Asrock 880G Extreme 3 review

Asrock’s 880G Extreme 3 AM3 motherboard is a well-equipped ATX board with loads of expansion slots, SATA III, USB3 and an integrated ATI Radeon HD 4250 graphics processor. Its three PCI-E x16 slots support ATI’s CrossFireX standard if you insist on having multiple graphics cards.

Considering the small performance increase, these slots are better thought of as additional standard expansion slots for peripherals along with the PCI-E x1 slot. There are also three PCI slots, allowing you to add cards that use this older connection standard.

The motherboard has six SATA III connectors and an eSATA port on its backplane. A supplied bracket allows you to add an eSATA III port to the back of your PC if you need one, though. The motherboard’s backplane also includes two USB3 ports, alongside four USB2 ports and a FireWire connection. The onboard VIA audio processor can output 7.1 surround sound via six analogue stereo ports or optical S/PDIF.

Overclockers and upgraders will be pleased with the onboard power and reset buttons, which make the motherboard easy to test before you go the trouble of connecting it to your case’s switches. There’s also a handy Clear CMOS button on the backplane, which allows you to easily restore your motherboard to its default settings. An LED display shows POST codes, making it easy to diagnose errors.

Despite an excellent range of features and a very reasonable price, the Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3’s easy overclocking features give it the slight edge.