Review: ASRock X79 Extreme4m
Category : X79
Published by Marc Büchel on 11.01.12
The X79 Extreme4m is ASRocks only mATX motherboard for Intels latest Socket 2011. This little things seems to be a very interesting breed because it offers about the same featuers like the Extreme4 which comes with an ATX formfactor. We're very curious what a job ASRock did from a lyout and design perspective already.





Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



Discuss this article in the forums

[pagebreak]

Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang

CPU Intel Core i7 Socket LGA 2011
Chipset Intel X79
Memory Quad Channel DDR3 2400+(OC)/1600/1333/1066/800
Multi-GPU NVIDIA SLI
AMD CorssFireX
Slots 3 x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (dual at x16/x16, dual at x16/x16/x8 mode)
1 x PCI
Sound Realtek ALC898 8-Channel HD Audio Codec
Storage 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1)
4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD)
1 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (ASM1061)
1 x eSATA 3.0 Gb/s
LAN 1 x Gigabit LAN (Broadcom BCM57781)
I/O internal 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and Intel Rapid Storage 3.0), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
3 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors
1 x IR header
1 x CIR header
1 x COM port header
1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
1 x IEEE 1394 header
1 x Power LED header
CPU/Chassis/Power/SB FAN connector
24 pin ATX power connector
8 pin 12V power connector
SLI/XFire power connector
Front panel audio connector
2 x USB 2.0 headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
1 x USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)
1 x Dr. Debug with LED
I/O Back Panel 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port
1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
1 x eSATA3 Connector
2 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports
1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
1 x IEEE 1394 Port
1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Forfactor ATX (24.4cm x 24.4cm)
BIOS Bios (64 Mb AMI UEFI BIOS)




Regarding the delivery you'll find everything you need. There also is an SLI bridge. The only thing one might miss uner certain circumstances is a CrossFire Bridge.


Features

PCI-Express 3.0 The ASRock Extreme7 Gen3 already has PCI-Express 3.0 Support onboard. Therefore from this point of view the board is ready for Intels upcoming Ivy Bridge. Sandy Bridge doesn't support PCI-e 3.0. You'll have to use PCI-Express 2.0 in this case.
   
Digital Power Design The ASRock Extreme 7 comes with a digital power design onboard. This enables a more efficient current supply as well as a minimum of electromagnetic radiation.
   
XFast Charger XFast Charger allows you to charge your mobile devices directly from the USB port. Devices can also be charged when the computer itself isn't on.
   
XFast LAN With this feature ASRock give a network management tool to the customer that comes with very useful functionality. You can for example manage traffic shaping, packet priorization and there is also the possibility of real time data analysis.


Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



Discuss this article in the forums

[pagebreak]

Layout

Already at a first glance the ASRock Extreme4m looks good with its harmonic design. The colors suite nicely and the whereas the most dominant color is black. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers.


ASRock equipped the Extreme4m with a 6+2 phase current supply regarding the CPU. Therefore the memory gets two Phases and the CPU can rely on six phases. Furthermore ASRock implemented a digital power design which should emit less electromagnetic radiation than its analogue counterpart.


Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Extreme4m. Officially supported is DDR3 with the the following clock speeds: 2400+(OC)/1600/1333/1066/800. There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.


The southbridge is being held at adequate temperatures via an activ cooling solution. The current converters get a nicely shaped, passive cooling element which does the job quite right. The cooling blocks have been positioned wisely, which means that they don't collide with memory or CPU cooler.

 


Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



Discuss this article in the forums

[pagebreak]

Anschlüsse und I/O

Totally ASRock provided the Extreme4m with eight angled SATA ports and one which is straight. This should be enough for any office PC or gaming system. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. There even is a debug display which would be very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system.

 

Totally you'll find six fan header on the Extreme4m which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU socket as well as at the bottom edge of the mainboard.

  

Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASRock equipped the Extreme4m with two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one eSATA port, one gigabit ethernet port, an optical and coaxial out as well as an analogue audio panel. Furhtermore there is a PS2 connector for mouse as well as keyboard and a clr CMOS button.



Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



Discuss this article in the forums

[pagebreak]

BIOS

Meanwhile ASRock also uses a graphical UEFI BIOS. This one is well structured, clean and nice to look at. Furthermore threre are plenty of settings regarding overclocking as well as standard configuration. There is also the possibility to save and afterwards load BIOS profiles.

  


  


 


Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]

Test setup

Hardware

Motherboard
  • ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
  • Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7
  • ASUS Rampage IV Forumula
  • Intel DX79SI
  • ASUS P9X79 Deluxe
  • ASUS P9X79 Pro
  • ASUS Sabertooth X79
  • ASRock X79 Extreme4
  • ASRock X79 Extreme4-M
  • Processor Intel Core i7-3930K, 3.2 GHz
    Memory 8 Gigabyte Kingston H2O KHX2133 @ 1600 MHz CL9-9-9-24
    Graphic card ASUS ENGTX 580
    Driver Version 275.33
    Hard disk Samsung Spinpoint F1 320 GByte
    Power supply bequiet! Dark Power Pro 1000Watt


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    3D Mark

    3D Mark11

    3DMark 11 is Futuremarks latest benchmark for the entire graphical subsystem. The benchmark uses DirectX 11 and it supports all recent features which can possibly generate high load on a GPU. Therefore you find tessellation, compute shader calculations, divers lighting effects and different depth of filed animations. Following we publish values regarding the performance preset of 3DMark 11.

    Total

    3D Mark 11 Total   Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 6'518 100.49 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 6'515 100.45 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 6'506 100.31 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 6'505 100.29 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 6'499 100.20 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 6'494 100.12 %
    Intel DX79SI 6'486 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 6'478 99.88 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 6'482 99.34 %
      more is better


    Physic

    3D Mark 11 Physic Score   Percent
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 10'579 101.68 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 10'558 101.48 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 10'557 101.47 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 10'518 101.10 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 10'510 101.02 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 10'501 100.93 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 10'456 100.50 %
    Intel DX79SI 10'404 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 10'385 99.82 %
      more is better


    3D Mark Vantage

    3DMark Vantage is able to squeeze nearly everything out of a recent system. Therefore the feature liste is also pretty long: DirectX10, FP16-HDR, motion blur, parallax occlusion mapping, GPU-physics simulation and different shader effects are being used to even make recent high-end systems struggle.

    Total

    3D Mark Vantage Total   Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 26'943 102.04 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 26'903 101.89 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 26'892 101.85 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 26'870 101.76 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 26'691 101.09 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 26'645 100.91 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 26'632 100.86 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 26'519 100.44 %
    Intel DX79SI 26'404 100.00 %
      more is better


    CPU

    3D Mark Vantage CPU   Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 32'106 101.29 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 32'090 101.24 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 31'807 100.35 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 31'798 100.32 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 31'784 100.27 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 31'736 100.12 %
    Intel DX79SI 31'697 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 31'628 99.78 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 31'535 99.49 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    PC Mark 07

    3DMark 11 is Futuremarks latest benchmark for the entire graphical subsystem. The benchmark uses DirectX 11 and it supports all recent features which can possibly generate high load on a GPU. Therefore you find tessellation, compute shader calculations, divers lighting effects and different depth of filed animations. Following we publish values regarding the performance preset of 3DMark 11.

    Total

    PC Mark 07 Total   Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 4'757 101.30 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 4'749 101.13 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 4'716 100.43 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 4'716 100.43 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 4'714 100.38 %
    Intel DX79SI 4'696 100.00 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 4'670 99.45 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 4'654 99.11 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 4'642 98.85 %
      more is better


    Video playback and transcoding / Video playback fps Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 23.14 100.09 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 23.13 100.04 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 23.12 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 23.12 100.00 %
    Intel DX79SI 23.12 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 23.12 100.00 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 23.11 99.96 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 23.06 99.74 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 23.05 99.70 %
      more is better


    Graphics - DirectX 9 / Graphics - DirectX 9 fps Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 75.78 103.06 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 74.65 101.52 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 74.57 101.41 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 74.44 101.24 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 74.05 100.71 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 73.97 100.60 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 73.76 100.31 %
    Intel DX79SI 73.53 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 73.48 99.93 %
      more is better


    Image manipulation / Image manipulation Mpx/s Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 10.10 101.41 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 10.10 101.41 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 10.10 101.41 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 10.10 101.41 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 10.07 101.10 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 10.06 101.00 %
    Intel DX79SI 9.96 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 9.90 99.40 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 9.54 95.78 %
      more is better


    Web browsing and decrypting / Web browsing Pages/s Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 19.70 102.34 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 19.65 102.08 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 19.64 102.03 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 19.62 101.92 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 19.60 101.82 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 19.36 100.57 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 19.35 100.52 %
    Intel DX79SI 19.25 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 19.22 99.84 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    SiSoft Sandra 1

    SiSoft Sandra is a theoretical multi purpose benchmark suite which is able to show differences in CPU architectures. We split the tests with SiSoft Sandra into two parts. Therefore on this page you'll find Arithmetic-, Multimedia- and Cryptograph99y-benchmarks.

    Arithmetic Benchmark

    SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone GIPS Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 189.33 100.68 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 189.29 100.36 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 189.24 100.33 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 188.82 100.11 %
    Intel DX79SI 188.62 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 188.36 99.86 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 188.00 99.67 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 187.90 99.62 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 187.80 99.57 %
      more is better


    SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Whetstone GFLOPS Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 116.57 100.57 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 116.20 100.25 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 116.00 100.08 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 116.00 100.08 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 115.93 100.02 %
    Intel DX79SI 115.91 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 115.87 99.97 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 115.78 99.89 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 115.00 99.21 %
      more is better


    Multimedia

    SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer MPixels/sec Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 290.24 100.72 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 290.18 100.70 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 288.64 100.16 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 288.61 100.15 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 288.57 100.14 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 288.49 100.11 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 288.47 100.10 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 288.48 100.11 %
    Intel DX79SI 288.17 100.00 %
      more is better


    SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - floating point MPixels/sec Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 396.52 100.64 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 396.27 100.58 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 394.24 100.06 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 394.14 100.04 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 394.10 100.03 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 394.07 100.02 %
    Intel DX79SI 394.00 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 393.87 99.97 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 393.40 99.85 %
      more is better


    Crytography

    SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - AES 256 GB/sec Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 12.55 122.44 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 12.31 120.10 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 12.30 120.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 12.30 120.00 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 12.27 119.71 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 12.10 118.05 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 11.56 112.78 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 11.51 112.29 %
    Intel DX79SI 10.25 100.00 %
      more is better


    SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA 256 MB/sec Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 1'440 100.70 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 1'440 100.70 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 1'430 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 1'430 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 1'430 100.00 %
    Intel DX79SI 1'430 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 1'430 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 1'430 100.00 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 1'430 100.00 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    SiSoft Sandra 2

    At this point we deliver the values regarding Memory Bandwidth, Memory Latency as well as Memory and Cache Access.

    Memory bandwidth

    SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - Integer GB/sec Percent
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 37.77 104.11 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 37.76 104.08 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 37.74 104.02 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 37.41 103.11 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 37.27 102.73 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 37.18 102.48 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 37.00 101.98 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 36.74 101.27 %
    Intel DX79SI 36.28 100.00 %
      more is better


    SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - floating point GB/sec Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 37.85 103.84 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 37.76 103.59 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 37.70 103.43 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 37.69 103.41 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 37.38 102.55 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 37.23 102.14 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 37.20 102.06 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 36.86 101.12 %
    Intel DX79SI 36.45 100.00 %
      more is better


    Memory latency

    SiSoft Sandra - Memory latency ns Percent
    Intel DX79SI 73.60 100.00 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 74.40 101.09 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 74.60 101.36 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 74.70 101.49 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 74.70 101.49 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 75.00 101.90 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 76.00 103.26 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 79.30 107.74 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 79.30 107.74 %
      less is better


    Memory and cache access

    SiSoft Sandra - Memory and cache access GB/sec Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 175.00 102.83 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 174.75 102.68 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 174.24 102.38 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 174.15 102.33 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 174.14 102.32 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 173.41 101.89 %
    Intel DX79SI 170.19 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 170.00 99.89 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 169.37 99.82 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    Super Pi 1M - 32M / wPrime 32M

    Meanwhile Super Pi even in its latest version has become pretty old. Never the less it is able to show scaling to the clock speed nicely.

    Super Pi 1M

    Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M sec Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 11.669 92.92 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 11.704 93.20 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 11.731 93.41 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 11.746 93.53 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 11.747 93.54 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 11.747 93.54 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 11.762 93.66 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 11.763 93.67 %
    Intel DX79SI 12.558 100.00 %
      less is better
     

    Super Pi 32M

    Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M sec Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 632.909 94.18 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 633.033 94.20 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 633.377 94.25 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 635.483 94.56 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 635.498 94.57 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 635.920 94.63 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 636.154 93.92 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 636.984 94.79 %
    Intel DX79SI 672.018 100.00 %
      less is better



    wPrime 1024M

    wPrime is based on a multithreaded algorithm to calculate the square root to up to 32 billion digits. Therefore it is possible to put 100 percent load on every core or thread and to see differences between architectures.

    wPrime - 1024M sec Percent
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 170.652 99.68 %
    Intel DX79SI 171.204 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 172.334 100.66 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 172.503 100.76 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 172.803 100.93 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 172.878 100.98 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 173.851 101.55 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 175.667 102.61 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 176.217 102.93 %
      less is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    Games

    Crysis 800 x 600, low details

    Crysis is still one of the games which has very high system requirements. Therefore developer Crytek implemented Direct3D-10-API, High-Dynamic-Range-Rendering, Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Soft Shadows, Motion Blur, Depth of Field as well as Soft Particles. We test Crysis by using DirectX9 to show CPU-sacaling especially which low resolutions. If we look at the high resolutions we are able to spot that the CPUs influence compared to the graphic card becomes much less important.

    Crysis DirectX10 (800 x 600 low details) fps Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 146.665 104.85 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 146.240 104.54 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 145.935 104.32 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 145.855 104.27 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 143.740 102.76 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 143.575 102.64 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 143.510 102.59 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 143.460 102.56 %
    Intel DX79SI 139.885 100.00 %
      more is better


    Resident Evil 800 x 600, low details

    Resident Evil uses nearly every modern rendering technology: HDR, Hemisphere Lighting, Soft Shadows, Soft Particles, Field- und Motion-Blur oder auch Alpha to Coverage and static Ambient Occlusion. Furthermore Resident Evil 5 has been optimized for multicore architectures and already comes DirectX11 ready. By using the DirectX9 benchmark we can again show CPU-scaling with low resolutions and the compared to the CPU overproportional influence of the graphics card at high resolutions.

    Resident Evil DirectX10 (800 x 600 low details) fps Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 200.2 102.61 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 199.2 102.10 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 198.8 101.90 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 198.6 101.79 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 198.2 101.59 %
    Intel DX79SI 195.1 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 193.8 99.33 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 192.2 98.51 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 191.2 98.00 %
      more is better


    Street Fighter 4 800 x 600, low details

    Street Fighter 4 comes with an extra benchmark version which makes testing you system childrens play. At low resolutions the system requirements are pretty low and we can see CPU-scaling in the results. At high resolution the graphic card becomes more important and the CPUs clock speed has less influence on the fps.

    Street Fighter 4 (800 x 600 low details) fps Percent
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 823.86 102.87 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 820.72 102.47 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 813.27 101.54 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 812.27 101.42 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 808.62 100.96 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 802.24 100.17 %
    Intel DX79SI 800.90 100.00 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 792.67 98.97 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 785.97 98.14 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    Power Consumption

    Idle

    Idle Watt Percent
    Intel DX79SI 131 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 132 100.76 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 138 105.34 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 144 109.92 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 148 112.98 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 149 113.74 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 156 119.08 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 160 122.14 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 162 123.66 %
      more is better


    Load

    Load Watt Percent
    Intel DX79SI 207 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 219 105.78 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 225 108.70 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 229 110.63 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 230 111.11 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 238 114.98 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 239 115.46 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 243 117.39 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 246 118.84 %
      less is better



    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums

    [pagebreak]

    Performance Rating

    3D and Gaming Benchmarks Percent
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 101.81 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 101.78 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 101.52 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 101.44 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 100.98 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 100.86 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 100.65 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 100.16 %
    Intel DX79SI 100.00 %
      more is better


    2D Benchmarks Percent
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 102.69 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 102.68 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 102.68 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 102.61 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 102.41 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 102.19 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 102.08 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 101.84 %
    Intel DX79SI 100.00 %
      more is better


    Performance per Watt Percent
    Intel DX79SI 100.00 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4 95.16 %
    ASRock X79 Extreme4-M 98.26 %
    Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 91.65 %
    ASUS P9X79 Pro 90.98 %
    ASUS P9X79 Deluxe 88.72 %
    ASUS Sabertooth X79 87.24 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 85.95 %
    ASUS Rampage IV Formula 85.51 %
      more is better


    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  



    Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]

    Fazit

    Allgemein   + -
    At a first glance ASRock leaves a good impression with its Extreme4m. There even is plenty of space around the CPU socket to install large coolers comfortably. For a mATX board the Extreme4m comes with quite a lot features. In fact the Extreme4m is about the same board as the Extreme4 with the only difference that the Extreme4 comes with an ATX formfactor. Unfortunately we cannot understand why this board needs an active chipset cooler. An appropriately dimensioned passive cooling element would have done the job too.   - Design
    - 3 x PCI-Express 3.0 Slot
    - Active chipset cooling
           
    Layout   + -

    Generally the ASRock Extreme4m's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There even is a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Even the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. If you should choose to intall a graphics card in the last PCI-Express x16 slot you wont block the connectors at the bottom edge of the board.

      - Angled SATA connectors
    - Power/Reset-Button onboard
    - Debug display
    - Spac around the CPU socket
    - Placement of the PCI-Express slots
     
           
    Performance   + -
    In SuperPi and SiSoft Sandra Multimedia this little board has been able to score very well. Regarding 3DMark 11 as well as 3DMark Vantage it lacks behind. A closer look at the gaming benchmarks shows that in StreetFighter 4 it's able to set a new record but in the other games you find the results in the center span of our comparison tables. In general the Extrem4m leaves us with mixed feelings when it comes to performance.   - SuperPi
    - SiSoft Sandra Multimedia
    - Power Consumption
    - 3D Mark
    - PC Mark
           
    Power Consumption   + -
    As soon as one takes power consumption into account one can see the impact of onboard features. The fact that the Extreme4 only comes with a few features makes it draw less power and in the end scores quite well regarding efficiency.      
           
    Recommendation   + -
    If you're looking for a rock solid mATX basis which doesn't need to offer the absolute maximum in performance, regarding Intels latest Core i7-3930K, then the ASRock Extreme4m will be a very good choice. Furthermore this motherboard comes at an attractive price point of CHF 230.- (est. EUR 192.-).   - Enthusiasts
    - High-End PC
    - Gaming System
     
           
    Rating
    We give the ASRock Extreme4 good four out of five stars.




    Page 1 - Introduction Page 9 - SiSoft Sandra 1
    Page 2 - Specs and Delivery Page 10 - SiSoft Sandra 2
    Page 3 - Layout Page 11 - Super Pi / wPrime
    Page 4 - Connectors and I/O Page 12 - Games
    Page 5 - BIOS Page 13 - Power Consumption
    Page 6 - Test setup Page 14 - Performance Rating
    Page 7 - Futuremark Page 15 - Conclusion
    Page 8 - PC Mark 07  


    Discuss this article in the forums

    Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch