ASRock X58 Extreme - $169.99 is not too Extreme
by Gary Key on July 2, 2009 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
General Performance – PCMark Vantage
Futuremark's PCMark Vantage x64 is probably the single most diverse set of standardized benchmarks one can run on a system to mimic real world usage scenarios. The TV and Movies, Gaming, and Music Suites can be frighteningly difficult to pass when a system is not set up correctly. We've had boards in the labs that will pass hours of Prime95 torture testing or OCCT that fail even the basic 30 minute run of PCMark Vantage, let alone the full 1 hour and 30 minute test run that we loop five times.
The X58 Extreme performed admirably in this benchmark with overall results slightly trailing the MSI and ASUS boards. However, the user will never notice the minimal performance differences in actual usage between all three boards. We fired up our application benchmarks from the full review test suite and in each case, the ASRock board trailed slightly (never more than 1%) in applications ranging from Sony Vegas Pro 9.0 to AutoCAD 2009. Obviously, price to performance ratios with the board are very good, but just under the MSI offering.
Gaming Performance – FarCry 2
This title has beautiful graphics, an open ended environment, and is fun to play. If you dial up the graphics options, the game rewards with you some fantastic visuals courtesy of the Dunia Engine. The game also features the most impressive benchmark tool we have seen in a PC game. We set the performance feature set to Very High, graphics to High, and enable DX10 with AA set to 2x. The in-game benchmark tool is utilized with the Ranch Small level and we report an average of three test runs.
The press information from ASRock indicated excellent graphics performance with this board and in this particular game title, it does not disappoint. We have noticed the same pattern at 1680x1050 and in other games in early testing.
First Thoughts –
ASRock went back to the X58 drawing board and it shows. At a $169.99 price tag, we expected a motherboard lacking in features or performance. However, ASRock added features ranging from handy rest/power/CMOS switches to a very good 8-phase power supply along with just about every standard option a user expects on higher-end boards. Performance is very solid and even overclocking does not disappoint, certainly not for users on air or self-contained water cooling solutions.
The board tends to have higher Vdroop (.04~.05V) than the MSI or Gigabyte (.02~.03V) boards in this price sector, you can disable Vdroop although we recommend against it. There are some inconsistencies in the BIOS feature descriptions in the voltage section. We would have preferred better memory performance above DDR3-1600 speeds, not so much for application performance improvements as they are minimal, but we tended to use slightly higher VDimm/VTT voltages than we did on the MSI board at like settings. S3 resume works properly and ASRock now offers basic fan speed control on each header although temperature based control is still missing.
At this point in testing, we have found no obvious reasons not to recommend the X58 Extreme for users seeking balanced performance and features at a very reasonable price point, well, for X58 products. The board does not have the overclocking prowess of more expensive boards but it will not embarrass you either. We tend to look at the overall aspects of a product and the company building it instead of focusing on Super Pi or 3DMark numbers. As such, it appears that ASRock has delivered another outstanding product for the budget hunter in all of us.
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tommydokc - Monday, November 23, 2009 - link
Hey guys, beware of this board. check all the negative posts on differnt forums.been 3 weeks trying to rma this board. apparently from searching around this board dieing is a very common issue.
I’ve had this motherboard working for a total of two days and now it’s dead. It will not post. Just shows the A7 code on the LED readout. This no posting has been a problem since I bought this thing. It worked just long enough for me to load windows7, one day after it didn’t post on the original build, I took the thing apart and rebuilt it only changing the sata port where the hdd is plugged into then it posted and I loaded win7. Found all the drivers etc. everything was looking good. Then the next day I loaded my apps and then made an image / backup of the disk. This was all done over last weekend. Two days later I turn it on and it will not post. I’ve got an Antec truepower 650 i7 920, thermaltake v1, 6gb Corsair XMS ddr3 1600 nvidia gts 250 512mb. Sata and ide liteon DVDs. That’s it. nothing special. The monitors don’t even show to be receiving a signal from the video card. I swapped the GTS out for an ATI raedon and it made no difference. Tried the other pci-e slots also. As I stated above. This board was working for 2 days just fine. It’s now dead.
yummypaint - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - link
This board turned out to be quite a headache. If you get this and there's any indication that something may not be right, return it before your 30 days. You DO NOT want to have to deal with asrock support, unless you enjoy waiting for weeks for responses and not being able to contact them at all via phone.First, there are some major ram compatibility issues which Asrock is not fixing that result in stability problems (firmware 1.4) which are causing problems for many people. there is no acknowledgement on their end that these problems even exist. in fact it's hard to get any response from them at all.
Second, if you think you might run linux and use any IDE drives at all, this board won't work. Asrock pulled shenanigans when they merged the ide and firewire controllers, which prevents the unix/linux kernel from even seeing let alone booting from ide devices. This will probably get fixed eventually in software, but who knows. there sure aren't going to be any linux drivers coming from asrock.
Third, there are problems with the network interface. you can do your own searching on this one, or check the newegg reviews to see people complaining about it.
InterClaw - Thursday, August 6, 2009 - link
Does the CPU fan header support temperature control?mi1stormilst - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - link
Now if I could actually find one on sale for $169.00 or at all? :-)cube26 - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - link
IDIOT,there is only one such idiot snakeoil - and he worships useless daamit in any possible way.You not another,stop lying dirty green bastard :D Im visiting VR Zone every day for 5 years,and know your way to post "comments" you asshole :D Here is typical your "comments" you inbredSoon more than half people in internet will know you,you green idiot gay,because of you idiocracy about how good daamit is - go in hospital you inbred,check your last half of brains,if you have some.
YOU ARE VERY WELL KNOWN IDIOT - and you just confirmed that.What can you expect from from loosers daamit fangays HAHAHAHAHA
Just get lost you inbred HAHAHA
snakeoil - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - link
let me guess, the poor grammar, etc.... you suffer down's syndrome isnt it?, well don't be ashamed of you. you can live a normal and productive life, with the right therapy and medication.cube26 - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - link
Jesus,SNAKEOIL,you even come here to post your trolling idiotic BS?Isnt enough VR-Zone alone,you start spreading your pathetic,n00bish,idiotic nonsence everywhere.Here is not VR-Zone,here you going to be f...ed up LOLLads - he is very well know idiot from VR-Zone forums,no point to talk to him,he doesnt have any sense of reality,living only for one reason - trolling against intel and nvidia for no reason at all,just because he is idiot - pure IDIOT.Not even tests can help him see real true.
Snakeoil - you are complete I D I O T rofl
snakeoil - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - link
i'm another snakeoil, moron.snakeoil - Friday, July 3, 2009 - link
well for 170 dollars you get the crappiest of all core 17 motherboards which is asrock. that's sadinstead if you use phenom II you can get asus motherbords since 60 dollars
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
and if you pay 170 you get a fine motherboad asus deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
is so sad.
sotti - Saturday, July 4, 2009 - link
an the fastest phenom II they make is still only about 70% as fast as a core i7 on the asrock board.And aside from not having a name brand is there any reason to thing this asrock board is not an extremely solid mobo?
That $60 mobo doesn't hold a candle feature wise, and the $170 motherboard while comprable on features is the same on price and will be signfigantly slower than a core i7?
Amy I missing something or are you just a troll?