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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
Great motherboard, they deserve to be recognised more in the enthusiast sector. I love my ASROCK Z77 board
Nice look board and excellent overclocks. I want to upgrade my AMD system this year, but have been waiting on the new products.
It is a little expensive IMO for what you get, Intel boards start way under £100 today.
Great board, sexy layout and well featured. BUT as overclocker i feel 1.5v core is just too much, even for AMD CPUs…. The marginal gains that you get from 600mhz for about 0.3 vcore increase is not worth it. For 5.0ghz, is ok, 1.5 vcore would be understable, but going upper than that is just too away from my comfort zone. I dont know if I can blame the board or a bad chip. Good review !
The Extreme9 990FX will do very well with a 8370E. Does good enough with 9590 (I call the lazy overclockers board combo). Don’t expect it to overclock the 9590 much. It does run all 8 cores at 4.9 ghz all day with turbo turned off (a little better than 4.7/5.0 stock setting for most things). Recognizes the Avexir 2400 speed ram and sets it automatically. Just make sure you have room for a big twin tower air cooler.or a least a 240mm water cooler so you can keep that temps down.
It does very well with crossfired R9 285s OC to 1100 Mhz (water cooled also).
If you are going to do something likes need a big case and big power supply too. Like around 1100 watts. 285/380s need a lot more cooling to push them over 1000Mhz