Connectors and I/O

Totally ASRock equipped the OC Formula with no less then eight angled SATA ports. Apart from that there is also a SATA Express connector that shares the PCI Express lanes which are going to SATA3/4, SATA3/5 port as well as to the M.2 slot. This is definitely enough for any office setup, gaming system or overclocking setup. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons in the bottom left corner of the board. There is even a debug display. Furthermore there are also voltage read out points as well as ASRocks Rapid-OC buttons which allow an overclocker to change the multiplyer, BLCK as well as voltages on the fly.
Similar to the predecessor Z87 OC Formula the Z97 OC Formula features a Realtek ALC1150 chip with an EMI shielding cap on top of it. Furthermore this chip has been isolated from the rest of the board to reduce unwanted noise and improve signal quality. Additionally there is a high quality headphone amplifier, which is capable of driving headphones and headsets with high impedances. Apart from that there are even high quality Nichicon audio capacitors to further improve signal quality.

 

 

Totally you'll find seven fan header on the OC Formula which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as spread over the motherboard.

  

Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASRock equipped the OC Formula with six USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel. Additionally there is a PS/2 connector and a BIOS reset switch.