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Hey i wana build a new rig but having trouble finding a good mobo so after looking around I found AsRock z68 Extreme4 Gen3, I've been told by a few people that this is a good mobo. I've got a couple of questions can I 2way SLI/Crossfire this mobo on true x16 or will it be x8, x8? & is this mobo PCI-E3.0 or not? Thanks.

My guess, considering I have 1 a tad lower then this, is you will be very happy, also provides good upgrade path for the future.


- 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2/PCIE4: single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode) (PCI Express 3.0 with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU, PCI Express 2.0 with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU)
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE5: x4 mode)
- 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
- 2 x PCI slots
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ , 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
- Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™ and SLI™

I've got this motherboard, it's pretty snazzy. To answer your questions:

-SLI/Crossfire is x8/x8 + x4
-It is actually PCIe 3.0, but only with an Ivy Bridge processor - with Sandy Bridge you will only have PCIe 2.0. This is basically true for ANY LGA-1155 board that claims support for PCIe 3.0.

Also, the board itself is of decent quality, but be warned that ASRock tech support and customer service is terrible. If you're having trouble with it, and you persist long enough you can still get it RMA'ed, but that's about it.

TwistedKestrel wrote:

Also, the board itself is of decent quality, but be warned that ASRock tech support and customer service is terrible. If you're having trouble with it, and you persist long enough you can still get it RMA'ed, but that's about it.

And quality control is also hit-or-miss.

I RMA-ed mine to NewEgg after nearly a month due to UEFI BIOS bugs. Asrock tech support was prompt, but worthless --two different techs told me "return the board" with no attempts at a solution, or suggestions of when a new BIOS might be out. I provided every bit of information to them that I could, but I felt like a nuisance rather than a customer. I've known a couple other people that have had wierd PCIe glitches, who also couldn't get proper support.

To the OP, for a similar price, you can get an ASUS P8Z68-V which does most of the same stuff and has the best UEFI BIOS on the market. While ASUS' technical support is hit or miss too, I've found the out-of-box product to be better.

P.S. The problems I've heard of are primarily on the Gen3 mainboards, but most people aren't as interested in the Asrock boards without PCIe 3.0, due to wanting that as a feature, and liking the black with gold caps design if you have a windowed case. Also note that the difference between 16 x 16 Crossfire/SLI and 8 x 8 Crossfire/SLI isn't much.