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
Metro2033
Metro2033 is a DX11 benchmark that challenges every system that tries to run it at any high-end settings. Developed by 4A Games and released in March 2010, we use the inbuilt DirectX 11 Frontline benchmark to test the hardware at 2560x1440 with full graphical settings. Results are given as the average frame rate from 4 runs.
For AMD on Metro2033, the Z77 OC Formula performs reasonably well compared to other Z77 boards. In 3-way AMD, our third card is limited to an x4 PCIe 2.0 via the chipset rather than going via a PLX chip and getting a full set of PCIe 3.0 lanes.
For NVIDIA on Metro2033, the Z77 OC Formula comes in the top half in single and dual GPU scenarios.
Dirt 3
Dirt 3 is a rallying video game and the third in the Dirt series of the Colin McRae Rally series, developed and published by Codemasters. Using the in game benchmark, Dirt 3 is run at 2560x1440 with Ultra graphical settings. Results are reported as the average frame rate across four runs.
Similar to Metro2033, the Z77 OC Formula commonly comes in the top half of the benchmark results, although in 3-way configurations the third card is really limited by those x4 PCIe 2.0 lanes via the chipset.
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IanCutress - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
We haven't got around to testing those. I have the Z77 MPower and Z77X-UP7 in to test at the minute, and they will be reviewed in due course.Also, comparing against a board that I gave an award to is perfectly valid - it gives at least a standard and a comparison point. Over a certain price point, various groups of users will refuse to spend money on a motherboard unless there is a tangible benefit.
Ian
Paazel - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
How can this board/company be awarded anything from this site? I thought you guys factor in post sale support/RMA procedure when reviewing boards?My Z68 board has been a nightmare, I upgraded to the newest BIOS and had installed Windows seven times before I realized that the board must be bad. It was a nightmare to get them to send a new BIOS (as the BIOS could not be rolled back). The forgot to ship it, then shipped it to my home rather than the location the computer was at. The BIOS didn't work so I had to RMA the board. ASRock does NOT do advance RMA at all (even if you secure it by credit card). How can this be OK for a silver award at all? Additionally the RMA procedure takes 5-7 business days to examine, upon which they send it out fedex ground. This is typically 2.5 weeks all said and done (I shipped via FedEx 2day). This is among the worst support possible, this should be factored in to all ASRock product reviews.
threeclaws - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Customer Support should be a major factor in reviews but nobody is doing it. I was "chatting" with a reviewer on hardocp about this and he was saying it would be impossible to do it for every board but that maybe a yearly round up could be implemented. I hope hardocp does it because it will force sites like anandtech (and others) to follow suit whether they want to or not.With companies like Asus running around getting awards left and right, paired with the worst customer service in the industry (this seems fairly well known at this point) there will be no change unless major review sites start taking them to task over it.
p.s. I haven't really experienced asrock customer support but am enjoying my z77 board from them.
A5 - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - link
None of these companies have good support because they don't need it and the market has clearly shown that it doesn't really care about it. Most motherboards that go bad will do so within the return period.Voldenuit - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Dear Anandtech,Please stop wasting our time with $200 motherboard reviews.
Thank you,
The Internet.
Razorbak86 - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Dear Voldenuit, please stop trying to speak for "The Internet". tyvmDear Ian, please continue with your motherboard reviews. I read almost every one, including those in the $200 price category. I suspect I am not alone, but I will not presume to speak for others.
Best regards,
Razorbak86
vwgtiron - Thursday, January 17, 2013 - link
I concur sir, I am all about bang for the buck. And as it is currently time for me to update my gaming rig well. I am trying to decide to pull the trigger or hold off 2 more months. But this motherboard for me hits the sweetspot and offers me a lot for my dollar, still allows me to add in a separate sound card if I deem so. Throw my intel NIC in and boom, cream machine.Also Ian I really like your reviews. Your getting better all the time. Thank you.
A5 - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - link
What do you want instead?$80 motherboards are boring and $300+ motherboards are just stupid (so incredibly stupid).
irsmurf - Thursday, January 17, 2013 - link
I couldn't disagree more. $200 motherboards are the sweet spot between high performance and enthusiast / superfluous.iamkyle - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - link
Why haven't the award medals been updated? They still use the old Anandtech logo and style!