ASRock 990FX Extreme9 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. ASRock 990FX Extreme9: Packaging and Bundle3. ASRock 990FX Extreme9: Board Layout and Features4. ASRock 990FX Extreme9: BIOS5. ASRock 990FX Extreme9: Overclocking6. Testing Methodology7. System: PCMark 78. System: 3DMark Vantage9. System: 3DMark 1110. System: 3DMark11. System: Unigine Heaven Benchmark12. Processor: SiSoft Sandra13. Processor: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit14. Processor: Super Pi15. Processor: WinRar16. Processor: MKV 1080P Performance17. Processor: Media Encoding - MediaEspresso18. Processor: Media Encoding - HandBrake19. Motherboard: SATA Performance20. Motherboard: USB 3.0 Performance21. Gaming: Battlefield 322. Gaming: Crysis 223. Gaming: Metro 203324. Technical: Power Consumption25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

ASRock's latest addition to their 990FX series of AMD motherboards, the 990FX Extreme9, aims to occupy the company's AM3+ top spot alongside the Fatal1ty Professional board.

With premium power delivery components, compatibility with AMD's 8 core PileDriver processors and support for 3-way SLI and CrossFire graphics configurations, the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 sports an excellent set of features which should impress the enthusiast market.

The board makes use of ASRock's new-and-improved power delivery components which include; Gold Capacitors, Digi Power VRM, Dual-Stack MOSFET, Hi-Density power connector, and a 12+2 power phase design.

Can this plethora of overclocking enhancements and an excellent feature set translate into enthusiast-grade performance potential?

Specifications:

• Premium Gold Caps, Multiple Filter Cap
• Supports Dual-Stack MOSFET (DSM), Digi Power, 12 + 2 power phase design
• Supports AM3+ Processor, 8-Core CPU
• Supports Dual Channel DDR3 2450(OC)
• 4 PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots, Support NVIDIA^® 3-Way SLI, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™
• 8 x SATA3, 2 x eSATA3, 8 x USB 3.0, 8 x USB 2.0
• Supports Hi-Density Power Connector
• Intel^® Gigabit LAN
• Supports ASRock X-Boost, XFast 555, Fast Boot, Restart to UEFI, Dehumidifier, OMG, Internet Flash, Easy RAID Installer
• 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec), supports THX TruStudio™
• Free Bundle : CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar, 1 x Front USB 3.0 Panel with 2.5″ HDD/SSD Rack

ASRock supplies the 990FX Extreme9 motherboard in a large box which features a call-out to the product's XFast 555 abilities on the front side, and an explanation of some ‘user-friendly' features on the rear side.

Opening the packaging's flap reveals a transparent window that allows the motherboard to be observed before purchase. Additional, enthusiast-orientated information regarding the board's premium features is located inside the flap.

A healthy bundle is supplied with the 990FX Extreme9, and so it should be, given the motherboard's target audience.

One accessory that is sorely missed, in comparison to competing companies' bundles is a quick front panel connector. MSI has M-connector and Asus has Q-connector. ASRock really needs to follow suit; a simple block solution can make attaching front panel cables a less tedious chore.

An accessory which we would like to see included would be a long CrossFire connector. Some cards ship without cables, or with short versions that aren't ideal for the 990FX Extreme9's slot spacing.

Some form of WiFi adapter would have also been a thoughtful addition as it would only increase the board's price by around 3-4%, but would be convenient for many users.

The bundle consists of:

• 6x black SATA 6GB/s latching cables
• 2x molex to SATA power adapters
• 2-way SLI bridge
• 3-way SLI bridge
• USB converter which provides 2x USB 3.0 ports from an internal header – for use with an external 3.5″ bay (tray then doubles up as a 2.5″ drive rack) or a PCI adapter (screws supplied)
• Multi-coloured IO shield
• Manuals
• Drivers CD

The ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard uses a highly attractive black and gold colour scheme. The black PCB and slots are beautifully coupled with gold heatsink accents and capacitors.

The motherboard conforms to the standard ATX form factor, measuring in at 12 x 9.6 inches (305 x 244 mm).

Four DIMM slots offer support for up to 64GB of memory with a frequency of up to 2450MHz. The motherboard's 24-pin power connector is situated in a convenient location along the upper-right edge; this position keeps it away from the SATA ports, hence making cable management easier.

A pair of USB 3.0 headers is situated adjacent to the DIMM slots. The pair is powered by an Etron EJ188H controller which offers four USB 3.0 ports. As with the power connector, these headers are situated in an ideal location which makes it easy to route USB 3.0 cables to a case's front panel area.

One slight complaint would be the separation between each USB 3.0 header. Some cases, such as the Cougar Challenger which we review here, feature thick USB 3.0 connectors which have the potential to block neighbouring ports. This is more of a case issue than a motherboard one, but it is certainly something to be aware of.

ASRock positions its Hi-Density 8-pin CPU power connector in the board's top-left area. The connector is positioned far enough away from the VRM heatsink to make reaching it an easy task.

A trio of fan headers is located adjacent to the CPU socket. There is one 4-pin CPU fan header, one 3-pin CPU fan header, and one 3-pin system fan header. The CPU fan headers can be controlled via the BIOS to dynamically adjust the fan speed, dependent upon the CPU temperature.

ASRock manages to maintain a clean and uncluttered CPU area, despite the 990FX Extreme9's 12+2 power phase and large heatsinks. The Northbridge and VRM heatsinks are connected via a heatpipe which allows them to assist with each other's heat dissipating tasks.

Spacing between the CPU socket and DIMM slots is very good; as shown later in the review, our large CPU cooler didn't interfere with tall memory modules.

Due to the oversized design of ASRock's Northbridge heatsink, only 6 expansion slots are able to be accommodated on the board, while maintaining the ATX form factor. It would have been better to reduce the heatsink's size, allowing a PCI-E x1 slot to be positioned in the uppermost location.

This would give users added flexibility with their expansion preferences when using 3-way graphics configurations or dual triple-slot cards.

There are four full-length PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, a single PCI-E 2.0 x1 connector, and a legacy PCI connector. Some readers will complain about legacy support on a high-end motherboard being sold in 2013, but this editor still sees a worthwhile function for the PCI slot: add-on WiFi and sound cards.

The x16 slots' lane configurations are (from top to bottom): 16 lanes, 4 lanes, 16 lanes, 8 lanes. This configuration leaves three slots between the board's x16-wired slots which can allow a 1 slot gap for cooling, or dual triple-slot card setups. 3-way CrossFire or SLI will require a case with at least 8 expansion slots, and the patience to remove the bottom card when accessing the front panel connections.

The ASRock 990FX Extreme9 features eight SATA ports, all of which operate at the 6GB/s speed. Six of the ports are provided by the AMD SB950 Southbridge, while the remaining two are running off an Asmedia ASM1061 controller which steals a PCI-E 2.0 lane to power them.

Positioned in a convenient location along the board's lower-right edge, the right-angled SATA ports should help to make cable management an easier task.

Onboard power and reset buttons are featured on the 990FX Extreme9, both of which sport a built-in LED. This is convenient for testing overclocks or identifying system problems when the board isn't housed in a chassis.

ASRock's Dr. Debug 7 segment LED screen displays messages during POST which can reduce the time taken when troubleshooting.

HD audio, legacy port headers, a clear CMOS jumper, the front panel cables connector, two USB 2.0 headers, and the onboard buttons are located along the 990FX Extreme9's bottom edge.

All of these ports will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to access with a graphics card installed in the bottom PCI-E x16 slot.

A healthy selection of ports is situated on the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard's rear panel. The four USB 3.0 ports are powered by an Etron EJ188H controller. An Asmedia ASM1061 controller feeds the two eSATA 6GB/s ports. Gigabit Ethernet is provided by the Intel 82583V controller.

A clear CMOS button with LED is a very convenient addition that allows users to reset their BIOS settings without being forced inside the chassis.

Motherboard rear ports:

• 1x PS/2 mouse port
• 1x PS/2 keyboard port
• 1x Clear CMOS button with LED
• 1x Coaxial SPDIF out port
• 1x Optical SPDIF out port
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 4 x USB 3.0 ports
• 2x eSATA3 (6GB/s) connectors
• 1 x RJ-45 LAN port
• 1 x IEEE 1394 Port
• HD audio jacks (Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone)

Three attractive, black and gold heatsinks are used to cool the 990FX Extreme9's VRM, Northbridge and Southbridge. The heatsinks add to the board's overall aesthetic appeal and, with the slight exception of the large Northbridge design, don't cause interference issues.

ASRock uses premium power components throughout the 990FX Extreme9 motherboard. Gold capacitors and high-quality chokes should ensure clean power delivery to all of the board's components.

Some of the board's main power features are: Dual-Stack MOSFET, Digi Power, 12+2 power phase design and premium gold caps. A CHiL CHL8328 controller is also used.

As outlined by the blue circles in the above image, ASRock equips the 990FX Extreme9 with six fan headers: 2x CPU fan headers (4-pin & 3-pin), 3x chassis fan headers (1x 4-pin & 2x 3-pin), and 1x power fan header (3-pin). Both the CPU and chassis fan headers feature speed control via the BIOS; the power fan header does not.

Fan connector positioning is generally good, with the exception of the lack of header near the IO panel – a position which is convenient for a rear chassis fan.

Many onboard controllers are present on the 990FX Extreme9. Some of these controllers include: 2x Asmedia ASM1061 SATA 6GB/s, 2x Etron EJ188H USB 3.0, 1x Realtek ALC898 HD audio, Intel 82583V Gigabit Ethernet, Asmedia ASM1480 PCI-E lane switch, VIA VT6315N IEEE1394, Nuvoton NCT6776F monitoring, CHiL CHL8328 power control.

There were no problems encountered when installing hardware on the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard. Generous spacing between the DIMM slots and CPU socket prevents large CPU coolers from interfering with tall memory modules.

Motherboard slots and connectors:

• 8 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors
• 1 x IR header
• 1 x CIR header
• 1 x COM port header
• 1 x IEEE 1394 header
• 1 x Power LED header
• 2 x CPU Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)
• 3 x Chassis Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 2 x 3-pin)
• 1 x Power Fan connector (3-pin)
• 24 pin ATX power connector
• 8 pin 12V power connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
• Front panel audio connector
• 2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
• 2 x USB 3.0 headers (support 4 USB 3.0 ports)
• 1 x Dr. Debug (7-Segment Debug LED)
• 1 x Power Switch with LED
• 1 x Reset Switch with LED

The main page of the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard's UEFI BIOS displays information such as the processor and memory frequencies.

The OC tweaker page features the system's main settings, and those that can be tweaked when overclocking.

We noticed that the board was highly over-compensating for our memory voltage. The ‘Auto' setting should configure the modules at 1.50V, but instead they were operating at 1.58V – a significant difference.

Many voltage and power settings can be heavily tweaked to allow for maximum performance to be obtained from a processor.

As the FX-8350 processor that we used is a ‘Black Edition' part, the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 can take advantage of the unlocked multiplier which can be used to achieve higher CPU overclocks, without sacrificing the system stability that exists with a 200MHz base clock.

The main memory dividers up to DDR3-2400MHz are supported by the 990FX Extreme9. A 2000MHz divider would be useful to many enthusiasts. XMP is supported by the 990FX Extreme9, but our 2133MHz Patriot Viper modules were getting wrongly configured by the board. Instead, we had to manually set the frequency and timings.

A good amount of timings and settings can be tweaked, but the options are certainly more confined than some other motherboards that we have used, such as the Asus P8Z77-V.

A maximum memory voltage of 1.800V can be set. This is a too conservative for an enthusiast-grade motherboard which could possibly be used to attempt record-breaking overclocks.

CPU settings can be tweaked without hassle.

Users can flash the BIOS version through the UEFI interface. A system browser indicates which components are installed, such as a graphics card and memory.

Up to three user-definable setting configurations can be saved. This isn't good enough for a board that is designed for overclocking. At least five should be provided to give users the flexibility to save a 24/7 setting, maximum speed setting, and multiple test settings when overclocking.

The H/W Monitor page provides accurate and believable readings, thanks to the Nuvoton NCT6776F hardware monitoring controller.

Fan speed settings can be edited to set the minimum speed. A target CPU temperature can also be set so that the fans have a level of performance to aim for, rather than operate at a constant speed.

SATA modes and boot devices can be changed to suit a user's individual requirements.

Users can select from ASRock's pre-defined ‘Auto OC' modes to boost their CPU speed.

There are four different settings which can provide CPU frequencies of 4200MHz, 4400MHz, 4600MHz and 4800MHz.

The settings are very novice and are too conservative with CPU voltage. Our system managed to boot with the 4200 and 4400 MHz settings, but both the 4600 and 4800 MHz options were unstable.

In trying to push for a CPU overclock, we disabled the power savings and set the load-line calibration (LLC) to 100%. We also disabled AMD's Turbo Core in favour of a static overclock.

We originally disabled LLC, as advised by the motherboard, but this resulted in CPU voltage fluctuations of almost 200mV more than what we set in the BIOS. With our CPU approaching the dizzying heights of 1.7V, we jumped to the other end of the scale and set LLC to 100%.

ASRock clearly has some minor glitches to fix in its UEFI interface. Clearly, 21.5 * 200 isn't 4730! Thankfully, this setting corrected itself after we selected the appropriate multiplier and rebooted.

We managed to successfully achieve a 5.00GHz CPU frequency with a voltage of 1.575V. Normally, we wouldn't push the FX-8350 CPU's voltage past 1.55V, but due to our LLC configuration, the operational voltage remained below 1.55V.

Unfortunately, the system proved that this setting was unstable by ‘shutting down' two cores during Prime95 load.

Even though two cores of the system were unstable during a Prime95 load, CPU-Z validator showed the system as stable – this is not entirely correct as not all cores were stable.

We did manage to boot at a CPU frequency of 4.8GHz with a voltage of 1.55V (in the BIOS). Prime95 proved that this setting was on the verge of stability with certain cores constantly changing their activation and operating frequency. 4.8GHz should be usable with a tweaked voltage setting, but this would likely require a better CPU cooler than the CM Seidon 120M that we are using.

We were looking for complete stability, so decided to reduce the frequency slightly.

We tested 4.6GHz at 1.5375 BIOS-set voltage (which peaked at less than 1.5000V in Windows), and it proved stable. In the end, we settled for 4.6GHz with a voltage of 1.55V. The extra 12.5mV gave us peace of mind that we had achieved complete stability.

Our LLC setting forced voltage down to a maximum of 1.504V when running Prime95. Perhaps a different LLC configuration would have resulted in reduced BIOS-set voltages, but our temperatures were fine and the system was stable, so we had few complaints.

Our 4.6GHz validation can be viewed here.

To test the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard, we paired it with an AMD FX-8350 processor and 8GB of 2133MHz memory from Patriot. We will be outlining the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard's performance with the AMD FX-8350 CPU at its stock frequency of 4.0GHz and when overclocked to 4.6GHz.

We are also including the performance of a similarly-priced Intel Z77 configuration consisting of an Asus P8Z77-V motherboard and i5 3570K processor.

Both systems are kept as identical as possible to eliminate variables. The only difference between each test system (other than the CPU and motherboard) is the SSD used; this could have an impact on some of the test results.

AMD FX-8350 Test System:

• Processor: AMD Bulldozer FX-8350 4.00GHz & overclocked to 4.60GHz
• Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme9
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz 11-11-11-27
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Dual-X
• System Drive: 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M
• Case: NZXT Phantom
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum-1000
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Comparison Intel i5 3570K System:

• Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40GHz
• Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V
• Memory: 8GB Patriot Viper 2133MHz 11-11-11-27
• Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Dual-X
• System Drive: 128GB Kingston V100
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M
• Case: NZXT Phantom
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum-1000
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Settings:

• AMD Catalyst 13.1 VGA drivers.
• ASRock 990FX Extreme9 BIOS V1.10
• Asus P8Z77-V BIOS V1504

Software Suite:

• 3DMark
• 3DMark Vantage
• 3DMark 11
• PCMark 7
• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 3.0
• SiSoft Sandra 2013
• Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
• Super Pi
• WinRAR 4.20
• VLC Media Player 2.0.5
• CyberLink Media Espresso 6.7
• HandBrake 0.9.8
• ATTO
• CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2
• XFast RAM V2.0.28
• XFast USB
• XFast LAN V6.61
• Battlefield 3
• Metro 2033
• Crysis 2

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

Using the 990FX Extreme9 to overclock an FX-8350 processor reaps a 5% performance gain in PCMark 7.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

With the FX-8350 system running at 4.60GHz, thanks to the 990FX Extreme9's overclocking potential, a 13% increase in CPU score is measured.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

3DMark 11 results indicate that ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 can lead to gaming performance benefits by being able to stably overclock the FX-8350 processor.

3DMark is Futuremark's latest benchmark. It can be used to benchmark and compare everything from mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, to high-end gaming systems. The benchmark is available for Windows, Windows RT Android and iOS.

With 3 separate tests, each of which is intended to be used alongside a specific classification of hardware, 3DMark is a very versatile benchmark. Ice Storm is intended to be used with mobile devices, Cloud Gate is good for use with laptops and home PCs, and Fire Strike can be used to push the performance of gaming PCs.

We used the ‘Fire Strike' benchmark which is designed to be used on gaming PCs. We opted for the Normal setting, NOT the Extreme mode.

A physics score increase of around 13.6% is obtained by using the 990FX Extreme9's overclocking abilities. Paired with an FX-8350 CPU, the ASRock 990FX Extreme9-based system is able to out-muscle the Z77-based system when it comes to physics score.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing: off. Anisotrophy: 4, Tessellation: normal. Shaders: High. Stereo 3D: disabled. API: Direct X 11.

While the 990FX Extreme9 motherboard may have a performance-orientated graphics configuration, it isn't able to make up for the Unigine Heaven performance lag that is set by AMD's FX-8350 processor, in comparison to the Intel i5 3570K.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Sandra's set of tests shows that the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 is a stable motherboard that doesn't hamper the AMD FX-8350 CPU's performance.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all – it’s completely free.

When paired with an octa-core processor, the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard produces the foundation for a powerful platform that performs well with multi-thread workloads, such as Cinebench.

Super Pi is used by a huge audience, particularly to check stability when overclocking processors. If a system is able to calculate PI to the 2 millionth place after the decimal without mistake, it is considered to be stable in regards to RAM and CPU.

We used Super Pi's '32M' benchmark setting.

Single-threaded performance of the FX-8350 CPU is weak, but the 990FX Extreme9 does help give it a boost by being able to increase its clock speed by 15%.

WinRAR is one of the most popular archive manager programs available. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format. You can try WinRAR before buy, its trial version is available in downloads.

We measured the time taken to archive and extract our 4.4GB 720p MKV file.

Using the 990FX Extreme9 to provide a processor overclock can help to secure better performance when archiving and extracting items, using WinRAR.

The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in VLC or Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed.

We played our High Definition MKV movie using the latest version of VLC Media Player.

A low CPU usage during High-Definition MKV playback proves that ASRock has an efficient motherboard which doesn't have a detrimental effect on CPU work load.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 4.4GB 720p MKV file (1h:58mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power.

Hardware acceleration is disabled to provide an accurate interpretation of the CPU performance.

ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 is able to overclock the FX-8350 processor, helping it become a more effective media converter, in comparison to Intel's offerings.

HandBrake is a fantastic free program that can be used to convert video files to many common formats for portable devices. HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multi-threaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

We used the latest V 0.9.8 version.

For our testing today we are converting a 4.4GB 720p MKV file (1h:58mins) to MP4 format, using HandBrake's ‘Normal' profile, for playback on High-Resolution devices. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power.

With the 990FX Extreme9's excellent overclocking potential that was outlined earlier in the review, the motherboard has the performance required to allow the FX-8350 to compete with a stock-clocked Core i5 3570K in terms of High-Definition media converting.

A very important part of overall system responsiveness is down to hard drive performance. We use one of our favourite benchmark utilities – CrystalDiskMark X64 Edition – to rate performance from the on-board SATA controller.

The SATA 6GB/s ports operating from the 990FX Extreme9's SB950 Southbridge are able to push the performance of modern SSDs. While our results may be short of the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD's potential speed, a resource-hogging operating system installed on the device is limiting the drive's performance.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

The ATTO benchmark proves that the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard's SATA 6GB/s ports won't bottleneck a modern SSD.

With its emergence as the new standard for high-speed portable devices, USB 3.0 performance on a modern motherboard needs to be good to ensure that data transferral bottlenecks aren't created.

We tested USB 3.0 performance using an ADATA SP300 SSD connected to an Icy Box IB-223StU3 USB 3.0 enclosure. ATTO was the benchmark used.

The Etron EJ188H USB 3.0 controller used on the 990FX Extreme9 motherboard is able to offer very good performance, but can't quite match that of the Intel Z77 chipset's ports featured on the Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, at least not until ASRock's XFast USB is activated.

Activating XFast USB's Turbo Mode allows for a healthy speed boost to be achieved by the software's USB protocol manipulations. This is a worthwhile feature that can set the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 apart from other boards without an equivalent implementation.

According to EA, Battlefield 3 garnered 3 million pre-orders by the day of its release. It is unknown at present whether these figures are worldwide or just for the US. The pre-order total makes it “the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history”, according to the publisher. The engine is beautiful on the PC and very demanding of the partnering hardware.

We used the game's demanding ‘Ultra' setting to push today's gaming hardware. No one plays games anymore at 1024×768 with low image quality settings.

No problems with the ASRock 990FX Extreme9's graphics or PCI-E configurations; all three configurations output very similar frames per second in Battlefield 3.

Released in March 2011, Crysis 2 was the highly-anticipated sequel to Crytek's triumphant predecessor. The CryEngine 3 game engine is able to deliver stunning visuals of New York's urban scenery as well as the intense conflict. Those stunning visuals and intense battles demand powerful PC hardware.

We used the game's ‘Very High' setting to offer an intense challenge for the gaming hardware while also making playable frame rates a possibility.

We are also utilising the DX11 and High Res Textures pack as well as the game's latest patch – version 1.9.

As with the Battlefield 3 results, ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 is clearly a viable motherboard choice for gamers.

Metro 2033 is a first-person shooter video game with survival horror elements, based on the novel Metro 2033 by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. The game is played from the perspective of Artyom, the player-character. The story takes place in post-apocalyptic Moscow, mostly inside the metro system, but occasionally missions bring the player above-ground.

We used the game's ‘High' setting to offer an intense challenge for the gaming hardware while also making playable frame rates a possibility.

Metro 2033 shows a slight difference between the Intel and AMD platforms, but as with the previous gaming tests, ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 is a stable motherboard that doesn't hinder a system's gaming performance.

We measured the power consumption with the system resting at the Windows 7 desktop, representing idle values.

The power consumption of our entire test system is measured at the wall while loading only the CPU using Prime95's Small FFTs setting. The rest of the system's components were operating in their idle states, hence the increased power consumption values (in comparison to the idle figures) are largely related to the CPU's individual power usage.

Power consumption was also recorded while playing Battlefield 3, representing gaming values.

Efficient and advanced electrical components, such as gold capacitors and a 12+2 power phase, allow the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 to deliver clean power to the AMD FX-8350 processor, resulting in a low idle power usage at stock frequencies.

The high-end electrical components also allow the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard to overclock the FX-8350 processor to 4.6GHz, without its power usage increasing significantly.

The ASRock 990FX Extreme9 is a feature-rich AM3+ motherboard that has excellent overclocking potential and very good expansion options.

Throughout testing, we were very impressed by the 990FX Extreme9's overclocking potential. The system was rock solid and at no point did we experience any difficulties, indicating that motherboard is able to keep an overclocked CPU stable. This speaks greatly for the high-quality power components that ASRock chooses to use.

Reaching 5GHz CPU speed using a mid-range closed-loop liquid cooler was a very impressive overclocking result. While we weren't quite able to achieve complete stability at 5GHz, we have no doubt that the board has the potential to stabilise even higher overclocks with more aggressive settings and improved cooling configurations.

ASRock's UEFI is an easy-to-use interface which makes entering the BIOS a welcoming task. While there are some slight glitches, such as a wrongly displayed multiplier, the 990FX Extreme9's wealth of BIOS options should please most gamers and enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, extreme users will be disappointed by some of the board's conservative BIOS settings. For example, the maximum DRAM voltage of 1.80V is low, especially considering that this board targets an audience that could be interested in extreme overclocking. Likewise, some of the memory timings options are confined – not ideal when trying to bleed every ounce of performance from a specific system.

Expansion options and onboard controllers galore, ASRock has ensured that users won't be disappointed by the 990FX Extreme9's ability to be upgraded as part of a system. No less than eight USB 3.0 ports are present, with 4 being available via internal headers. Likewise, eight internal SATA 6GB/s ports, and a further two in the eSATA form, prove that the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 has excellent expansion options that can allow users to build a high-performance system, without storage-related restrictions.

In terms of expansion slots, the 990FX Extreme9 uses a well-thought design. Four x16 length PCI-E slots give users a good degree of freedom when choosing expansion cards. Slot spacing is also very good, with 2-way configurations being allocated a cooling gap between cards.

One slight disappointment is that fact that only 6 expansion slots are present. By trimming the Northbridge heatsink's size, ASRock could have shifted the slot configuration up a place, resulting in the possibility of a 3-way graphics configuration that doesn't cause case and connector-blocking headaches. Given the unlikelihood that 3-way graphics configuration users will be opting for AMD systems at this point in time, moving the slots up, or providing an extra one, would have reduced the problems caused by additional, and useful, ports being blocked by a pair of dual- or triple-slot graphics cards.

The board's overall design is good. Components and connectors have been positioned in appropriate and convenient locations. We would have liked a fan header near the board's IO panel, making it easy to reach with a case's rear fan cable.

A major strength for ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 is its colour scheme. An attractive black and gold design will appeal to enthusiasts that want to show off their system. The heatsinks are also attractive and help to promote the sense that the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 is a quality product.

The 990FX Extreme9's XFast 555 features are somewhat hit-or-miss. XFast USB is a good tool that can help to increase transfer rates over USB 3.0. XFast LAN had varying affects and doesn't seem particularly useful.

XFast RAM creates a RAM drive which helped to boost the speed of some applications, such as Google Chrome and Firefox, and may be a good tool for users with plenty of system memory spare.

Available for £158.96 from Kikatek, the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard is priced similarly to the Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z. ASRock's 990FX Extreme9 will struggle to compete with Asus' feature-rich and enthusiast-loved ROG option.

If the large retailers pick up stock and sell the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 motherboard at around £130, it will be priced similarly to Asus' Sabertooth 990FX, Gigabyte's 990FXA-UD5 and MSI's 990FXA-GD80, all of which are options that it can viably compete with.

Pros:

• High-quality power delivery components.
• Attractive black and gold colour scheme.
• Excellent expansion options.
• Very good overclocking potential.
• Easy-to-use UEFI BIOS.

Cons:

• Current price gives it tough competition.
• Some conservative BIOS settings will displease extreme users.
• Poor Auto OC settings.
• Only three BIOS setting profiles can be saved.

KitGuru says: A feature-rich motherboard that possesses very good overclocking capabilities and a wealth of expansion options. Hopefully the price can drop to around £130 to make the ASRock 990FX Extreme9 a serious contender in the high-end AM3+ motherboard market.

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