Review - Motherboard ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac

TAIPEI, Taiwan, November 18, 2013 - Amid the heaps of Z87 chipset motherboards which have already been around for a while, there can only be one that rises from the top with its delicacy and perfection. The long wait has ended, here comes the king of all Intel® 8 Series motherboards. All hail ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac, the most high end Z87 motherboard on the face of earth!

Insane Specs: 22 SATA3 (16 SAS-3 12 Gb/s) / 4-Way Multi-GPU / Thunderbolt™ 2

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Using out of the world to describe ASRock's flagship motherboard Z87 Extreme11/ac is actually an understatement. This motherboard boasts a whopping 22 SATA3 ports, including 6 SATA3 ports by Intel® Z87 chipset, and another 16 SAS-3 12.0 Gb/s ports from the added LSI™ SAS 3008 Controller plus 3X24R Expander, which can reach up to an unearthly 6.1 GB/s transfer speed!
Graphics aficionados shall also be overjoyed by the fact that ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac in no way lacks VGA connectivity! Enhanced with a PLX PEX 8747 chip, it is capable of supporting 4-Way CrossFireX and 4-Way SLI with its solid PCIe 3.0 slots at x8/x8/x8/x8 mode to deliver mind blowing visuals.
Like every other tiny detail on this motherboard, Intel® Thunderbolt™ technology also gets a facelift! This time ASRock Z87 Extreme 11/ac is armed with Thunderbolt™ 2 for up to 20 Gbps high speed data transferring. Besides Daisy Chain which allows the connection of 12 Thunderbolt devices, users may also connect their graphics card to ASRock's exclusive DP-In port on the motherboard using a mini-DP to DP cable, and link Thunderbolt™ devices and monitors with a Thunderbolt™ cable to get extreme performance of the graphics card via Thunderbolt™ technology!

A-Style, Reinventing Your Lifestyle

As much as hardware specifications may seem exciting and luxurious, in the end, it's usually practical features that provide satisfying user experiences that really matters. Without question, ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac is built with A-Style features, including Home Cloud for remote wake and remote desktop anywhere anytime. The most top notch onboard audio solution Purity Sound™ 115dB SNR. And of course the world's fastest 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth v4.0 module, which provides 867 Mbps crazy fast internet connection, plus it comes with an exclusive Wi-SD Box for installing 4 USB 3.0 devices and an SD 3.0 card reader. Other features such as 12 Power Phase design, Dual-Stack MOSFET, Digi Power, Japan made gold capacitors can also be found on this motherboard, making Z87 Extreme 11/ac an epic choice for enthusiasts.

Specifications

  
General
A-Style- Home Cloud
- Purity Sound™
- 802.11ac WiFi
CPU- Supports 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Xeon® / Pentium® / Celeron® in LGA1150 package
- Digi Power design
- 12 Power Phase design
- Dual-Stack MOSFET (DSM)
- Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology
- Supports Intel® K-Series unlocked CPUs
- Supports ASRock BCLK Full-range Overclocking
Chipset- Intel® Z87
Memory- Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology
- 4 x DDR3 DIMM Slots
- Supports DDR3 2933+(OC)/2800(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB*
- Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 1.3 / 1.2

*Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® 32-bit OS. For Windows® 64-bit OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.
BIOS- 2 x 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI support (1 x Main BIOS and 1 x Backup BIOS)
- Supports Secure Backup UEFI Technology
- ACPI 1.1 Compliant wake up events
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 support
- CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.05V, PCH 1.5V Voltage multi-adjustment
 Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics- Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video with AVC, MVC (S3D) and MPEG-2 Full HW Encode1, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® Insider™, Intel®HD Graphics 4400/4600
- Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11.1
- Max. shared memory 1792MB
- Two VGA output options: HDMI and mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt™ 2 Ports
- Supports Triple Monitor
- Supports HDMI Technology with max. resolution up to 4K × 2K (4096x2304) @ 24Hz
- Supports mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt™ 2 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 24Hz
- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI Port (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)
- Supports HDCP with HDMI and mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt™ 2 Ports
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) playback with HDMI and mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt™ 2 Ports
- Supports data transfer rate up to 20Gbps with Thunderbolt™ 2 Port
- Supports Daisy-chain up to 6 Thunderbolt™ devices

*Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals and the VGA outputs can be supported only with processors which are GPU integrated.

**Due to chipset limitation, the Blu-ray playback of Intel® HD Graphics is only supported under Windows® 8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit.

***Intel® InTru™ 3D is only supported under Windows® 8 / 8 64-bit / 7 / 7 64-bit.

**** Intel® Thunderbolt™ 2 is backward compatible with all Thunderbolt™ Cables and devices.
Audio- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec)
- Premium Blu-ray Audio support
- Supports Purity Sound™
- 115dB SNR DAC with differential amplifier
- TI NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier (Supports up to 600 ohm headsets)
- Direct Drive Technology
- EMI shielding cover
- PCB isolate shielding
- Supports DTS Connect
LAN- Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- 1 x Giga PHY Intel® I217V, 1 x GigaLAN Intel® I211AT
- Supports Intel® Remote Wake Technology (on Intel® I217V)
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
- Supports Dual LAN with Teaming
- Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
- Supports PXE
Wireless LAN- Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
- Supports Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz)
- Supports high speed wireless connections up to 867Mbps
- 2 Antennas to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) Diversity Technology
- Supports Bluetooth 4.0 / 3.0 + High speed class II
 Expansion / Connectivity
Slots- 4 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE3/PCIE5/PCIE7: single at x16 (PCIE5); dual at x8 (PCIE1) / x16 (PCIE5); triple at x8 (PCIE3) / x8 (PCIE5) / x8 (PCIE7); quad at x8 (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE3) / x8 (PCIE5) / x8 (PCIE7))
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots
- 1 x Mini-PCI Express Slot: For WiFi + BT Module
- PLX PEX 8747 and PLX PEX 8605 embedded
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™, 4-Way CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
- Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, 4-Way SLI™, 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™
Storage- 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by Intel® Z87, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel®Rapid Storage Technology 12 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug (SATA3_5 connector is shared with the eSATA port)
- 16 x SAS-3 12.0 Gb/s/SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors by LSI SAS 3008 controller + 3x24R expander, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 1E and RAID 10) (support up to 10 HDDs), NCQ and Hot Plug
- 2 x mSATA Connectors by Intel® Z87, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 12 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug (MSATA1 connector is shared with the SATA3_4 connector; MSATA2 connector is shared with the SATA3_2 connector)
- 1 x eSATA Connector by Intel® Z87, supports RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 12 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
Connector- 1 x IR Header
- 1 x COM Port Header
- 1 x Power LED Header
- 2 x CPU Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)
- 4 x Chassis Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 3 x 3-pin)
- 1 x Power Fan Connector (3-pin)
- 1 x SB Fan Connector (3-pin)
- 1 x MOS Fan Connector (3-pin)
- 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector
- 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connectors)
- 2 x SLI/XFire Power Connectors
- 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector
- 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
- 1 x Vertical Type A USB 2.0
- 2 x USB 3.0 Headers (Support 6 USB 3.0 ports)
- 1 x Dr. Debug with LED
- 1 x Power Switch with LED
- 1 x Reset Switch with LED
- 1 x BIOS Selection Switch

*Wi-SD Box installation is required to support 6 USB3.0 ports.
Rear Panel I/O- 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
- 1 x HDMI Port
- 1 x DisplayPort Input for Thunderbolt™ 2 port
- 2 x Thunderbolt™ 2 Ports (Support Thunderbolt™ devices or mini DisplayPort monitors)
- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
- 1 x eSATA Connector
- 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
- 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (Intel® Z87)
- 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (ASMedia hub)
- 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
- 1 x Clear CMOS Button
- HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
 Other Features / Miscellaneous
Unique Feature- ASRock A-Tuning
- ASRock Instant Flash
- ASRock APP Charger
- ASRock XFast USB
- ASRock XFast LAN
- ASRock XFast RAM
- ASRock X-FAN
- ASRock Crashless BIOS
- ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard)
- ASRock Internet Flash
- ASRock UEFI System Browser
- ASRock UEFI Tech Service
- ASRock Dehumidifier
- ASRock Easy RAID Installer
- ASRock Easy Driver Installer
- ASRock Interactive UEFI
- ASRock Fast Boot
- ASRock Restart to UEFI
- ASRock USB Key
- ASRock FAN-Tastic Tuning
Hybrid Booster:
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Good Night LED
Support CD- Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar, Start8 (30 days trial), MeshCentral, Splashtop Streamer
Accessories- 2 x ASRock SLI_Bridge Cards
- 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card
- 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI™ Bridge Card
- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
- 10 x SATA Data Cables
- 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables
- 1 x ASRock Wi-SD Box (Supports 4 x USB3.0 ports and SD3.0 card slot)
- 12 x Screws (For Wi-SD Box)
- 1 x USB 3.0 Cable
- 2 x mSATA Screws
Hardware Monitor- CPU/Chassis/Chipset temperature sensing
- CPU/Chassis/Power/SB/MOS Fan Tachometer
- CPU/Chassis/SB Quiet Fan (Auto adjust fan speed by CPU temperature)
- CPU/Chassis/SB/MOS Fan multi-speed control
- Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore, CPU Input Voltage
Form Factor- EATX Form Factor
- 8 Layer PCB
- 2oz Copper PCB
- Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality conductive polymer capacitors)
- Multiple Filter Cap (MFC) (Filters different noises by 3 different capacitors: DIP solid cap, POSCAP and MLCC)
OS- Microsoft® Windows® 8.1 32-bit / 8.1 64-bit / 8 32-bit / 8 64-bit / 7 32-bit / 7 64-bit
Certifications- FCC, CE, WHQL
- ErP/EuP ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)
Caution:
Please realize that there is a certain risk involved with overclocking, including adjusting the setting in the BIOS or using the third-party overclocking tools. Overclocking may affect your system stability, or even cause damage to the components and devices of your system. It should be done at your own risk and expense. We are not responsible for possible damage caused by overclocking.

Manual & Document


DescriptionAsrock Z87 Extreme 11/ac User's Manual (English)
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