ASRock X58 Extreme3 Intel X58 Motherboard Review

Conclusions
The testing results were so close to earlier testing with this processor on other boards it was really amazing. Oh, I’ve gotten similar results before, but these were with three or four different boards, two of them were 2010 boards and the other two were released in late 2008-early 2009.

I guess that there is little difference between the early X58 boards and the new ones as far as performance goes. That isn’t a bad thing, I found the X58 very stable and an excellent platform for the i7. All that I have owned overclocked well and I gave all high scores.

But the older boards just aren’t ready for the future, lacking USB 3 and SATA 6Gb/s. The ASRock X58 Extreme3 takes care of that…not only giving you those, but also eSATA 6Gb/s, the first board I have seen sporting that. And unlike some other companies, ASRock doesn’t steal precious PCI-E lanes from your video cards to accommodate the new data transfer methods, they have added new lanes via a PLX bridge.

So how did the motherboard’s cooling fan do? The NB temp remained under 35C during all testing. And the fan was pretty quiet, I did hear it whirring but definitely not the hideous noise that we got from all NB fans in days gone by.

I found nothing I didn’t like about the X58 Extreme3.

The ASRock X58 Extreme3 sells for $200 at my favorite online retailer. There are only a handful of X58 boards selling for less and none of them are set up with USB 3 and SATA 6Gb/s. Actually there are only a handful of X58 boards that have it, and none of them are as nice as this one, excepting maybe a couple that sell for well over $100 more. ThinkComputers.org gives the ASRock X58 Extreme3 a 10 out of 10 score.

rating10 10 small

Pros:
– Board has USB 3.0, SATA and eSATA 6Gb/s
– Rather than take PCI-E lanes from the video cards, more lanes have been added via a PLX bridge
– Performed and overclocked well
– Quiet active cooling for motherboard power supply

Cons:
– None