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<p><span style="font-size: small;">In our series of X79 reviews, the next boards to face scrutiny are a pair of ASRock boards – the X79 Extreme4-M, one of the first mATX solutions to X79, and the X79 Extreme4, a full size ATX model. The main interesting point to consider starts with whether the power consumption and heat generation are applicable to the Sandy Bridge-E platform. With the socket and quad channel memory taking up serious PCB real estate, it is interesting to see how ASRock have tackled heat dissipation issues. We also compare the Extreme4-M to the Extreme4, its bigger brother. Both boards offer amazing value in X79 land, coming in at a recommended retail of $224.99 and $234.99 respectively.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/5188/asrock-x79-extreme4m-and-x79-extreme4-review-sandy-bridgee-meets-matx">Read more...</a><br />
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<p><span style="font-size: small;">Reviews of Intel manufactured boards are something of a rarity. They are not marketed in the same way other motherboards are – almost not at all in comparison. It could be argued that reviews are only seen coming at the start of a chipset release, coinciding with what we as reviewers get in our media kits from Intel itself. However, to an enthusiast, it is strange to say that they sell well – consumers or system builders wanting to pair a processor with a board without hassle can go straight in at an Intel motherboard/processor combo. The question is with an enthusiast platform such as X79, would you really want to deal with an Intel board ?<br />
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<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/5123/intel-dx79si-review-the-default-x79">Read more... </a><br />
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<p><span style="font-size: small;">This mainboard belongs to the “TUF” series (The Ultimate Force), which stands out due to unique design and high-quality components. The primary advantages of the mainboards in this series are superior stability and long life span.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-sabertooth-990fx.html">Read more...</a><br />
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Today we are going to talk about three Socket AM3+ mainboards based on a combination of AMD 990FX North Bridge and AMD SB950 South Bridge from the leading mainboard makers. They are Asus Crosshair V Formula, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 and MSI 990FXA-GD80. We will check out their packaging and accessories, design and functionality, BIOS options, overclocking potential, performance and power consumption.
<p><span style="font-size: small;">The low powered AMD Fusion market is still an active one, and although the ASUS E35M1-M Pro has been available for a while, we have been asked to have a look. By definition, it is a low powered board with a 1.6 GHz dual core and a 500 MHz GPU clock with 80 stream processors. We clocked a basic system at around 32 W idle, with the APU cooled passively.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4996/asus-e35m1m-pro-review-anyone-for-fusion">Read more...</a><br />
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It is not difficult to find all sorts of mini-ITX mainboards, but until recently there weren’t any products among them that could be able to overclock processors. The first mini-ITX mainboard like that, which appeared in retail, was the Intel Z68 Express-based Zotac Z68-ITX WiFi.
At first glance this mainboard doesn’t seem to differ from the previously tested MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) except for the new standard support. However, this is not quite the case. The mainboard only look similar. Their features and functionality, as well as operation turned out completely different. Some of the innovations proved to be really great, some turned out more of a disappointment.
Since Intel Z68 Express chipset boasts a pretty good set of features by default, Biostar decided to add a minimal number of extras and roll out their TZ68K+ mainboard, which will be the main hero of our today’s article.
<p><span style="font-size: small;">The board is based on the new B3 revision of Intel P67 Express chipset, but unlike other similar mainboards it boasts a tremendous number of functions, features and technologies. We have already come across some of them on Asus mainboards, or those from other vendors, but we could never imagine that they could all be fit into a one single model at the same time.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-maximus-iv-extreme.html">Read more...</a><br />
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<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">In a world where space is at a premium, the smaller motherboards get, and yet still retain full functionality, never ceases to amaze me. With desktop Llano processors taking the integrated graphics crown, an all-in-one mini Llano system becomes ever more appealing. To support this, ASUS have sent us their premium mini-ITX motherboard for review, which I have put through the bench suite.</span></p>
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<p style="line-height: 19px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">We have had a number of ASUS boards through our hands this year, all of which give a comfortable feeling of design we have come to expect from ASUS, and their mini-ITX is no different. The package includes Bluetooth, integrated wireless (and antenna), as well as extra onboard USB 3 and a variety of video outputs, all in a tiny form factor.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">One of the surprising bits about this package is that the install CD offers Google Chrome 11 as an install, perhaps suggesting that ASUS and Google have a software distribution partnership, like ASUS and Norton have had for a while. </span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">I had severe trouble overclocking this motherboard when in AHCI mode, with a distinct refusal to boot into Windows beyond a base frequency of 107 MHz. Using software, I was able to bring this up to 110 MHz when on the integrated graphics. When using a discrete GPU, I still could not get past this 107 MHz bootable limit, but could reach 120 MHz using software quite easily. In IDE mode, the overclocking worked flawlessly at 140 MHz, which is quite a feat.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">When I initially started testing the board, the only benchmark that was out of place was our DPC Latency test. Every five seconds or so, it would jump to between 1000-3000 microseconds. After about a week (!) of to and from with ASUS trying to find the cause of the issue, which they had trouble replicating, I found that their software AI Suite II was the culprit. This software, when installed, will become part of the startup sequence - but when turned off, the DPC Latency reduced to a normal level. Note, most users wont actually notice a DPC Latency of 3000.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; ">As I was testing this board with a pre-release BIOS, it stands to assume that ASUS may iron out these discrepancies by the time the board comes to market. With that in mind, combined with a 3 year warranty, the F1A75-I Deluxe should be a reasonable package for any Llano user if it hits a reasonable price point - ASUS have told me an expected RRP of $145.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 19px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><a target="_blank" href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4833/asus-f1a75i-deluxe-review-llano-and-miniitx">Read more...</a></span></p>
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