Layout

Already at a first glance the ASRock Extreme4 looks very good with its harmonic design. The colors suite nicely and the different blue tones on a black PCB are calming. 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 Extreme4 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 Extreme4. 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.