ASRock P55 Extreme4 Motherboard Review

Specifications

General
CPU – Supports Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 and Pentium® G6950 Processors in LGA1156 Package
– Advanced V8 + 2 Power Phase Design
– Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
– Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
– Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
– Supports EM64T CPU
Chipset – Intel® P55
Memory – Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
– 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots
– Supports DDR3 2600+(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
– Max. capacity of system memory: 16GB*
– Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
*Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® 32-bit OS. For Windows® 64-bit OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.
BIOS – 16Mb AMI Legal BIOS
– Supports “Plug and Play”
– ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
– Supports jumperfree
– SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
– CPU, DRAM, VTT, PCH, CPU PLL Voltage Multi-adjustment
– Supports I. O. T. (Intelligent Overclocking Technology)
Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics – n/a
Audio – 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)
– Premium Blu-ray audio support
– Supports THX TruStudio Pro™
LAN – PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
– Realtek RTL8111E
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
– Supports LAN Cable Detection
– Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
Expansion / Connectivity
Slots – 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (Single at x16 or Dual at x8/x8 mode)
– 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots (2.5GT/s)
– 2 x PCI slots
– Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™ and Quad CrossFireX™
– Supports NVIDIA® SLI™ and Quad SLI™
SATA3 – 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Marvell SE9128, support hardware RAID (RAID 0 and RAID 1), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions
– 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Marvell SE9123/9120, support NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions (SATA3_4 connector is shared with eSATA3 port)
USB 3.0 – 2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by NEC MPD720200, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s
– 1 x Front USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports) by NEC MPD720200, supports USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s
Connector – 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, JBOD and Intel® Rapid Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
– 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors
– 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
– 1 x Floppy connector
– 1 x IR header
– 1 x COM port header
– 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
– 1 x Power LED header
– CPU/Chassis/Power FAN connector
– 24 pin ATX power connector
– 8 pin 12V power connector
– CD in header
– Front panel audio connector
– 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)
– 1 x Dr. Debug with LED
Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
– 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
– 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
– 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports
– 1 x eSATA3 Connector
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
– HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Other Features / Miscellaneous
Unique Feature – ASRock OC Tuner
– Intelligent Energy Saver
– Instant Boot
– ASRock Instant Flash
– ASRock OC DNA
– ASRock AIWI
– ASRock APP Charger
– Hybrid Booster:
– CPU Frequency Stepless Control
– ASRock U-COP
– Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
– Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.)
– Good Night LED
– Turbo 40 / Turbo 50 CPU Overclocking
Smart Switch – 1 x Power Switch with LED
– 1 x Reset Switch with LED
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
Support CD – Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), ASRock Software Suite (CyberLink DVD Suite – OEM and Trial; THX TruStudio Pro™ – OEM)
Accessories – 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card
– Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
– Floppy/ATA 133 Cables
– 4 x SATA Data Cables (optional)
– 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables (optional)
– 1 x Front USB 3.0 Panel
– 6 x Screws
Hardware Monitor – CPU Temperature Sensing
– Chassis Temperature Sensing
– CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer
– CPU Quiet Fan
– CPU/Chassis Fan Multi-Speed Control
– Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore
Form Factor – ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
– All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)
OS – Microsoft® Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant
Certifications – FCC, CE, WHQL
– ErP/EuP Ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)