was to switch off the PSU. It looks like some of the mainboard components are shorted and it is causing very minor issues. It would also lose all UEFI settings randomly and clear all CMOS info.

That all was not so bad, the thing that stuck me is that newegg would not allow an advance replacement for a bad part they sent me. I have to be without a system for a week as well as the time it took me to test the system over the weekend but it seems newegg is deaf to my issues.

Other Thoughts: I know the policy on returns and RMAs and that they are there for a very good reason. However sometimes exceptions can be made to keep good customers happy. This would seem to be one of those times. I purchased a product that has so far cost me more money in my time than the product is worth and newegg is asking me for more of my time, all to protect against a possible 270$ loss.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear AsRock Customer

We sincerely apologize that you having difficulty with mainboard. For the sound static issue, please try with another known good speaker to eliminate the issue. For the losing UEFI setting, please reinstall or check the battery has enough power (2.7v) or higher to keep the UEFI setting. Please set the UEFI BIOS default (press F9 in BIOS), test with 1 memory stick in A1 slot, try with another memory to check if the system is stable. 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: Somewhat nice board layout, nice idea with the gameblaster if it worked.

Cons: Included gameblaster would not work anywhere it was installed. Will lock up using device manager just about everytime. Could not use 3rd party RAID controller with the board because it was very unstable with it even though it had been used for 6 months previously in an X58 motherboard. Stability problems with different cards in the slots.

Other Thoughts: ASRock seems to be heading in the right direction but havent gotten there yet. I would send this board in for refund but I am not in a situation where I can't go without the system for that long and NewEgg has no process for sending another while this one is being shipped.

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. For the game blaster, please install the card to PCIE4 slot and sound drivers which come with mainboard driver CD disc. For the third party RAID controller, the mainboard works with most controllers on the market, please provide more detail about the card and issues. As always, we appreciate your purchase and constructive reviews are welcome. 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