Introduction
Contents
The ASRock X79 Extreme11 is probably the most complete motherboard released so far for the LGA2011 platform. It includes seven PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, eight additional SAS/SATA-600 ports, eight USB 3.0 ports, and a high-end audio controller. The most important feature of this motherboard is the presence of two PLX PEX8747 chips, which allow you to install up to four PCI Express 3.0 video cards truly working at x16 speed. Let’s check it out.
To better understand the differences between the several socket LGA2011 motherboards released by ASRock, we compiled the tables below. Prices were researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this article. “Game Blaster” is a PCI Express x1 add-on sound card featuring a Creative Sound Core3D audio chip and a Broadcom networking chip.
| Specification | X79 Extreme11 | X79 Champion | X79 Professional | X79 Extreme9 | X79 Extreme7 |
| Form Factor | CEB | CEB | ATX | ATX | ATX |
| Memory Sockets | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| PCI Express x16 | 7 (x16/x0/x16/x0/x16/x0/x16 or x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8) | 5 | 4 (x16/x8/x16/x0 or x16/x8/x8/x8) | 5 (x16/x0/x16/x0/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8/x8) | 5 (x16/x0/x16/x0/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8/x8) |
| PCI Express x1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Standard PCI | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| CrossFireX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SATA-300 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| SATA-600 | 10 (8 SAS) | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| eSATA-600 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| USB 2.0 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| USB 3.0 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| FireWire | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1+1 | 2 |
| Audio | Sound Core3D | Sound Core3D | ALC898 | Game Blaster | ALC898 |
| Voltage Regulator | 22+2+2 | 12+2 | 16+2 | 16+2 | 12+2 |
| Price | USD 600 | USD 370 | USD 280 | USD 345 | USD 245 |
| Specification | X79 Extreme6/GB | X79 Extreme6 | X79 Extreme4-M | X79 Extreme4 | X79 Extreme3 |
| Form Factor | ATX | ATX | microATX | ATX | ATX |
| Memory Sockets | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| PCI Express x16 | 3 (x16/x16/x8) | 3 (x16/x16/x8) | 3 (x16/x16/x8) | 3 (x16/x16/x8) | 3 (x16/x16/x8) |
| PCI Express x1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Standard PCI | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| CrossFireX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SATA-300 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| SATA-600 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| eSATA-600 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| USB 2.0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 |
| USB 3.0 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| FireWire | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 1+1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Audio | Game Blaster | ALC898 | ALC898 | ALC898 | ALC898 |
| Voltage Regulator | 12+2 | 12+2 | 6+2 | 6+2 | 5+1 |
| Price | USD 270 | USD 250 | USD 215 | USD 225 | USD 210 |
In Figure 1, you see the ASRock X79 Extreme11 motherboard. It uses the CEB form factor (12 x 10.5 inches or 305 x 267 mm), which is a little deeper than standard ATX motherboards (12 x 9.6 inches or 305 x 244 mm). Therefore, you need to make sure that your computer case is compatible with the CEB form factor.
Figure 1: ASRock X79 Extreme11 motherboard