Intel Core i7 2600K and Core i5 2500K review

ASRock sent us their P67 Extreme4 motherboard, and we used it for a substantial portion of our 2500k testing today, it proved to be both stable and feature packed. A new beta bios was sent to us a short while before the review.

The bundle is fully loaded with four high quality SATA cables, SLI connector, USB 3.0 front mounted header. Literature, manual and software/driver disc.

The board is populated with DuraCap and 1005 Japan made high quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors which give up to a 2.5 longer life – it is also a V8+2 Power Phase Design. The board also fully supports the unlocked K series processors. The Extreme4 delivers support for memory up to DDR3-2133mhz via overclocking profiles and a Debug LED is included on the board for diagnosis support.

There is full support for ATI CrossfireX, up to a Quad configuration. nVidia SLI is also supported, up to a Quad configuration.

The board supports dual USB 3.0 both front and rear with four Sata 3 connectors and 1 eSATA 3 connector, with 2 x IEEE 1394 ports.

7.1 CH HD audio with Content Protection is offered via the RealTek ALC892 Audio Codec with full THX TruStudio Pro also available. Board design is very good with 90 degree mounted SATA cables and nothing blocking any of the PCI slots. We were also able to fit the oversized Noctua NH D14 cooler without any issues around the CPU socket.

Become a Patron!