The functional motherboard of the premium segment for the latest generations of processors from AMD from a very well-known and eminent manufacturer of computer equipment is all ASRock 990FX Extreme3. It is its strengths and weaknesses, technical parameters and other important nuances that will be described in this article.
Niche of this product and its technical capabilities
It is on computer enthusiasts primarily focused ASRock 990FX Extreme3. This is indicated by the support of all chips (including the most productive semiconductor crystals for the “AM 3+” socket), and the presence of 3 slots for graphic accelerators and 3 slots for installing RAM modules at once.
Among other features of this solution, it is necessary to note the possibility of overclocking chips with an unlocked multiplier and unlocking idle computing modules on 3-core models of central processing units from AMD. All of the above allows with a huge degree of confidence to attribute this board to the premium segment.
Equipment
The ASRock 990FX Extreme3 motherboard comes with these components and accessories:
- A disk with additional software, an electronic version of the documentation necessary for setting up a computer system.
- In turn, the list of complete documentation is presented by the user manual (immediately in an impressive number of languages, including Russian) and, of course, a warranty card.
- Panel for the back of the system unit for installing I / O ports - 1 piece.
- Only two wires for switching with drives.
- One wire for connecting audio ports on the front panel of the PC case.
- A bridge for creating a graphic system based on two video cards from AMD.
The above list is redundant, and all of these components are enough to build a PC without additional purchases.
The layout of the elements of this product.
Three aluminum heatsinks are used to dissipate heat from the ASRock 990FX Extreme3. A review of the layout of the board indicates that the largest of them is installed on the north bridge. The second, which is slightly smaller, is located on the south bridge. Well, the smallest passive cooling system is located on the power supply device of the central processor. Also on this motherboard there are no electrolytic capacitors, instead of which polymer ones are used. According to the manufacturer, such an engineering solution allows to increase the service life of this product by 2.5 times. Strictly in the middle of the upper part of the board is the processor socket. To his left is the CPU power supply system along with a passive cooling system.
After it, the wired ports of the board are further displayed. Above the socket is the port for connecting the cooler to the central processing unit. On the right, there are 4 slots for RAM and a connector for supplying voltage to the system board. Just below the processor socket is the north bridge. Below it are slots for creating a graphics subsystem and additional controllers. In the lower right corner, the connector for connecting the front panel of the PC case is displayed. A little higher above it is the south bridge, next to which there are five ports for connecting external drives.
System logic
This ASRock product is built on the basis of the most advanced set of system logic for the AM3 and AM3 + platforms. This is the 990FX chipset. Unlike the most advanced Intel rival solutions based on just one chip, in this case the layout is based on the north and south bridge. The first chip is 990FX. As the second - SB950.
Both of these microchips were developed by AMD. Initially, they were developed for the “AM3” socket, and sales of this board started back in 2011. Therefore, the latest innovations in the field of motherboards in this case are absent.
CPU socket and CPU
Sales of this product started with the release of the sAM3 processor socket. ASRock 990FX Extreme3, which we are reviewing, after updating BIOS and installing the latest version of the latter, also allows installing chips for AM3 + in the socket. The only limitation in this case is the nominal thermal packet of the chip, which is limited to 140 watts. Only 8-nuclear solutions of the 9XXX series have great power. As a result, only the two most productive AMD chips cannot be used in combination with such a motherboard.
Ports integrated in the motherboard
The ASRock 990FX Extreme3 has these wired ports:
- Two PS / 2 for connecting a wired mouse (green) and keyboard (purple).
- 6 ports of the "USB 2.0" standard and 2 ports of the faster format "USB 3.0".
- One eSATA3 for connecting an external drive to a PC.
- One LAN port for connecting to a computer network.
- Six 3.5mm speaker ports.
Slots for additional controllers, random access memory and graphics accelerators
An impressive number of expansion slots allows you to install almost any additional boards in a PC based on this product. The presence of 4 RAM slots allows this solution to address immediately 32 GB (4 slots of 8 GB). At the same time, even the fastest modules for "DDR3" - "DDR3-2100" are supported. The number of slots for installing a discrete graphics card is 3. There is only one PCI EXPRESS 1X slot, and 2 outdated PCIs in this case.
User opinion on this product, overclocking
Most of the opinions of the owners of this product indicate excellent and reliable work in conjunction with the installed components. Moreover, the functioning of any components of this solution in most cases is trouble-free. Only certain complaints on older versions of drivers were caused by the network card. But software update solves this issue. You can also often find reviews about the unstable operation of the CPU with 6 or 8 computing units. But in this case, as a rule, it is not the board that is to blame, but the cooling system. Users want to increase PC performance in conjunction with a complete cooling system. But this cannot be done, and more advanced solutions must be applied.
This product has much more advantages. This is great functionality, and affordable price, and the ability to install 3 discrete graphics accelerators at once. The well-designed BIOS allows even a poorly trained user to overclock the 8350 on the ASRock 990FX Extreme3 without any problems or consequences.
Product cost and relevance
You can still purchase ASRock 990FX Extreme3 stocks at a price of about 8,000 rubles. Reviews highlight the very low cost of such a solution, which relates to the premium segment. But, on the other hand, it is necessary to understand that the “AM 3+” platform has not really been upgraded since 2012. And any significant updates within its framework are not expected. Therefore, it will be necessary to be content with what is already there.
The most productive chips for this product are the FX-8350 and FX-8370. And now they are already struggling to cope with the most complex software. You also need to understand that at the end of 2016 the announcement of a new platform from AMD is planned - AM 4. Its chips will not be installed on this socket. As a result, in this case it is better to postpone the assembly of a new PC. But when repairing a failed system unit due to a motherboard breakdown, this product can be an excellent solution.
Summary
As a matter of fact, ASRock 990FX Extreme3 has only one drawback - it is oriented to work in combination with processor solutions of an outdated platform. And so this is one of the best products for chips based on “AM 3” and “AM 3+”.