Power Consumption and Conclusions

Power Consumption

The ASRock Extreme 7 Gen 3 used a bit more power during idle testing than the MSI Z68A-GD80 G3 we tested today. The additional power was necessary for the NF200 chip to function as well as other controllers that ASRock added to this motherboard. However, this board was actually more efficient under load conditions than all of the P67 and Z68-based motherboards we threw against it. We can most likely attribute these results to how ASRock enhanced the V8+4 power phase system incorporated into the Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 board.

 

Performance

The Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard was able to handle multiple types of tasks and operations that we evaluated during the benchmarking portion of this review. While the gaming results were a bit inconsistent, I was able to determine that this motherboard is a superior performer in several areas including CPU performance, overclocking, and general PC tasks. I have a feeling that I was able to test the board with multiple graphics cards that I would have seen the truly gaming capabilities of this board. 

 

The inclusion of NVIDIA’s NF200 and Lucid Logix’s Virtu technology really puts the Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard into a league of its own. Combine that with the ability to run quad SLI or CrossfireX graphics configurations and you have the making of a superior piece of hardware that can only be rivaled by a handful of Z68-based motherboards on the market today. I also appreciated how much time and effort ASRock put into their Extreme Tuning Utility because I haven’t had much luck with similar overclocking utilities from other vendors.

 

Pricing

As of Oct. 29, the ASRock Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard was available at Newegg.com for $274.99 with free shipping. Consumers can also purchase this product at Amazon.com for $274.99 with free shipping as well.

 

Conclusion

We’d like to thank ASRock for providing the Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard for our review today. I’ve had several Z68-based motherboards on my test bench in the past few months, but none with the feature set ASRock bundled with the Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3. They really took the Z68 platform to a new level and I was extremely impressed with the board’s ability to handle gaming and overclocking and provide enthusiasts with advanced options to ramp up the performance of their system to new heights. ASRock has really grown as a company and continues to refine their products to meet the needs of hardcore gamers and ultra PC users looking for the best components money can buy. The Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 motherboard earn’s PC Perspective’s Silver Award for its flexible performance capabilities and its custom, user-friendly overclocking utility.

 

 

Strengths

  • Good overclocker
  • Five PCI Express 3.0 slots with SLI/CrossfireX support
  • Excellent overclocking utility
  • Tons of accessories

 

Weaknesses

  • UEFI BIOS needed more modern graphics, layout
« PreviousNext »