::UPDATE::
It seems like there was some confusion about my question.
The short question:
If you have an mkext in your /Extra folder, and are using the -f option at boot, should you instead be using extensions in the /Extra/Extensions folder without the -f option since mkexts are ignored when using -f
So, I've noticed that many people with my board (EP45-UD3R) and other similar boards with alc889a audio have resorted to using an mkext and a kextstore folder in /Extra while using -f in their com.apple.Boot.plist file to get audio to load correctly.
It seems to me as though life would be much simpler if they were to simply place the kexts that are in kextstore into their /Extra/Extensions folder and never created an mkext or a -f in their boot.plist. I am using this method right now and it is working just fine.
I noticed no significant difference in boot times between the two methods, and mine allows for a cleaner boot.plist as well as less effort because the /Extra/mkext is not constantly needing updates.
Am I missing something, or is my method really just better all around?
I'm looking for the best practice here, not for confirmation that my way works.