Rear I/O Panel:

The Striker Extreme’s rear I/O panel is unique in the sense that no other motherboard manufacturer has done anything like this, but it’s essentially the same as the Crosshair’s rear I/O array. There are a plethora of devices and ports that make up the rear I/O panel, with the most notable inclusion being an LCD display that can help with POST failure diagnosis. Typically motherboard manufacturers have included POST LED diagnosis displays, but unfortunately those require a list in order to decode the hex code displayed on the readout.

While the LCD display isn’t in an optimal position (it’d be better on the motherboard somewhere or as a desktop LCD: ala Abit's 3rd Eye in our opinion), it does give you a lot more information and doesn’t require a list of error codes in order to work out exactly what the board is trying to tell you. Regardless of the fact that we don’t like the positioning of the device, we can’t help but love the idea behind it.

To the left of the LCD display there is the co-axial and optical S/PDIF out ports, along with the obligatory PS/2 ports. Underneath the LCD there is the “light switch” we mentioned on the previous page, along with an IEEE1394a Firewire port and a pair of eSATA 3Gbps ports controlled by a Silicon Image 3132 disk controller. To the right there are two Gigabit Ethernet ports, with four USB 2.0 ports directly below them.

BIOS:

We have used BIOS version 0802 dated 15th January 2007 for all of our testing.

Highlights:

• Front side bus (QDR): 533 to 3000MHz in 1MHz increments;
  
• Memory Clock (DDR): 400 to 2600MHz in 1MHz increments;
  PCI-Express Frequency: Independent adjustment on each of the three PCI-Express x16 slots from 100 to 200MHz in 1MHz increments;
  
• DDR2 Voltage: Adjustable from 1.800V to 3.425V in 0.025V increments;
  
• CPU Voltage: Adjustable from 0.83125V to 1.90000V in 0.00625V increments;
  
• Additional Voltage Adjustment: 1.2V HT Voltage, NB Core Voltage, SB Core Voltage, CPU VTT Voltage, DDRII Controller Ref Voltage, DDRII Channel A Ref Voltage, DDR2 Channel B Ref Voltage;
  
• Memory Timings: tCL (CAS Latency), tRCD (Row Address to Column Address Delay), tRP (Row Precharge), tRAS (Row Active Strobe), Command Per Clock (CMD), tRRD (Row to Row Delay), tRC (Row Cycle Time), tWR (Write to Read Delay), tWTR (Internal Write to Read Command Delay), tREF (Refresh Rate), tRD (Read Delay), tRFC (Row Cycle Refresh Time) and Async Latency.

Asus has made a supreme effort on the BIOS front with the Striker Extreme – it’s not easy to maintain ease of use in a BIOS with masses of features, but the company’s engineers have done a pretty good job here. There is plenty of scope to tweak this board for maximum performance and overclockability, but the selection of memory timings may disappoint extreme enthusiasts. Those that aren’t quite so extreme will find the selection of memory timings more than adequate.

There’s support for front side bus speeds up to 750MHz (although, good luck in getting the board that high) with 0.25MHz granularity, while the memory bus can be clocked up to 2600MHz – again though, good luck getting DDR2 memory to clock that high. The three PCI-Express x16 slots have independent frequency adjustment from 100-200MHz and the SPP to MCP reference clock can be raised from 200MHz to 500MHz.

Voltage control is equally comprehensive with memory voltage adjustments all the way up to 3.425V in 0.025V increments. CPU voltage adjustment is equally crazy, with a maximum voltage of 1.90000V and a 0.00625V granularity all the way down to 0.83125V. Probably the best feature in the BIOS is the comprehensive fan control, fan monitoring, voltage monitoring and temperature monitoring that should help enthusiasts keep track of important temperatures and voltages when overclocking.