ASRock Z77 OC Formula Review: Living In The Fast Lane
by Ian Cutress on January 15, 2013 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ASRock
- Z77
- Overclocking
ASRock Z77 OC Formula In The Box
Top of the range boxes have to have the kit to match in order to make the package complete. When buying something like the Murciélago on the box of the Z77 OC Formula, one might expect carpets, a tank of gas and a welcome pack as part of the deal when spending the big cash. Motherboards by contrast vary wildly in the packaging, depending on bulk deals the manufacturer can obtain for the connectors, price margins, or special one-offs. ASRock in the past have also varied, with some $150 packages containing all the loot, as well as most of the high end, whereas others not so much, especially in our last AMD review. However, the Z77 OC Formula should get a nice bundle.
In the Z77 OC Formula, we get:
Murciélago themed box and User Guide
Driver CD
Rear IO Panel
OC Formula labeled cloth bag
Six SATA cables
Two 4-pin Molex to SATA power cables
3-Slot Rigid SLI Bridge
Front USB 3.0 Panel with integrated SSD holder
Rear USB 3.0 Bracket
10 Plastic Standoffs
I am always a fan of the USB 3.0 front panel put in the box, and having the other cables is an added bonus. The cloth bag is a little odd, but it might help to contain all the extra things if you regularly modify the system, or for overclockers to keep vital things like OSes on USBs in.
The standoffs are a nice addition as well, for overclockers who do not want to cart around a large test bench to events:
If I were to critique one area, ASRock could have oriented the board more towards gamers and overclockers had they included their Game Blaster PCIe x1 module. This would remove the audio codec on board, and offer a separate audio card with Creative Core3D audio and another Ethernet port. Overclockers would not need to use it but gamers would all have at least one PCIe x1 port spare with any GPU combination.
ASRock Z77 OC Formula Overclocking
Note: Ivy Bridge does not overclock like Sandy Bridge. For a detailed report on the effect of voltage on Ivy Bridge (and thus temperatures and power draw), please read Undervolting and Overclocking on Ivy Bridge.
Experience with ASRock Z77 OC Formula
Despite the lack of automatic overclock options for the OS, overall the overclocking using the Z77 OC Formula went really well. The Nick Shih OC Profiles in the BIOS worked a charm up until my cooling limit, and using them as a basis for finding the voltage limits of the manual overclocks let me push an i7-3770K chip higher than I had ever done previously.
Overall, the Z77 OC Formula pushed our retail i7-3770K CPU sample to 4.9 GHz, limited only by the cooling at load, and to 5.2 GHz unloaded. We also pushed a set of 2x4 GB 2666 C11 memory to 2800 C12 with a simple bump on the memory strap after XMP, peaked at an unloaded 2920 C12 and reached a peak BCLK of 110.3 overall.
Methodology:
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.
Automatic Overclock:
The automatic overclock options are all found in the BIOS under ‘Nick Shih OC Profile’:
We have options from 3900 MHz to 5000 MHz in 100 MHz jumps. Each option changes the BIOS to the corresponding settings which should account for the majority of processors on the market, though your mileage may vary depending on the quality of your CPU.
The results were as follows:
* Power Limits to 250W and Current Limit to 200A
** Power Limits to 300W and Current Limit to 250A / PWM Switching Frequency to 500 kHz
*** Long Power to 128 seconds and **
Each setting up to 4900 MHz passed both the stability tests, although OCCT reached 103ºC. At that point I was unwilling to take it to 5000 MHz on the auto settings.
Manual Overclock:
Using the progression of the automatic overclock settings, I tailored the manual overclock settings to help push the higher MHz values. As with our previous Z77 testing, I started at 1.100 volts on the CPU and at a 44x multiplier, but based on the Auto OC I placed the PWM Switching Frequency at 500 kHz, the Power Limits to 350W and the Current Limit to 300A.
The manual overclocking adventures follow roughly the same pattern as the automatic overclocking ones, except the biggest difference was at 4800 MHz, where we achieved stability at 1.275 V compared to 1.350 V in the automatic options. 4900 MHz is still our limit, hitting 100ºC at 1.375 V.
For memory overclocking, we used a G.Skill 2x4 GB 2666 C11 kit to push the limits. For normal usage, we were able to boost the kit to 2800 C12 by applying XMP and adjusting the memory strap, nothing more. Moving up to 2933 MHz though resulted in BIOS code 55 and no POST.
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themossie - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Two SSDs using one SATA III connection will be severely bandwidth-constrained, a single SSD is already near the limits of SATA III (6 Gbps = ~600MB/sec max in practice). More SATA connections means much more available bandwidth...Get something like http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-5-25-Inch-Conver... and roll the RAID yourself :-)
The linked drive bay converter is really great - although I wouldn't trust it with four hard drives due to heat.
ShieTar - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - link
Thats not exactly a new development, OCZ are selling their colossus line since 2009. You could still buy one, but I think it stopped making sense a while ago, as they are slower than most single SATA6G-SSDs.There are also several PCIe-based solutions with internal RAID-0 solutions available for at least two years now. I don't see why Ian should not mention them.
Flunk - Thursday, January 17, 2013 - link
If you really want that you need to get something like the OCZ Revodrive series. Multiple SSD controllers all hooked up to PCIe. SATA's just not fast enough.NitroWare - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Theres innovative for the sake of being the bleeding edge (eg ROG) and theres innovative for making features that a vendor assumes its customers want or commercialy driven. Asrock would go in the latter.Note their answer to Ian's question about the naming Unforuntly that mentalilty is prevalient with some vendors despite what they are told by media or testers.
"I eagerly await a Z87 OC Formula which can build upon the additional features listed above. If, for a few more dollars, we got an included ASRock Game Blaster, 5 GHz WiFi or an mSATA for not much more on the price, then it will speak out to gamers and boutique system builders even more."
Even if they put those features on that doesnt automatically put it at the top of the podium.
They'd put them on and then ruin it with some feature they read on a forum or 'brainstormed'.
Compare the Z68 and Z77 Fatalilty boards - the Z68 had an almost if not perfect rear IO backplane with its 2 HDMI ports, dual GBE, switches and abundance of USB ports. They went and added DVI to the Z77. Really ? OK Lucid Virtu/multiple displays but this is an enthusiast board not a H77.
This is all Intel's 'idea' and they didnt feel a need to put a DVI on theirs, their DZ77RE has a single rotated HDMI to save space and they fited what the enthusiast wants and needs, nothing more.
They have alot of work to do on their UEFI (NTFS support, Automatic Fan Control, things that have been for granted on other brands), Their software (their fan control sw lacks error catching), production line QA and valdation lists are less comprehensive than GA/ASUS plus they need to answer customer tech support tickets or emails.
Asrock Support once told me not to use Kingston Memory when I reported a non memory related problem (faulty board) as they didnt really validate that and 'had problems' with it, a company saying things like this is unacceptable for many reasons.
Ian did not miss anything with this comprehenive review, although I am personally curious as to how sturdy their heatsink assembly is based on my experiences with their other modern boards.
I really liked the Z68 Fatalilty despite its shortcomings, the old X58 Delux seemed to work well for many people and I guess we can say this one doesnt suck either. They are really trying but then they feel they need to bring back old ghosts from the past by toying with gimics like XFast RAM rather than concentrating on core hardware and software engineering.
Have a look at their Q77 board, its a recycled H77 even still retaining their enthusiast livery and THX logo, OK then.
Anyone remeber the X58 Supercomputer? NVIDIA professional certified. Yeah excactly. Funny how that went into the wind, perhaps the licensing was expensive but that was waters even ASUS didn't put their toes into.
They know their place as a budget vendor and it shows, hence emphasis on innovations that dont cost them as much as major R&D.
IanCutress - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Since I started reviewing I've never given a gold award to a motherboard (one to ROG as a brand), and I think in some 70 odd boards I've only given three or four silver awards. Gold needs to be perfect - BIOS, software, performance, easy of use, add-ins and price. Obviously there are things we can't test, like RMA or support.But ASRock did seem to use a different way of thinking on this board - whether that's the Nick Shih influence or not I'm not sure, I've only met him once in passing.
Some boards that come out from vendors are designed for a specific customer in mind (Gigabyte H77N-WiFi) and are released to the public after the initial batch, whereas others ask users what they want. Like you, if I was given a pen and paper to design a motherboard, it would probably be very different to almost everything out there, based on what I think people needed. But compromise always comes in, and for example back panel connectors cost a fair bit, so a manufacturer might buy a thousand to keep the costs per unit down, or have a very good procurement offer for a certain type. If a designer wants something new on the rear IO, procurement might reject it for being too expensive, or it may not exist, or a manager might reject it for the BOM going over budget, or it may be rejected because a particular SI doesn't want it like that. Some model ranges are excluded from this, or someone like Intel has enough cash to do whatever they want.
Major R&D doesn't make the money - the products do. In my ROG review and interviews with staff, I found out it's taken them 7 years to break even in terms of sales vs. R&D. Very few companies are willing to do that. But it is good to see a great package now and again, and we all hope it becomes a stepping stone for the future.
Ian
Kevin G - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Well at this juncture I think it is fair to ask, how would you define the perfect motherboard? If you were to design a board, what specs and layout would it have? Any standards you adhere to or absolutely want to ignore to get the ideal product? Anything innovative you want to see on a board that you haven't yet? What price would you sell it at considering its BOM?NitroWare - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
You can easily test RMA and support.RMA - check what the procedure is in place is for certain regions, heck an eyeballing of newegg comments for bugs/ dud boards/vga doesn't go astray. Arrangements vary per region.
Support - email their support or fill in a ticket with a non publication domain name.
If you get an automated 'your ticket is in the queue' message - good
If you get a human reply - better.
If no reply within a certain time period or unacceptable facepalm answer - fail
If a vendor has a online chat (Intel and Coolermaster do) do they know their own products? Does the vendor have a staffed forum?versus relying on a tech site for their forum?
If someone has an issue, ameutuer or enthusiast they are going to google their problem after all.
While I agree with you bout they thought different about this board. One cant helpt notice that someone handed them a ROG board and the breif was 'make our own version of this but dont copy it', thats not neccesarily bad though.
If a vendor is playing supply channel/logistics games with their components and that ends up affecting an enthusiast or expensive board well thats not a positive is it. Their Z68 did have easy RAM clips for example and issues such as you described come into play
One can say ASUS ROG was trying to win customers away from ASUS 'delux' or 'premium' boards where as ASR is just trying to win customers outright, or even a repeat buy.
Dominic
Assimilator87 - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Not sure if this is done in other reviews, but the majority of the conclusion was copied from the overview. Pretty lame to be honest.IanCutress - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
It has been in a couple over the years. It is sometimes hard (and time consuming) to come up with 400-600 new words which essentially rewrite the overview to say the same thing in the conclusion but with a final statement. If it's severely an issue, I'll refrain from it in the future :)Ian
cmdrdredd - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
WHY!? This is clearly way over $180 and targeting the $300 boards like the Maximus V Formula from Asus. Does it beat that particular board? How about the $200 Maximus V Gene? We don't know because they were not included in any testing.This board is most definitely not meant to be compared to boards under $200 but boards over it's price point.