ASRock Z97 OC Formula Review
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 07.08.14Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| The first
impression the OC Formula from ASRock makes us want more. Like with the
predecessor we like the individual design of this board, which actually isn't that
easy to achieve anymore. Since ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and co finally found
out that people, especially in the western part of this world, prefer
simple and decent color designs, quite a lot of color combinations have
already been chosen. The OC Formula is a motherboard that really targets extreme overclockers, but nevertheless ASRock succeeded in crafting a product that is equally attractive to the guys handling LN2 or watercooling/aircooling setups. Both worlds will be able to squeeze maximum out of their systems using this board. Apart from overclockers also gamers will enjoy this board, since there is a beefed up audio solution. |
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Design - PCI-Express 3.0 Slots - 8x SATA3 (6Gbps) - Audio |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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The ASRock OC Formula's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. ASRock even equipped this board with a SATA Express connector as well as a M.2 slot which has been wired using two PCI Express lanes. There is also a debug display, which is always helpful if there are issues occuring with the motherboard itself or one of the installed components. Even the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is well chosen. There is a total of four of these slots and between two slots there is always an empty slot. We think this is a good number of PCI Express x16 slots for a overclocking/gaming motherboard altough most gamers will never use four graphics cards in their build. But still it leaves you with plenty of options if you want to plug in other expansion cards. Overclockers will also like the voltage readouts as well as conformal coating layer, which basically makes this board waterproof. In our opinion this board offers the best feature mix out of all Z97 boards we've had for testing so far. |
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Angled SATA
connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - SATA Express - M.2 x2 - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Voltage readouts - OC Buttons - Conformal Coating |
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| Performance |
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| Calculating the average of all 3D benchmarks we ran, we see that this board ranks first in our comparison tables, which include values from all Z87 motherboards we've tested too. When taking the average of all 2D results, this board stays at the very top of our chart. Other than that, when it comes to overclocking performance, there is not too much to say, since this board is simply perfect for any kind of overclocker. ASRock decided to remove some of the features like for example the status OLED, which makes the board a bit quicker at boot. On another note, we had a look at power consumption and noticed that this is one of the more efficient Z97 motherboards we've had for testing so far when it comes to idle as well as load power consumption. In both scenarios this board stays in line with Z97 boards which have less features. | -
SiSoft Sandra 1 & 2 - Power Consumption Idle/Load - 3DMark Vantage - Memory Latency - SuperPi 1M/32M - wPrime - Bioshack infinite High details - UC Bench |
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| BIOS - Overclocking |
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| The BIOS layout on the Z97 OC Formula is exactly the same as Z87 OC Formula, ASRock didn't change the setting positions. Like with the old version, well-known overclocker Nickshih (ASRocks product manager for this board) is the guy who optimized the BIOS. One practical idea that got implemented are the different CPU profiles, which can be chosen, which make the life of extreme overclockers quite a bit easier. Testing the motherboard with PSC ICs we were able to run these at 2'820 MHz with ultra tight CL6 timings using LN2 as cooling and SuperPi 32m to determine stability. Testing Samsung-IC, HyperPi passed at 2'933 MHz very easily and also with Hynix CFR chips as well as with double-sided MFRs results are good. It's only with single-sided MFRs where we see a little weakness. Another neat feature for overclockers is their conformal coaiting, which basically makes this board waterproof. This helps a lot with extreme overclocking sind condesation water is much less of an issue with this board than with others. Apart from that, if you live in a country with exceptionally high humidity (such as Taiwan) the coating might even increase stability. | - Sheer amount of
options - Overclocking |
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| Recommendation |
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| Should you be looking for a high-end overclocking motherboard, then the ASRock Z97 OC Formula is a great choice with reasonable price of 190 Euros. | -
Enthusiast - Gaming - Extreme Overclocking |
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| Rating | |||
| We give the ASRock Z97 OC Formula very good 5 out of 5 stars. | |||
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch
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