ASRock Z87E-ITX Review: Motherboard Juxtaposition
by Ian Cutress on November 6, 2013 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- ASRock
- Mini ITX
- Haswell
- Z87
Gaming Benchmarks
Metro2033
Our first analysis is with the perennial reviewers’ favorite, Metro2033. It occurs in a lot of reviews for a couple of reasons – it has a very easy to use benchmark GUI that anyone can use, and it is often very GPU limited, at least in single GPU mode. Metro2033 is a strenuous DX11 benchmark that can challenge most systems that try 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 1440p with full graphical settings. Results are given as the average frame rate from a second batch of 4 runs, as Metro has a tendency to inflate the scores for the first batch by up to 5%.
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. Dirt 3 also falls under the list of ‘games with a handy benchmark mode’. In previous testing, Dirt 3 has always seemed to love cores, memory, GPUs, PCIe lane bandwidth, everything. The small issue with Dirt 3 is that depending on the benchmark mode tested, the benchmark launcher is not indicative of game play per se, citing numbers higher than actually observed. Despite this, the benchmark mode also includes an element of uncertainty, by actually driving a race, rather than a predetermined sequence of events such as Metro 2033. This in essence should make the benchmark more variable, but we take repeated in order to smooth this out. Using the benchmark mode, Dirt 3 is run at 1440p with Ultra graphical settings. Results are reported as the average frame rate across four runs.
Civilization V
A game that has plagued my testing over the past twelve months is Civilization V. Being on the older 12.3 Catalyst drivers were somewhat of a nightmare, giving no scaling, and as a result I dropped it from my test suite after only a couple of reviews. With the later drivers used for this review, the situation has improved but only slightly, as you will see below. Civilization V seems to run into a scaling bottleneck very early on, and any additional GPU allocation only causes worse performance.
Our Civilization V testing uses Ryan’s GPU benchmark test all wrapped up in a neat batch file. We test at 1080p, and report the average frame rate of a 5 minute test.
Sleeping Dogs
While not necessarily a game on everybody’s lips, Sleeping Dogs is a strenuous game with a pretty hardcore benchmark that scales well with additional GPU power due to its SSAA implementation. The team over at Adrenaline.com.br is supreme for making an easy to use benchmark GUI, allowing a numpty like me to charge ahead with a set of four 1440p runs with maximum graphical settings.
Conclusion
Despite the lack of MCT, the Z87E-ITX does hold its own in the gaming tests, more often than not coming in the top half (if not nearer the top) when compared to the other Z87 motherboards tested.
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BernardP - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Thanks. I hadn't thought about this...Too simple, too obvious!jason11 - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
With Bay Trail, I'm really hoping to see Nano-ITX and Pico-ITX boards come out. Hopefully some cases too but I'm fine with making a simple one myself.mdbusa - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
please excuse my ignorance on this but I need some clarification on how the video ports would work on this. Currently I have a XSX 7750 driving 3 monitors.On this MB with a Haswell DH 4600 chip could I drive 3 monitors using the on board display port and other 2 video ports?? I don't use it for gaming so high performance is not mandatory.
Given the size of the board it looks like it might be difficult to plug in my XFX card
extide - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
Yes you can use your discreet card and the haswell integrated graphics at the same time, so 3 from the integrated + whatever is on your card.DaBean - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
"Both the Z87E-ITX and another 802.11ac mini-ITX motherboard I am currently testing have issues with DPC Latency: both hit peak values north of 200, and only when Bluetooth 4.0 is turned off."If I'm reading this correctly the DPC latency only hits high peak values when Bluetooth is off, so having Bluetooth on solves the problem? Seems counter-intuitive, could you explain what effect Bluetooth has, do you need to be using the bluetooth or just have it enabled?
AnandTech2013 - Thursday, November 7, 2013 - link
I have this board on my list but i was wondering which revision of the chipset is on the board and is it visible on the box. At this time i don't want a C1 anymore and i think the most are all C2 but ASRock makes no statement on this.ZoSo - Friday, November 8, 2013 - link
- 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 12 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug (SATA3_5 connector is shared with the eSATA port; SATA3_4 connector is shared with the mSATA/mini-PCI Express slot)- 1 x eSATA connector, supports NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
- 1 x mSATA 6.0 Gb/s connector (Solid-State Drive connector), supports NCQ, AHCI and Full-size mini-PCI Express modules
coolhund - Saturday, November 9, 2013 - link
This is an awesome mainboard. Its layout is almost perfect. Could use a few more USB ports on the back instead of the PS/2 or eSATA port, however.Also I wonder why this negligible "problem" with the 8-pin connector is mentioned, while the huge problem with picoPSUs isnt mentioned: The 24-pin connector is turned 180 degrees, which will make most picoPSUs touch the ram and actually pushes them to the side with quite a lot of force. Its a no-go using picoPSUs on this board because of that.
Why you would need more than one case fan in an ITX case is beyond me either. Also I actually like that the VGA and DVI compatibility is being maintained, else I wouldnt be able to use it.
MarkF - Friday, January 17, 2014 - link
I am using this board with a picoPSU-150-XT and it doesn't touch the RAM (Crucial 8GB - 4x2). The RAM sits straight up, not leaned over. There is a very small clearance between the the outer most DIM and the PSU circuit. My reality does not match yours. :-)Matman - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
I was sold as soon as I originally saw the specs. No addon USB/SATA controllers. No wanky VRM/audio/wifi/mSATA riser cards. The Broadcom wireless ac isn't quite as good/stable/supported as the new Intel one but that's easily fixed by just swapping out the wireless card. Excellent storage flexibility. Excellent CPU cooler - GPU clearance.As far as I'm concerned this is the closest to high performance mini-ITX perfection anyone has come yet.