Asrock Z97 Extreme9 & Extreme6

The Asrock Z97 Extreme9 is i of the more expensive Z97 motherboards in our roundup at $240, but information technology's too one of the better endowed options, offering the best multi-GPU support, best M.two support, most amount of SATA 6Gb/s ports and one of the all-time wired network solutions.

Out of the vii boards we are testing, the Asrock Z97 Extreme9 is the just one that supports four graphics cards, each with PCI Limited three.0 x8 bandwidth.

However like the Z87 chipset before it the Z97 simply supports a pair of PCI Express x16 slots with 8x bandwidth, so how is the Z97 Extreme9 offering iv? Asrock has employed the PLX PEX 8747 bridge, the same PCIe bridge chip that has been used time and time again to give Z87 and Z77 motherboards support for 3-way and even 4-way SLI/Crossfire.

The PLX bridge is a bandaid solution, simply information technology has proven to work rather well in the past when using up to four high-end graphics cards. This makes the Z97 Extreme9 the best motherboard in our roundup for supporting three or iv graphics cards. In fact none of the other Z97 motherboards nosotros have even feature four PCIe x16 slots.

The Z97 Extreme9 isn't the cheapest Z97 motherboard to support 4-Way CrossFireX and 4-Way SLI, still. That honor goes to the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming GT which costs just $220 and likewise uses the PLX PEX 8747 bridge.

Getting dorsum to the Asrock Z97 Extreme9, we have much more to talk most than 4-way multi-GPU support. The board besides boasts a mini-PCI Express Slot, ten SATA 6Gb/s ports, two SATA Express ports, an One thousand.2 (NGFF) slot as well as faster M.2 slot which Asrock calls Ultra Thousand.two Gen3 x4.

The mini-PCI Express slot makes an unexpected advent on this Z97 motherboard and Asrock says information technology has been included to provide users with a convenient peripheral interface that can be used for connecting WiFi cards for example.

While we expect all Z97 motherboards to provide at least vi SATA 6Gb/s ports, Asrock has gone ane step further by calculation some other 4 through the apply of the ASMedia ASM1061 controller which supports NCQ, AHCI, Hot Plug and Asrock HDD Saver Technology. The 4th port connected to the ASM1061 controller is shared with the eSATA port on the I/O panel.

Asrock has included a pair of SATA Express 10Gb/s connectors, but if you choose to utilise them then you will be giving upwardly four of the SATA 6Gb/s ports continued to the Z97 chipset.

The M.ii (NGFF) slot supports both M.2 SATA3 6.0Gb/southward modules and Thou.ii PCI Express modules up to Gen2 x2 (10Gb/s). The slot can accommodate for all Yard.two standard sizes which includes 30, 42, 60, lxxx and 110mm. It is worth noting that the Asrock motherboards are the only ones to back up the shortest and longest M.2 devices (30mm and 110mm).

The Ultra G.ii (PCIe Gen3 x4) slot offers upwardly to 32Gb/s of bandwidth making it more than 3 times faster than a standard Gen2 x2 K.two slot. Asrock achieves this bandwidth by connecting their Ultra M.2 socket directly to the CPU, bypassing the chipset.

For audio, the Z97 Extreme9 is equipped with the ALC1150 codec, Realtek's premier offer. Complete with content protection, premium Blu-ray audio and DTS support it's about as expert as onboard sound gets.

Realtek'due south chip is accompanied by Asrock's Purity Sound engineering science, which incorporates a headphone amplifier, a 115dB SNR DAC with a differential amplifier, Directly Bulldoze applied science, EMI shielding cover and PCB isolated shielding.

For networking, Asrock has included Intel's I218V PHY and I211AT controllers, which support Wake-On-LAN, Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az and PXE while the I217V offers Intel Remote Wake Technology. Together, the pair can also be used for teaming.

Out of the box the Z97 Extreme9 doesn't provide whatever wireless network support and Asrock has tried to brand upwards for that fact by offering a mini-PCI Express slot. Honestly, that isn't a bad idea equally it allows users to customize their wireless solution, assuming they want ane. Quality high-speed controllers costs $30 or less, so this is a very viable add-in feature if needed.

By default the Z97 chipset supports six USB 3.0 ports which is generally enough. That being said Asrock has upped the count to eight by using the ASMedia ASM1074 hub which takes 2 ports and splits them into 4. The USB 3.0 hub has been used to multiply the onboard USB 3.0 ports, while the 4 found on the I/O panel are continued direct to the chipset.

The Asrock Z97 Extreme9 looks unbeatable, offering a lot of motherboard for $240. The just feature missing is a WiFi solution, just with numerous ways to adding wireless back up at a minimal cost this isn't actually an effect.

Asrock Z97 Extreme6

Having merely looked at the highly impressive Asrock Z97 Extreme9, a stripped down $165 version doesn't seem that exciting until y'all work out exactly what Asrock has washed to make this board thirty% cheaper.

When it boils down to information technology, the Z97 Extreme6 is almost the aforementioned motherboard as the Z97 Extreme9. The biggest departure happens to be the multi-GPU support, as the Z97 Extreme6 has been downgraded to an effective 2-way solution, 3-way is possible though the 3rd card volition exist fed but x2 bandwidth.

Given the substantial reduction in price it is hard to believe that just the PLX PEX 8747 span chip has been removed, but for the most part that is it. The Z97 Extreme6 too only features one SATA Limited port versus two, though we can happily alive with that.

The Z97 Extreme6 picks upward an extra two USB 3.0 ports also as a DVI output to complement the HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity.

Obviously if you lot don't plan to use more than ii graphics cards, the Z97 Extreme6 is a significantly amend purchase. At but $165 it could very well be the all-time value Z97 motherboard available and it's the cheapest board in our roundup.

For effectually the aforementioned cost the MSI Z97-GD65 Gaming, Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming seven, Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK and ASUS Gryphon Z97 tin can be had. None of which can concur a candle to the Asrock Z97 Extreme6, at to the lowest degree in terms of features, with the Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK making the best statement.