ASRock A75 Extreme6 Review and Desktop Llano Overclocking
by Ian Cutress on June 30, 2011 12:05 AM ESTBoard Features
| ASRock A75 Extreme6 | |
| Market Segment | Integrated Graphics + Performance |
| CPU Interface | FM1 |
| CPU Support | Desktop Llano |
| Chipset | Hudson-D3 |
| Base Clock Frequency | 100 MHz by Default, 75 MHz to 250 MHz in 1 MHz increments |
| DDR3 Memory Speed | 1333 MHz by Default, 800 MHz to 1866 MHz supported, 2000-2500 MHz OC |
| Core Voltage | 0.6000 V to 1.8500 V in 0.0125 V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Up to CPU determined limit |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.250 V to 2.065 V |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T or 2T |
| Memory Slots |
Four DDR3-DIMM Maximum 16 GB, Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR3 2500(OC)/2200(OC)/1866/1600/1333/1066/800 |
| Expansion Slots |
2 x PCIe at x16 (x8/x8 in dual GPU mode) 1 x PCIe x1 3 x PCI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
6 x SATA 6 Gbps Ports (FCH), RAID 0, 1, 10 2 x SATA 6 Gbps Ports (ASMedia), no RAID |
| Onboard |
8 x SATA 6Gbps Ports 1 x IR header 1 x CIR header 1 x COM port header 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header 1 x IEEE 1394 header 6 x Fan Headers 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector 3 x USB 2.0 headers 1 x USB 3.0 header Power/Reset/Debug LEDs |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Ethernet |
| Onboard Audio | 7.1 Channel Realtek ALC892 |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1x 8-pin 12V |
| Fan Headers |
2 x CPU (4-pin, 3-pin) 3 x CHA (3-pin) 1 x PWR (3-pin) |
| IO Panel |
VGA / DVI-D / HDMI Ports 1 x PS/2 Port 4 x USB 3.0 Ports 2 x USB 2.0 Ports 1 x eSATA 3 Gbps Port 1 x Firewire Port Clear CMOS button Optical SPDIF output HD Audio jacks |
| BIOS Version | 1.11E |
| Warranty Period | 2 Years |
What you'll be amazed to see here is the support for DDR3-2500 MHz! The nearest modules that are available to the consumer at that speed are often high end, low density kits from Corsair and Kingston, at loose timings and several hundred dollars per gigabyte. Perhaps there will be resurgence in high end, high speed memory kits as a result, after Sandy Bridge knocked memory overclocking on its head.
Also of note is the money-saving Realtek Audio/LAN combo. We know that Realtek does a discount when these are bought together - the LAN isn't always as configurable as the Intel versions and can use more CPU power too, but for a consumer board, it can be considered acceptable. ASRock are introducing XFast LAN to their line up, which offers a software solution comparable to the Bigfoot NIC. XFast LAN is discussed later.
In The Box
Four SATA Cables
Software Setup Guide
Quick Installation Guide
I/O Back Plate
Audio cable, approx 38 inches / 1 m in length
Despite this being the Extreme6 model, we're not getting one of the crown jewels of the ASRock product packages of late - the USB 3.0 front panel bracket and SATA drive holder. What we get instead, although not price comparable, is an audio cable for a motherboard to monitor.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
44 Comments
View All Comments
L. - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Not quite ... a shit GPU can play full HD x264 with MPC-HT . I think that's maybe the most relevant "performance" aspect of a cheap box for people looking at mail, music, facebook and youtube ;)Seikent - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
In fudzilla it has been said that A8-3850 will cost $135 USD and that there will be fm1 boards around $70 USD, thats cheaper than the core i3 2100 + h67 combo, so I guess that's a much better offer.L. - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Shhh ./.. don't say that out loud it might just show even more how Liano is a perfect victory for AMD ;)ET - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
That was an interesting read. Lots of figures regarding motherboard performance, not a lot of discussion of them, and few performance figures about the APU itself. I hope that a full Llano review will appear soon. While the preview was quite comprehensive there was something wrong with the GPU figures, as it produced worse results than the lower clocked mobile part. It will be interesting to see if this got clarified, and to get a better overall feel regarding overclocking performance.ET - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Ah, I see that a reply for this was posted while I was writing this. Hopefully it's a soon "soon".JustWalkingBy - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
if the qoal of the test is: "The main test here is CPU usage, and how much is offloaded by the controller"Why would sou set the speed max t0 100Mbps (1000 MB file across a home network with a 100 Mbps lowest common speed ) and not 1Gbps?
duploxxx - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
there is only one word for this kind of review.....scapyardcontent is not detailed enough to make a decent compare, horrible efforts on OC, info which is not even relevant for the non-turbo versions, not even a manual OC effort which has already shown by other sites to have high potential.
Price ranges and compared platforms are out of proportion due to this way to expensive MB
not to mention incorrect price info while already available in a link post a bit later... do you guys actually share data internally?
and is there any reason what so ever that a Intel platform is required here to compare which is already as it should in the originan LIano review? NO
duploxxx - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
just have a look at this review.... some do actually are able to OC as it couldhttp://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-a...
L. - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
Smell the bias ;)L. - Thursday, June 30, 2011 - link
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews...These guys got the idea about Llano . it's all about the RAM speed, why don't you try that out a bit ;)
28 FPS in Far Cry 2 @ 1080p is definitely huge for an IGP.