Asrock Z77 Extreme4 vs Asrock Z77 Extreme6

[Gideon]

Hello,

Planning on getting an I5-3570K and was wondering which of these people thought? Is there enough difference between them to warrant the jump in price?

So i want a reasonable amount of USB 3.0, at least 2 x SATA III ports, optical out, PCIe 3.0 SLI (for future), good ability for overclocking the above CPU, at least 2 x PCIe 1x slots for future expansion.

Planning on using the GSKILL RIPJAW X RAM with it

IF people know of better boards with the above specs, that hit the same or lower price/peformance bracket please let me know

Itching to pull the trigger and replace my trusty Q6600 but futureproof myself as much as possible at the same time

[Voronus]

There is some good information here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ed-stuff-here!

[Gideon]

Nice little summary there thanks for that link

Helped a lot....now just got to check stock everywhere hehe

Amazon had the extreme4 at £109 delivered but are out of stock wit no eta

[spac3d]

Isn't the Extreme4 just shy of standard ATX size, leaving 3 large mounts unscrewed?

I dont like the idea of that at all.

Can someone explain to me why they did this.

[shaithis]

So only 6 screws holding the mobo in?

[spac3d]

Yeah. The far side is left unattached and you could easily push it and crush it against the case.

Otherwise, great great reviews.

[Gideon]

Yeah i did notice that....i'm used to odd boards of all sizes so i'm careful enough when it comes to fitting it, no hulk smash to get it to sit nicely hehe

It did have all the features i was looking for so i've bit the bullet and ordered it along with an 3570K so my trusty Q6600's time is almost up

[spac3d]

The extreme 4 is the one that is slightly smaller, the extreme 6 is fine I think

[silveryhat]

not sure if I get this on time , but here it goes for future reference

1. Both Extreme4 and Extreme6 use Premium Gold Caps and 8 + 4 Phase Power.
2. Both Extreme4 and Extreme6 has ALC898 Audio Chipset and BCM57781 Ethernet Controller.
3. The Extreme6 comes with 4 SATA cables while Extreme4 only gives 2
4. Extreme4 uses normal heatsink on VRM, while Extreme6 uses C.C.C (Combo Cooler Option). All heatsinks at the top and left side of the CPU are interconnected.
5. Extreme6 has an extra Firewire port.
6. The extra USB 3.0 ports on Extreme4 use ASM1042 Controller, while Extreme6 integrates Etron EJ168A Controller
7. Extreme4 has VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs.
8. Extreme6 has all of those above plus DisplayPort.

There are also some minor difference of I/O ports and PCI expansion slots between the two boards, you can read a full comparison of all mainstream Asrock Z77 motherboards at
custompcguide.net/the-differences-between-all-mainstream-asrock-z77-motherboards/