Monday, October 31st 2011

ASRock Shows Off First LGA2011 Micro-ATX Motherboard

by
btarunr
 Discuss (52 Comments)
ASRock showed off pictures of the first socket LGA2011 motherboard in the compact micro-ATX form-factor, the ASRock X79 Extreme4-M Within its small board footprint of 240 x 240 mm, the X79 Extreme4-M offers almost every feature the platform has to offer. To begin with, the LGA2011 socket is powered by an 8-phase VRM that makes use of high-grade solid-state chokes, and driver-MOSFETs. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, two on either sides of the socket. All four expansion slot bays available to the mATX form-factor are made use of, with three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and one legacy PCI.

The electrical configuration of the three PCI-Express slots appears to be x16, x8, x16 (permanent). The chipset is cooled by an active fan-heatsink. All six of its SATA ports are wired as internal ports, with two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s. Connectivity features include 8+2 channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two via header), one gigabit Ethernet, a number of USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, and legacy PS/2. The CMOS can be reset from the rear panel. The board will be driven by UEFI firmware.

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52 Comments on ASRock Shows Off First LGA2011 Micro-ATX Motherboard

#1
Marv
Excellent, I was wondering when (or even if) we'd see any MATX LGA2011 boards (given that LGA1366 MATX boards were pretty rare). Shame that Intel still haven't moved completely over to SATA III unlike AMD, and board partners still have to rely on 3rd party chips for USB 3.0.
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#2
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
There will be more mATX X79 boards. I think MSI and Intel are the other vendors that will have them.
Posted on Reply
#3
LAN_deRf_HA
What on earth is wrong with 2011 that it needs so many freakin' fans? It doesn't perform better than 1155 unless you use a 6 core or a synthetic memory benchmark and it's not like it's running more sata ports so why is it so much less efficient?
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#4
LDNL
Umm... whats that extra molex connector for ? The prosessor cant be sucking up all the juices that you need it to run sli/cf, can it?
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#5
buggalugs
Asrock have lifted their game, nice looking boards lately. The gold caps look sweet.

ajajaja chipset fan though:banghead:
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#6
micropage7
nice board.
and looks solid
wait for the benchmark
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#7
buggalugs
LAN_deRf_HAWhat on earth is wrong with 2011 that it needs so many freakin' fans? It doesn't perform better than 1155 unless you use a 6 core or a synthetic memory benchmark and it's not like it's running more sata ports so why is it so much less efficient?
Well P67/Z68 has most of its buses locked to default speed, only overclocking is via unlocked CPU multi and memory. X79 boards are mostly unlocked and allow for a bigger range of frequencies.

More info here:

www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-performance,3026-4.html

Still, there are plenty of X79 boards without chipset fans like the deluxe so its a bit wierd.
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#8
phanbuey
Yeah the fan worries me... MB vendors almost always provide the minimum amount of cooling that is humanly possible, and this fans just mean that this board will run hot as all hell.
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#9
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
LDNLUmm... whats that extra molex connector for ? The prosessor cant be sucking up all the juices that you need it to run sli/cf, can it?
Very good question.
Posted on Reply
#10
Vincy Boy
phanbueyYeah the fan worries me... MB vendors almost always provide the minimum amount of cooling that is humanly possible, and this fans just mean that this board will run hot as all hell.
It's not the only X79 board I've seen a fan on. This may be indicating that X79 itself runs hot. We'll know soon enough.
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#11
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
LDNLUmm... whats that extra molex connector for ? The prosessor cant be sucking up all the juices that you need it to run sli/cf, can it?
That's optional. If you're using this board for extreme overclocking, you might need to connect that for stability.
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#12
JrRacinFan
Served 5k and counting ...
Methinks the molex is for the PCIe 3.0 power delivery. Nice board, I like it.
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#13
phanbuey
^^ methinks the fan, the molex, and the PCI-e 3.0 delivery are related. Although that is pure specilation

It will be interesting to see if they figured it out on the first go this time, nice board. i would love to see more matx enthusiast lines.
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#14
maleficarus
LAN_deRf_HAWhat on earth is wrong with 2011 that it needs so many freakin' fans? It doesn't perform better than 1155 unless you use a 6 core or a synthetic memory benchmark and it's not like it's running more sata ports so why is it so much less efficient?
Good question!
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#15
maleficarus
buggalugsAsrock have lifted their game, nice looking boards lately. The gold caps look sweet.

ajajaja chipset fan though:banghead:
Well, at the end of the day it is still the low-end version of ASUS.
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#16
naram-sin
maleficarusWell, at the end of the day it is still the low-end version of ASUS.
Exactly, but cheaper, though. And there's that old PCI slot... Manufacturers like AsRock can't go legacy-free and risk loosing even a smallest market niche (unlike EVGA).
Posted on Reply
#17
JrRacinFan
Served 5k and counting ...
maleficarusWell, at the end of the day it is still the low-end version of ASUS.
No, it is not. Asrock is there own seperate entity and CURRENTLY has no affiliation with Asus.
Posted on Reply
#18
mxjcmxjc
Can't wait for the ROG 2011 Boards. Wonder if ASUS is gonna go with an 8 DIMM version. Seems rather impossible but than again it's ASUS. :)
Posted on Reply
#19
buggalugs
maleficarusWell, at the end of the day it is still the low-end version of ASUS.
Thanks, Not as low end as they used to be. The Asrock Extreme boards are very competitive.

Asrock 1155 boards had gen 3 components before Asus and Gigabyte and UEFI before Gigabyte. Components are top notch, as good as Asus/Gigabyte. Not sure about their support/bios releases though
mxjcmxjcCan't wait for the ROG 2011 Boards. Wonder if ASUS is gonna go with an 8 DIMM version. Seems rather impossible but than again it's ASUS. :)
There is already a picture of it here somewhere, it has 8 dimm slots.
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#20
mxjcmxjc
buggalugs;2441592 There is already a picture of it here somewhereWait What!?!? There is a MATX ROG ASUS board out there with 8 DIMM Slots...TO THE INTERNETS!!!
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#21
Mr McC
maleficarusWell, at the end of the day it is still the low-end version of ASUS.
Have to disagree with that on both counts: ASRock is no longer low-end and no longer affiliated with Asus.
Posted on Reply
#22
buggalugs
mxjcmxjcWait What!?!? There is a MATX ROG ASUS board out there with 8 DIMM Slots...TO THE INTERNETS!!!
Not sure if theres a MATX model yet. Thought you were talkling about ATX
Posted on Reply
#23
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
MarvShame that Intel still haven't moved completely over to SATA III
Not really....At this juncture, SSDs is the only device that can make use of all of that bandwidth. and the problem with SSD's is their still too expensive for most people.

Sata III drives are available to buy but most benchmarks show that theres not that much difference between Sata II and Sata III hard drives at all.

When i first saw a benchmark of the new sata III hard drives - I thought the reviewer had made a mistake. theres only roughly 20-30mb read/write difference between Sata II & III. Theres no reason to pay a extra premium for Sata III when you cant max out the bandwidth anyway
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#24
_JP_
Great job! Now do ITX! :D
ASRock never ceases to amaze me. Great boards!
Posted on Reply
#25
Unregistered
Very nice, dark, menacing.

Has the x79 asus maximus gene z shown up yet?
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