Friday, April 9th 2010
![ASRock](https://tpucdn.com/images/news/asrock-v1723408558483.png)
ASRock Intros 870 Extreme3 Motherboard with CrossFire Support
ASRock is ready with its premium motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset, the ASRock 870 Extreme3. Either the company seems to have jumped the specifications of the 870 by adding external PCI-Express lane switching that gives it proper CrossFire capability, or that the 870 will indeed support 2-way CrossFire with its lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link split into two x8 links between the two cards, leaving no room for a "890X" chipset. The 870 Extreme3 supports socket AM3 processors with a 4+1 phase VRM that can take 140W TDP processors. It will support upcoming Phenom II X6 and Phenom II X4 T series processors. It integrates ASRock's proprietary UCC chip that unlocks disabled cores on certain processors.
The board is advertised to support DDR3-1800 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated), PCI-E x1, and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out five internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, with one eSATA. Other connectivity features include 8 channel HD audio, a 2-port USB 3.0 controller, a number of USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. Diagnostic LED display and onboard power and reset switches make for the rest of it. The ASRock 870 Extreme3 will retail a little later this month.
Source:
TechConnect Magazine
The board is advertised to support DDR3-1800 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8, when both are populated), PCI-E x1, and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out five internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, with one eSATA. Other connectivity features include 8 channel HD audio, a 2-port USB 3.0 controller, a number of USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. Diagnostic LED display and onboard power and reset switches make for the rest of it. The ASRock 870 Extreme3 will retail a little later this month.
12 Comments on ASRock Intros 870 Extreme3 Motherboard with CrossFire Support
Looks like is the only 8 series chipset that is truly superior than its predecessor.
does it mean that if I have a cross fire setup, I wont get maximum X16 bandwith for each card?
But it's SB850 chipset. Not really what you need now is USB 3.0 & SATA 3.0 support. Specially when these SATA's on AMD chipsets are heavily CPU dependent (and have poor performance when AHCI is not enabled like on pre SB750 series chipsets) and their performance is based on raw CPU speed. And nowhere near 6Gbps. And if all manufacturers stick to sB850 specifications and dont cut down link connection speed USB 3.0 will be a pretty decent just like on 890GX. I dont need USB 3.0 now maybe in 2 years or so. So it's premium when you waste an exta buck. I'd rather get that 890GX-UD3P for same 140USD than waste 30 extra bucks on nothing. Nice way of budget manufacturers to earn extra profit by selling cheaper chipset mobo to enthusiasts