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ASRock X99 Extreme6/ac (Intel X99) Motherboard Review

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  • ASRock X99 Extreme6/ac (Intel X99) Motherboard Review

    Please feel free to comment about our story entitled "ASRock X99 Extreme6/ac (Intel X99) Motherboard Review"

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    Re: ASRock X99 Extreme6/ac (Intel X99) Motherboard Review

    Very nice review, thanks.

    I particularly like the Circuit Analysis section, which I rarely see in mother board reviews. The VRM analysis in particular is both informative and seems to bust a few myths that are common with VRM circuitry, "To get 12 phases, manufacturers must double the phase count from the PWM, since there is no 12 phase PWM (controllers) in production for motherboards". The current and thermal specs of the VRM MOSFETs are rarely given in mother board reviews, IMO comparing the number of phases in a VRM design is almost worthless without knowing the device specs.

    ASRock tends to get picked on about their VRM designs, but this one is deemed "overkill". That is probably common with their higher-end boards using other chipsets, and the actual power needs of current Intel processors, which is not excessive.

    The ASRock SATA Device Type options of SSD and Hard Drive has been used for years in ASRock boards. I always set it to SSD where applicable. That this option boosts SSD performance is good to know, since that is not stated in the UEFI or manual. I wish it was explained how this option boosts performance, and what is configured for each of the two options, but some information is better than none.

    The apparently mislabeled LLC settings (level 3 being providing the most control) has been common in other ASRock boards, given what I have read and seen myself.

    The VRM thermal testing is again rarely if ever seen, great to see it included in this review.

    In the past, the ASRock A-Tuning over clocking software provided with other Intel chipset boards have had a few issues with the values displayed for various CPU settings compared to the settings in the UEFI. The software testing part of this review was short IMO, and I would have liked to see if A-Tuning was working as it should. Or is not saying anything if you don't have anything good to say implicit from the section's size and depth?

    Otherwise, a quick verification that this board will work with the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility would have been nice.

    This is an above average mother board review IMO, nice work Steven.

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