ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Review: Legacy Bites Back
by Ian Cutress on July 13, 2012 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ASRock
- Z77
USB Speed
For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 240 GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD with a SATA 6 Gbps to USB 3.0 converter. Then we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer. The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are the videos used in the Sorenson Squeeze test.
During USB 2.0 reading, it seems that ASRock have a slightly different setting enabled or have missed a trick with optimization - they are consistently 3% slower than any other manufacturer. This filters through a little to our real-world copy test. As always, the advantage of ASRock XFast makes that single USB port faster than any other standard USB port on the default protocols.
Similarly, with USB 3.0 on the chipset ports, the Z77 Extreme6 does nothing spectacular, joining the other ASRock boards at the bottom end of our copy test. Again, XFast pulls the ASRock above the default settings of other boards.
SATA Testing
We also use CrystalDiskMark for SATA port testing on a C300 drive. The sequential test (incompressible data) is run at the 5 x 1000 MB level. This test probes the efficiency of the data delivery system between the chipset and the drive, or in the case of additional SATA ports provided by a third party controller, the efficiency between the controller, the chipset and the drive.
Nothing special for SATA ports, as it seems that the drive is our limiting factor.
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests, such as audio, will be further down the line. So if the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled. If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos - under 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.
The ASRock Z77 Extreme6 does well in our DPC test, with only 106 microseconds. Anything over 500 is bad, and under 200 is good. Ivy Bridge and Z77 in this regard has set a new bar for other chipsets to follow.
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nubie - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Yes, a COM port and Serial port are generally the same thing.I much prefer Parallel, because I am "bit-banging" to program an Atmega micro-controller, a I2C EEPROM, or an SPI EEPROM.
Although I do have a couple Packard Bell Fast Media Infrared (FMIR) receivers that demand a COM port, as does the (sadly lacking drivers newer than Win98) 6-axis Spacetec Orb controller.
Meaker10 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Without looking at the specs the mini slot is pci-e (for wifi) as it is half height and msata slots need to be full height.repoman27 - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
I thought one of the features of the Z77 chipset was that you could select between 1 x16, 2 x8, or 1 x8 + 2 x4 for the PCIe 3.0 lanes coming off of the CPU? In which case you wouldn't need an additional PCIe switch and all three cards would get at least 32 Gbps of PCIe bandwidth...Also, Ian, you seem to have some persistent dyslexia going on when it comes to the model names of PLX's PCIe switches; it's "PEX 8747", not "PXE 8747". There are other options available as well, such as the smaller, cheaper PEX 8724, which would have allowed them to offer effectively 3 x8 PCIe 3.0 slots.
scott967a - Saturday, July 14, 2012 - link
Do you guys ever test wake on lan or other wake up functions? Reason being for the first time I thought I would set up an old sys using Abit P35 Pro for WoL with fail result. Not sure if it is operator error or MB/BIOS problem but searching online doesn't yield much info on WoL performance.529th - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
Thank you for including a DPC latency test. Thank you Thank you Thank you! ha...Which app are you using to check DPC latency, btw?
Please include DCP latency testings in your future Motherboard testings as well. I will be jumping on the Haswell wagon when it comes through town.
Cheers
529th - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
And also include the BIOS that it's being tested on. Thanks :)IanCutress - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
As you can perhaps tell from our DPC Graph, we've been testing it quite a while. And in the explanation of said test, I do mention the program I use - DPC Latency Checker. Quick Google will find it. Currently I'm rarely finding a motherboard on a mainstream chipset that severely fails it - usually it is the included monitoring software that causes peaks of 2000+. If this happens, disable your monitoring software or update the BIOS.Ian
hansmuff - Sunday, July 15, 2012 - link
If I were to release a legacy connector board, I would most certainly at the very least have two serial ports in the back, or one plus header. I would also most certainly include a parallel port header on the motherboard, and include brackets for serial and parallel headers.Floppy and IDE is all good and well, but one serial port and no parallel port are oversights to me for such a board.
adrianlegg - Monday, July 16, 2012 - link
Hello,I just had some random idea,
Couldn't You use, some kind of electric stopwatch, which can be started/paused with any current, connect it to poweron wire (from button), and then instead of using Windows, use some custom linux bootloader with option to, for example, use pc speaker, which signal would be used to stop mobo?
I lack proper knowledge to design that system, aside from components (2 wires, custom bootloader, and stopwatch/some multimeter with time option)
Excuse me if that's completely ignorant, but I think that could increase precision of Your timings.
Thx for all good work.
adrianlegg - Monday, July 16, 2012 - link
(ofc not "stop mobo" but "stop timing")