Asrock P67 Extreme4 UEFI & Drivers thread [Extreme6 & Pro3 owners welcome]

[Ket]

AFAIK The Extreme4/6 doesn't share the PCI-E lanes on the CPU, they are strictly for graphics. If memory serves me right the PCH has 4 PCI-E lanes of its own for onboard devices, and in the case of the Extreme6 it also has the nvidia chip which adds 4 more PCI-E lanes for triple SLI setups. The downside to that though is added latency. You would probably be better served by getting the Extreme4 (16+4 PCI-E lanes AFAIK) and using the 3rd PCI-E slot for a good PhysX card like a GTS450. Rather than a Extreme6 (16+8 PCI-E lanes AFAIK) and adding all that extra added latency and heat the nvidia chip throws in.

Again, all that is if I'm remembering the configuration correctly of the PCH. Otherwise its only the nvidia chip that adds 4 extra PCI-E lanes, which are still equally useless because of the added heat and latency I already mentioned.

As for getting acceptable audio quality out of those crap Realtek chips (and ALL Realtek chips are crap for anyone that tries to say theirs isn't) you can actually get very good audio quality by customising the Equalizer, either through the Realtek CP or through the Windows EQ. It really is worth doing if stuck with a Realtek chip, it'll turn muddy, "blurred" audio into something thats really quite crisp with adequate Bass. Depending on your speakers for the latter.