Supporting socket AM3+ and 8-Core CPU, this board is designed to build up the most powerful system and deliver the most demanding technology for advanced users. Just enjoy next generation computing with ASRock 8-Core CPU ready motherboard.
100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors with Digi Power provide buttery smooth, efficient and stable power solution. There's also ASRock's exclusive XFast family including XFast USB, XFast LAN, and the newest member – XFast RAM, which remarkably buffs up the system's performance while extending your HDDs or SDDs lifespan at the same time. This ASRock AM3+ 970 Motherboard has got just about everything you could wish for build a perfect system around.

XFast RAM - Fully Optimize Memory UsageIt fully utilizes the memory space that cannot be used under Windows 32-bit OS. ASRock XFast RAM also shortens the loading time of previously visited websites, making web surfing faster than ever. And it also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop 5 times faster. Another advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend their lifespan.
XFast LAN TechnologyASRock XFast LAN is a smart productivity tool to help you manage your priorities of internet applications, simplify your digital life and accomplish more. The innovative features include: Internet Application Prioritization, Lower Latency in Game, Traffic Shaping and Real-Time Analysis of Your Data. It's the smartest way to control your web programs.
ASRock XFast USB Technology - Faster Than Your Imagination!ASRock XFast USB Technology redefines the new standard in high performance computing. Proving once again to be the pioneer in motherboard industry, ASRock XFast USB Series Motherboards integrate with the latest XFast USB Technology which delivers the world's fastest USB data transfer speed. The ASRock XFast USB technology can boost USB 3.0 performance up to 5X faster!
Digi PowerMore Precise, More Efficient. By adopting digital pulse-width modulation (PWM), the ASRock motherboard can provide CPU Vcore voltage more efficiently and smoothly. Compared to analog PWM, digital PWM can optimize the CPU power solution and provide a proper and stable Vcore for the processor.
Graphical UEFI – The Revolutionary BIOS InterfaceUnified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a revolutionary BIOS utility which offers tweak-friendly options in an advanced viewing interface. Compared with traditional BIOS design, the latest UEFI utility provides lots improved functions. The major features of UEFI include: graphical visual experience, mouse enabling and support for 3TB bootable HDD.
AXTU - The All-in-1 Tuning SoftwareASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one software to fine-tune different features in a user-friendly interface, which includes Hardware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking, OC DNA and IES. In Hardware Monitor, it shows the major readings of your system. In Fan Control, it shows the fan speed and temperature for you to adjust. In Overclocking, you are allowed to adjust the CPU frequency, ratio and some voltages for optimal system performance. In OC DNA, you can save your OC settings as a profile and share with your friends. Your friends then can load the OC profile to their own system to get the same OC settings. In IES (Intelligent Energy Saver), the voltage regulator can reduce the number of output phases to improve efficiency when the CPU cores are idle without sacrificing computing performance.
Pros: Sale price was good,though a few days later was lower still. Board layout is good. Plenty of room around the CPU for large fan without getting close to the memory sockets. Supports up to 32GB of ram. Has plenty of fan connections. USB ports are plentiful, and USB 3.0 is a definite plus. Has nice placement of the SATA III ports and an eSATA III port is great. Onboard sound is fantastic. Quality of components used on the board is above average and right along with the two "big" companies. BIOS is great to work with.
Cons: As others have stated, the motherboard is a little more flexible that it should be. Taking a measurement on the board, it's about 1 mil thinner than the two other major brands. This is a definite issue that ASRock needs to address as it wouldn't cost that much to fix, and would probably stop a lot of the no boot out of the box failures. Some solder points on the bottom of the board need to be smaller. These "sloppy" solder points along with the board flex can cause ground outs if you are not careful in installing the board and components. Anyone putting this board should realize that you have to install the CPU and Fan before you put it into the case. This is something that most people who overclock do anyway. Why take a risk in damaging your board?
Overall Review: I needed to upgrade one of my builds and I was looking at this motheboard when it came on sale. Despite the people griping about certain things, I figured it couldn't be any worse than some other motherboards I have used over the many years I've been doing this, and I was right. The first thing I noticed in the box was that the protective anti static bag is much to thin and not padded. The motherboard needs to have more padding around it in the box to keep it from moving around so much. When I took this motherboard out of the bad, I noticed a definite slight warp on the board around the VGA slot. This was due to the lack of padding/support in the box and the thinner than normal motherboard itself. With a few of those "sloppy" type solder joints on the bottom of the board, this flex is probably causing some of these boards to ground out in the cases they are being installed in. As per my usual customer, I did a test assembling the board on an antistatic mat, witht processor, fan, and memory installed along with a video card. Everything booted and worked fine. Leaving the memory and CPU and it's cooler installed on the motherboard, I then put it in the case and did the full assembly. When done it fired up just fine and has been running ever since. For those complaining about the board being shorter than an ATX board, you better think again. This board has the same footprint as my two other ATX machines and has the same overhang in the back behind the memory slots and SATA connectors. If everyone would notice that at those corners of this motherboard, there are two holes. These do not match up with holes in an ATX case, BUT if you can find a supplier of case mounting parts, there is a small plastic mounting pin that is available to use in these holes. The mounting pin I am thinking about has a spike that fits up through these holes, and has a threaded shank on the bottom which will screw into a hole in the case. Since there is no case hole, use a knife and cut the threaded shank off. The base of this mounting pin will support the board on the corners without flexing the board. I have had to do this for years on ATX motherboard builds, so this ain't nothing new. You can use your fingers to support under the 24 pin ATX power connector when you install it..NOT a big deal. All in all, this board has been solid. It runs cool. The BIOS is great. It overclocks well, and has been rock solid. A definite 4 Egger, only taking off for the board being a little on the thin side. This Build: ASRock 970 Extreme 3 AMD Phenom II X 4 BE 965 @ 3.6Ghz on air G-Skill Ares DDR3-1600 16GB Corsair 240GB SSD boot drive Samsung SATA III 2TB backup drive MSI Radeon HD7770 GHZ Edition video card MassCool 120mm Fans X 3 Lite On iHBS112-04 BluRay Burners X 2 Nippon Laps card reader with USB and eSATA port Apex Vortex Case hec X-Power Pro 650Watt PSU