ASRock Readies X58 Extreme6, Motherboard with Six SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 Ports

[btarunr]

Innovative motherboard maker ASRock seems to be liking designing high-end motherboards - a lot. The latest model in the works is a socket LGA1366 motherboard based on the Intel X58+ICH10R chipset, called the ASRock X58 Extreme6. This motherboard provides no less than six SATA 6 Gb/s and six USB 3.0 ports, a large step beyond the chipset's original specifications. ASRock is achieving this using three NEC µPD720200 2-port USB 3.0 and three Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, some of which are connected to the system over a PLX PEX8613 PCI-Express 2.0 switch chip. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports are internal, and color-coded white, next to the six SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the southbridge, while four out of six USB 3.0 ports are on the rear-panel (color-coded blue), and two ports are via an internal header, that connects to USB 3.0 case front-panels or expansion brackets.

Apart from this 'unique' feature set, the ASRock X58 Extreme6 is fairly standard, with six-core processor support out of the box, an 8-phase VRM that powers the CPU, six DDR3 DIMM slots for triple-channel memory, expansion slots that include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 with 3-way SLI and CrossFire support, two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI, 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, a gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, eSATA, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Exclusive features include THX TruStudio Pro support, debug LEDs, OC DNA, ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash, and OC Tuner. One can expect the board to be out soon.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[AlienIsGOD]

The offerings just keep getting better from AsRock. Im definitely going to be looking into a mid-range AsRock board for my next AMD setup, maybe even Intel when I decide to move up to the new sockets.

 

[Arrakis9]

Really digging their layouts on the recent mid-high boards they've been making

 

[xaira]

8 pin EPS + 4pin Molex WTF are they powering

 

[RejZoR]

A proton accelerator, what else? AsRock is looking real good lately. Same goes for ECS.
They both used to be cheap in all possible ways, but today they can easily compete with products from the "big" companies.

 

[erocker]

Lots of nice features. Hard to tell from the pics, but the CPU power delivery components (8 chokes, 9 caps) doesn't look very exciting. Typical of ASRock.

 

[TheLostSwede]

That board is going to be sooooo expensive...
3x USB controllers, $30, 3x SATA 6Gbps controllers, well something similar I'd guess, a PLX bridge, at least $10, maybe 15 and then some license money to Nvidia for 3-way SLI...

 

[(FIH) The Don]

never thought i would say this about AssRock, but damn, SEXY

 

[freaksavior]

Holy sata ports batman !

 

[wiak]

That board is going to be sooooo expensive...
3x USB controllers, $30, 3x SATA 6Gbps controllers, well something similar I'd guess, a PLX bridge, at least $10, maybe 15 and then some license money to Nvidia for 3-way SLI...

thats why it makes more sense to make a AMD 890FX+SB850 with duo of Marvell SATA 6Gbps controllers so you can get 10x SATA 6Gbps ports

 

[Salsoolo]

whats the purpose of the molex connector above the pcie slot?
im seeing those on some motherboards lately

 

[(FIH) The Don]

to give the pci-e slots more power when you use them all or overclock

 

[Salsoolo]

so i cant sli without powering it?

 

[Disparia]

Nice.

Didn't see it on their site yet, was hoping to see how they wired up the PCIe lanes.

 

[DanishDevil]

Lots of nice features. Hard to tell from the pics, but the CPU power delivery components (8 chokes, 9 caps) doesn't look very exciting. Typical of ASRock.

That's exactly what I thought. Extreme 6? It barely has more than 6 CPU phases.

 

[T3kl0rd]

The ASRock X58 Extreme mobo that was Tom's Hardware 2009 pic still looks like a great choice for a budget X58 mobo. Going to take a while for the new SATA and USB speeds to be utilized widespread, so no need to jump on that bandwagon yet. This mobo looks hella expensive as well.

 

[bogmali]

Hope this version is better than the Extreme3 which requires a lot of CPU voltage for a stable OC. I liked the original Extreme version better.

 

[Lionheart]

That actually looks nice, and the PCI E spacing is actually good too

 

[btarunr]

That board is going to be sooooo expensive...
3x USB controllers, $30, 3x SATA 6Gbps controllers, well something similar I'd guess, a PLX bridge, at least $10, maybe 15 and then some license money to Nvidia for 3-way SLI...

If ASRock were to market that board without those six controllers, it would barely go for US $180. Even if you liberally add $10 per controller+connector and another $15 for the bridge, you're looking at $255~$260, which isn't a bad price for a LGA1366 motherboard at all.

That said, Renesas sells you that USB 3.0 controller for as low as $3 a piece if you're buying in good quantities. I'm sure ASRock qualifies for that part pricing.