14 DAY TRIAL // One would have expected all motherboard makers to reveal something equipped with Intel's thunderbolt technology this week, but ASRock is either postponing that announcement or not intent on implementing it at all for a while.
ASRock has formally introduced the Z77 Extreme9 which, though a high-end platform, does not support the 10 Gbps DisplayPort / PCI Express hybrid interface.
That sets it apart from the MSI Z77A-GD80 and these ASUS motherboards, to give a couple of examples.
Anyway, since this is a Z77 platform, you can expect all Intel Ivy Bridge central processing units to work on it. The same goes for graphics cards with support for PCI Express 3.0 (five slots exist).
There is also a larger number of SATA storage ports than would normally be possible, owed to two ASMedia ASM1061 controllers.
To elaborate, the default storage layout includes four SATA 3.0 Gbps and two SATA 6.0 Gbps connectors, but ASRock's Z77 Extreme9 has four extra SATA 6.0 Gbps ports.
Speaking of chips, a PCI Express bridge chip must be in there somewhere, otherwise it would not be impossible for slot one, three, five and seven to operate in dual x16 or four x8 modes.
The collection of third-party chips continues with two Broadcom controllers (responsible for the two Gigabit Ethernet ports at the back) and an Etron Ej188 host controller (raises the number of USB 3.0 ports on the back panel from four to eight).
Moving on, wireless support is present and accounted for, but not natively. Instead, a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 add-in card is bundled with the platform, for free. It goes inside the mini PCI Express slot.
Other specs include 7.1-channel audio with optical S/PDIF, HDMI, a clear CMOS button, eSATA, FireWire and a bunch of headers for USB 3.0/2.0 (a second Etron EJ188 host controller is used here).
Finally, besides the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, ASRock included a front USB 3.0 port drive bay module (Wi-SB box), with two USB 3.0 ports, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas, two LEDs and space for a 2.5-inch drive.
Too bad the price of this beast is huge. In Europe, retailers want 320 Euro, which is about the same as $410.
