ECS put out the X79R-AX Extreme and it certainly deserves that moniker. They went for 4 USB 3.0 ports instead of 2, they included a CLRTC button on the back panel, dual NIC s and Bluetooth and as well as WiFi with an external wire style antenna. Internally there are 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports and 4 SATA 3Gb/s ports, a diagnostic LED which also displays current CPU temperature and 4 PCIe x16 slots and 2 PCIe x1 slots. That list goes far beyond the other Extreme X79 boards on the market. Guru3D warns that the BIOS is more than a little confusing when you overclock but at roughly $300 to pick up when it becomes available this is a sweet example of an X79 motherboard.
"Today we take a look at the new motherboard from ECS, the X79R-AX Extreme. We’ll throw in a decent photo-shoot and a benchmark suite at the product and get an indication what performance is like with the Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E).
Admittedly I was a little shocked when the motherboard arrived, as it is probably the most feature rich X79 motherboard we’ve had in our labs."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- X79 Express Performance Comparison @ Benchmark Reviews
- ASRock X79 Extreme4 X79 Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
- Gigabyte X79-UD3 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- ASUS Rampage IV Extreme @ Overclockers.com
- BIOS Option Of The Week – DBI Output for AGP Trans. @ TechARP
- Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 Motherboard Review @ Neoseeker
Notice the 4 memory sockets
Notice the 4 memory sockets not 8 like other performance boards. ECS that’s an unrecoverable error for enthusiast level hardware. This is not going to compete with ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte offerings.
Get the proto-types to add 4 more memory socket or expect dismal sales and low profit margins, since you’ll need incentives to make this motherboard move!
I disagree with the first
I disagree with the first comment, 4 slots for ram is more than enough. With the price of 4GB sticks of DDR3 being so cheap, $80 gets you 16GB of system ram.
You have to admit it’s odd
You have to admit it’s odd tho. The board can handle up to 64GB of RAM but only comes with 4x DIMM slots. By the time Newegg starts selling 16GB sticks for cheap this board will be well past it’s prime.