A Closer Look
ASRock made seveal critical decisions when crafting this motherboard. They could have committed to the less costly and less research intensive route and used standard components with a slick color scheme to create the facade of a performance motherboard. Instead ASRock decided to utilize high end components and the latest available chip technologies to ehance the Z68 platform and provide a truly enthusiast-grade platform.
Some of the major enhancements to the ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 Intel Motherboard include:
- PLX Chip – The PLX PEX8608 switch which is a more efficient way for all the PCI-E devices to work at the proper speed simultaneously. Provides future support for full PCI-E 3.0 (combined with Ivy Bridge CPU)
The PEX8608 enables the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 with unparalleled interconnect performance and flexibility, delivering a high-speed bridge between the board’s Intel® Z68 chipset and multiple PCIe Gen2 (5Gbps) endpoints — including PCIe expansion slots, a Gigabit LAN, and a PCIe-to-PCI bridge – thus optimizing the connectivity in gaming and other bandwidth-hungry applications. ASRock selected the PLX® PEX8608 for the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard to enable one of the Z68’s built-in PCIe lanes to connect directly to the switch and fan out to various endpoints: two x1 PCIe slots, a Gigabit Ethernet port, PCIe-to-PCI bridge. The Z68 chipset itself links directly to the Z68 Extreme4’s x4 PCIe slot.
- Nvidia Chip NF200 – This chipset generates more PCI-E lanes and therefore the motherboard is capable of running dual VGA cards at PCI-E x16 / x16 mode and three VGA cards at x16 / x8 / x8 mode
- PCI Bridge CHIP – ASMedia ASM1083 http://www.asmedia.com.tw/eng/e_show_products.php?cate_index=112&item=114
- USB 3.0 Chip – ASMedia ASM1042
- Firewire Chip – VIA FIRE VT6315-Series PCI-Express 1394 Host Controller http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/peripherals/1394/vt6315/
- SATA III Add-on Chipset – ASRock added 2 additional SATA III ports to complement the standard 4 ports provided bZ68
- 4 x SATA III 6.0 Gb/s connectors by ASMedia ASM1061
- 2 x SATA III 3.0 Gb/s connectors by Intel Rapid Storage and Intel Smart Response Technology (SSD)
- Audio Chip – 7.1 channel HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec)
- Thermal Sensory Chip & Legacy port support for serial and parallel Nuvoton NCT6776f
Product Specifications
| General | |
| CPU | – Supports 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 in LGA1155 Package – Advanced V8 + 4 Power Phase Design – Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology – Supports Intel® K-Series unlocked CPU – Supports Hyper-Threading Technology |
| Chipset | – Intel® Z68 |
| Memory | – Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology – 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots – Supports DDR3 2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066/800 non-ECC, un-buffered memory – Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB* – 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.
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| BIOS | – 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with GUI support – Supports “Plug and Play” – ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events – Supports jumperfree – SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support – CPU Core, IGPU, DRAM, PCH, CPU PLL, VTT, VCCSA Voltage Multi-adjustment |
| Audio, Video and Networking | |
| Graphics | – Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® HD Graphics 2000/3000, Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) – Pixel Shader 4.1, DirectX 11 with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU, DirectX 10.1 with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU – Max. shared memory 1759MB – Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort – Supports HDMI 1.4a Technology with max. resolution up to 1920×1200 @ 60Hz – Supports DVI with max. resolution up to 1920×1200 @ 60Hz – Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 2048×1536 @ 75Hz – Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution up to 2560×1600 @ 60Hz – Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI (Compliant HDMI monitor is required) – Supports HDCP function with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort ports – Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback with DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort ports *Due to chipset limitation, the Blu-ray playback of Intel® HD Graphics is only supported under Windows® Vista™ and Windows®7.**Intel® InTru™ 3D is only supported under Windows® 7 and Windows® 7 x64.
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| Audio | – 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec) – Premium Blu-ray audio support – Supports THX TruStudio™ |
| LAN | – PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s – Broadcom BCM57781 – Supports Wake-On-LAN – Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az – Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function – Supports PXE |
| Expansion / Connectivity | |
| Slots | – 5 x PCI Express x16 slots (single at PCIE 3.0* x16 (PCIE2) mode, dual at PCIE 2.0 x16 (PCIE1) / PCIE 2.0 x16 (PCIE4) mode, or tripple at PCIE 2.0 x16 (PCIE1) / PCIE 2.0 x8 (PCIE4) / PCIE 2.0 x8 (PCIE6) mode; PCIE5: PCIE 2.0 x4 mode) – 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot – 1 x PCI slot – Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ , 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™ – Supports NVIDIA®Quad SLI™ , 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™ ** PCIE 3.0 is only supported with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU. With Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU, it only supports PCIE 2.0.
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| SATA3 | – 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Intel® Z68, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, Intel® Rapid Storage and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions – 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, support NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions (SATA3_A4 connector is shared with eSATA3 port) |
| USB 3.0 | – 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by ASMedia ASM1042, 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 ASMedia ASM1042, supports USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s |
| Connector | – 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5, Intel® Rapid Storage and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions – 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors – 1 x IR header – 1 x CIR header – 1 x COM port header – 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header – 1 x IEEE 1394 header – 1 x Power LED header – CPU/Chassis/Power FAN connector – 24 pin ATX power connector – 8 pin 12V power connector – SLI/XFire power connector – Front panel audio connector – 4 x USB 2.0 headers (support 8 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 D-Sub Port – 1 x DVI-D Port – 1 x HDMI Port – 1 x DisplayPort – 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port – 2 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports – 1 x eSATA3 Connector – 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports – 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) – 1 x IEEE 1394 Port – 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED – HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone |
| Other Features / Miscellaneous | |
| Unique Feature | – ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) – ASRock Instant Boot – ASRock Instant Flash – ASRock APP Charger – ASRock SmartView – ASRock XFast USB – ASRock XFast LAN – ASRock XFast Charger – Lucid Virtu – ASRock On/Off Play Technology – Hybrid Booster: – CPU Frequency Stepless Control – ASRock U-COP – Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.) – Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.) – Good Night LED |
| 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), CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, ASRock Software Suite (CyberLink DVD Suite – OEM and Trial; ASRock MAGIX Multimedia Suite – OEM) |
| Accessories | – 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card – Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield – 6 x SATA Data Cables (optional) – 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables (optional) – 1 x 3.5mm Audio Cable (optional) – 1 x Front USB 3.0 Panel – 4 x HDD Screws – 6 x Chassis Screws – 1 x Rear USB 3.0 Bracket – 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard + USB 2.0 Bracket |
| Hardware Monitor | – CPU Temperature Sensing – Chassis Temperature Sensing – CPU/Chassis/Power Fan Tachometer – CPU/Chassis Quiet Fan (Allow Chassis Fan Speed Auto-Adjust by CPU Temperature) – 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 – Premium Gold 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) |
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