Impressions (cont’d)

As we mentioned earlier, ASUS uses an 8-phase power design on the Striker Extreme, much like they’ve done on their previous Core 2-ready motherboards like the P5W DH Deluxe and P5B Deluxe. This ensures that the Striker Extreme is ready for the most power hungry Intel CPUs out there, including Intel’s recently released quad-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700. ASUS goes one step further though by using all-solid capacitors throughout the rest of the motherboard. Typically motherboard manufacturers use a combination of solid capacitors and electrolytic capactiors.

Typically the solid capacitors are used to power the CPU, while the electrolytic capacitors are used for powering less intensive areas of the motherboard. On the Striker Extreme however, every capacitor is a solid capacitor. With all solid capacitors onboard, the idea is that the capacitors will last longer while also boosting system stability under extreme conditions. This is the first ASUS motherboard to support this feature.


Another nice touch ASUS has added to the Striker Extreme is onboard switches to power, reset, and clear CMOS on the motherboard. This is particularly convenient for hardware reviewers like us, we typically have to short the pins on the motherboard with a piece of metal to perform these functions. With the Striker Extreme, you can turn the system on with the press of a button! Or if your overclocked settings don’t take, you can press the clear CMOS button to start over (although ASUS’ C.P.R. BIOS tends to be pretty good about resetting the system after an unsuccessful overclock). For added convenience the buttons are backlit, you can easily read them in a dark room for instance, so seeing them inside your case shouldn’t be a problem.


Like previous ASUS motherboards, the Striker Extreme supports ASUS Q-Connector, which makes connecting the motherboard’s pins a snap, as well as Q-Fan for dynamic fan speed adjustment. Here we should note that while the Striker Extreme is cooled entirely passively with copper heat pipe cooling, ASUS still includes a small fan which can be attached to the motherboard to provide additional cooling, or for those of you using water cooling.


Also shipping with the board is ASUS’ SupremeFX audio card. Honestly we’re not big fans on these riser cards, as most enthusiasts already have a good external sound card (you can find X-Fi cards for less than $70 on Newegg), but ASUS also an array microphone with the motherboard, so those of you who are into videoconference/Skype may no doubt enjoy this feature.

BIOS

ASUS provides a wealth of voltage options in the Striker Extreme BIOS, particularly when it comes to the memory. DRAM voltage options range from 1.85V-3.425V in 0.025V increments, so those of you with RAM that needs 2.2V of juice (or more) to run should have plenty of options with the Striker Extreme.

CPU voltages range from 0.83125V-1.6V in increments of 0.00625V, with increments that slim you can fine tune your CPU overclock without having to use too much voltage. You can also adjust voltages for HyperTransport (up to 1.95V), the North Bridge (2.75V) and South Bridge (1.85V) of the chipset, the memory controller, and even the individual DDR2 channels.



In terms of bus speeds, you can type in FSB speeds from 533MHz-3000MHz on the Striker Extreme, and memory speeds up to 1400MHz. All this is available in increments of 1MHz. In fact, ASUS even states that the Striker Extreme will support 1333MHz FSB CPUs once they’re released.


Overall we’re pretty impressed with this motherboard so far, the only disappointment we can note is that ASUS still doesn’t include round IDE and floppy cables with the Striker Extreme. Considering the high street price of this board (it’s currently listed at $400 on ZipZoomfly), this seems like it should be a standard feature. ASUS thought to include a package of zip ties, and the motherboard even comes with a copy of Ghost Recon, Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal, 3DMark 06 Advanced Edition, and even a small keychain, but no round IDE cables? Seems a bit surprising to us.