There is an ASRock two-fer over at Legion Hardware, with the $400 Fatal1ty X79 Champion for SandyBridge-E and the $350 Z77 Extreme9 for IvyBridge. As you can tell by the prices, ASRock has come far from its roots as a less expensive choice for value conscious buyers and is now ready to compete with the established companies like ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. The X79 Champion carries a lot of extras, the Marvell SE9230 adds SATA 6Gbps ports and the SE9172 adds eSATA, as well you get USB 3.0 support from a TI TUSB7340 chip but all that comes at a cost, only a pair of full 16x PCI 3.0 ports. The Z77 Extreme9 also features extras in the form of the PLX PEX 8747 PCIe 3.0 chip which allows dual GPUs at 16x or quad at 8x, an ASMedia ASM1061 6Gbps for extra SATA 6Gbps and a a wireless and Bluetooth module.
Drop by Legion Hardware to see how they perform.
"Overall we have been impressed by Asrock’s high-end offerings, as they really are top notch products. Asrock has continued to step up their game over the last few years and today we would have no problem purchasing one of their products over something from Asus or Gigabyte for example. The Fatal1ty X79 Champion and Z77 Extreme9 are more examples of why Asrock motherboards are worth checking out."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASRock Z77 Extreme9 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
- Two LGA 1155 Mainboards from ASRock Reviewed: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and ASRock Z77 Extreme6 @ X-bit Labs
- Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe: New Look of the LGA 1155 Platform @ X-bit Labs
- Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H @ Kitguru
- Thunderbolt on Windows Part 2: Intel’s DZ77RE-K75 & ASUS’ P8Z77-V Premium @ AnandTech
- ASUS’s AMD AM3+ Motherboards to get Intel Thunderbolt support? @ VR-Zone
- Asrock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
- ASRock X79 Fatal1ty Champion Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H WiFi Intel Z77 Express LGA 1155 @ techPowerUp
- Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
- ASUS P8Z77-M Pro Micro-ATX Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Biostar TZ77XE4 (Z77) Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
- Cedar Trail Platform: Intel D2500HN and Intel DN2800MT Mainboards @ X-bit Labs
- BIOS Option Of The Week – CPU Hardware Prefetch @ TechARP