Introduction

When AMD brought out the new 8xx series chipset they did things in an odd way. Their first release was the 890GX. This was a high-end version of the chipset, but it had an IGP (internal graphics processor) which is not normally how things work. For some reason, this has been the path that AMD has taken. Not that long after the release of the 890GX (and the later the 890FX) we are down to the 870 flavor of the chipset.

This particular 870 is sitting on an ASRock designed PCB with some intriguing features. According to ASRock, the 870 Extreme3 is the first motherboard to have Core Unlocking available on it. It also has USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, and (if the packaging is accurate) eSATA 3.0. Let's see if this $109.99 (from NewEgg.com at the time of writing) motherboard is up to the title 'Extreme' or not.