Introduction and Features

PCIe 3.0, UEFI, NF200, Virtu… Is this the most feature-packed LGA 1155 mobo on the market?

Introduction

Courtesy of ASRock

Our test bench has seen a flood of Z68-based enthusiast motherboards this fall and ASRock added their flagship Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 board to the top of the pile for testing. The Extreme 7 Gen 3 pulls out all the stops for extreme enthusiasts and ultra overclockers by arming this board with next-gen PCI-E 3.0 support and an NVIDIA NF200 chip to allow users to run dual graphics cards at PCI-E x16/x16 mode and three graphics cards at x16/x8/x8 respectively.

Courtesy of ASRock

This $275 board brings with it a lot of features that users have been begging for like a graphical Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), Intel’s Smart Response techology, dual gigabit LAN capabilities, and support for six USB 3.0 and six SATA 3 devices. They also didn’t skimp on the power components by adding premium gold caps that are made in Japan and considered by many to be luxury capacitors. 

Courtesy of ASRock

The back I/O panel is also rich with features and support for a variety of different devices. It includes four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA3, two Gigabit LAN jacks, firewire, clear CMOS button, and a D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort video options. They also added high-definition audio jacks and an optical SPDIF out port!

 

Features

  • Premium Gold Caps (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
  • Digi Power, Advanced V8 + 4 Power Phase Design
  • NVIDIA® NF200 Chip Onboard (Dual VGA cards at PCI-E x16/x16; three VGA cards at x16 / x8 / x8)
  • Integrated PLX PEX8608 chip onboard to offer sufficient PCI-E lanes
  • 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot, 4 PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots, Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ and NVIDIA® 3-Way SLI™
  • Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals
  • Multi VGA Output : D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI, DisplayPort
  • Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function
  • Dr. Debug, Smart Switch Design: Power/Reset/Clear CMOS Switch with LED
  • Support Intel® Smart Response, Lucid Virtu Switchable Graphics
  • Supports ASRock XFast Charger TechnologySupports ASRock XFast USB, XFast LAN Technologies
  • Supports ASRock On/Off Play, graphical UEFI, ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU)
  • Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.)
  • 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), Supports THX TruStudio™
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