The X299 platform from Intel seems like a far off place for many, the total cost of ownership seems to be the greatest hurdle and with that comes the ASRock X299 Extreme4 that makes things look a little more affordable as it retails just under 200 USD.
The board as you can see is simple, it has the typical board layout as expected of an X299 board but with many things thrown out of the picture to keep costs low.
Unlike the higher end models that sports 13-phase power design, the ASRock X299 Extreme4 comes with a reduced amount of 11.
One thing I’ve had with ASRock’s X299 board is that the heatsinks are so close to the DIMM slots that there’s no room to route the cooler cable through and this ASRock X299 Extreme4 here is no exception.
Moving down to the lower corner, the ASRock X299 Extreme4 comes with 8x SATA3 6Gb/s ports which is plenty for most people and the controller on the board supports RAID configuration.
The board also comes with AMD CrossFireX and Nvidia SLi multi-GPU support, in addition to that the board comes with dual Ultra M.2 slot.
Unlike many other ASRock boards, the ASRock X299 Extreme4 doesn’t come with audio chipset indicator at the area along the I/O panels but it comes with an M.2 connector for Wi-Fi / Bluetooth connectivity.
Lastly the I/O panels, the ports are
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
– 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 2 x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM3142) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM3142) (Supports ESD Protection)
– 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports (Supports ESD Protection)
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port 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
User Experience
User experience on the ASRock X299 Extreme4 is expected – it’s a very basic board that fits the needs of most people, I’m still disappointed that the Extreme4 models now do not come with POWER and RESET buttons and also the lack of Debug LED.
UEFI interface wise the ASRock X299 Extreme4 is no slouch, ample options to fine-tune your system and even overclock your processor should you need. Just beard in mind that the X299 Extreme4 has reduced power phases which is an indicator of it being a “reduced” product hence your overclocking experience is likely to be not as smooth as when using models like say the ASRock X299 Gaming i9.
The Verdict
The ASRock X299 Extreme4 retails at USD 199, it’s not a great but it’s a board that holds value for money. It works great as a board for those who want to run X299 system without breaking the bank, especially those who do not see the need of more features found on the higher cost models.
Do visit the official product page for more details.