Test Setup

Stefan's Test Setup
CPU	Core i7 920 @ 3.2GHz& 4GHz
Cooling	Cogage True Spirit
Mainboard	Asrock X58 Extreme
Memory	G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBPI PI Series
VGA	AXLE GeForce 210 512MB DDR2 ATI RADEON HD 4890 1GB
Other	Power Supply : Antec True Power New 750W HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10 Case : Cooler Master HAF922 Case with 2 NB-Multiframe S-Series MF12-S3HS@1800RPM on the side

I had no issues getting to 4GHz with this board:



Here is also the CPU-Z validation, along with the link:



To extract more detailed information about the motherboard, I have used the Everest Ultimate Edition utility:





The ASRock board comes with the IES application, which, when turned on, shows us the saved energy in a specific period of time, the CPU frequency along with its voltage and the number of phases in use at the time:



Another application from ASRock is the OC Tuner, which we can use to monitor the temperature, fan speeds or modify the fans RPM; we can use it to do also overclocking on-the-fly or control the voltages:



The OC DNA application can be used to save our BIOS setting in a file and share it with our friends with the help of the internet or other storage media:



The VIA audio codec drivers have a nice visual interface and we can see what we have connected in the audio ports and which ports are free:



The audio interface can open even further and we can adjust the volume on all channels, set the number of speakers, adjust the sample rate and the bit depth, adjust the EQ, add some effects and so on:



The VIA drivers on the ASRock website offer full support for the THX TruStudio Pro application from Creative; this application, after it is installed, will ask for activation but the serial is already provided, so we will get a very useful application free of charge.
The THX TruStudio Pro application permits us to enhance the sound output and the options are very much alike the WoW headphones I have reviewed in the past from Creative. The activated effects are lit orange and the deactivated ones are greyed out:



When an option is selected, the interface will change a little, permitting us to adjust it: