Conclusion
ASRock X58 Extreme3 seems to be an all rounder. Features wise, it has one of the most useful feature set ranging from eSATA3 to USB 3. These features are sometimes missing from the more expensive boards. Comparing on price/performance, this board is definitely more worth your buck unless you are looking for a motherboard which can be remotely controlled (voltage and overclocking) via handphone. In terms of performance, it is also on par with the more expensive ASUS board we compared with.
Installation is a breeze for this board. With C.C.O, ASRock provides the flexible options to adopt different CPU cooler types and matches your socket LGA 775 / LGA 1366 CPU cooler in the respective holes. So, you can save on getting a new heatsink as you would be able to install it on this board. The Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons are easily accessible without the need to sort the pins anymore. With the powered combined powered esata/USB port, you can power your eSATA without the need for additional USB cable. USB 3.0 will soon be the preferred choice for external connectivity with HDD or SSDs. Although they’re not readily available, we can see from the Sunbeamtech HDD/SDD docking station, the vast improvement of speed compared to a device connected via USB 2.0.
Documentation is pretty simple as it didn’t indulge into too much details on the options available. Package wise, the ASRock X58 Extreme3 has it all ready by providing SLI and CrossFireX bridges.
Overclocking is somewhat easy for this board. Using the ASRock OC Tuner or the BIOS, you can achieve an overclock of up to 4GHz on the Core i7 965. To achieve this, the CPU multiplier is set to 30X. and BCLK is set to 135.3MHz. The voltages are also bumped up to ensure more stability.
In Conclusion, this board is worth the penny if you want a no frills board that does the work as it should be. If you are looking for more than just specifications and want more fun in remote controlling of your mainboard, you will have to pay a premium for that.
So, the choice is up to you. Below are our ratings and award for ASRock X58 Extreme3.
| Category | Score |
| Performance | 10 / 10 |
| Features | 9 / 10 |
| Ease Of Installation | 9 / 10 |
| Overclocking Features | 9 / 10 |
| Documentation | 7 / 10 |
| Packaging | 8 / 10 |
| Cost / Performance | 10 / 10 |
| Overall Rating : | 8.8 / 100 |
