ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ Review
Category : Z170
Published by Marc Büchel on 09.09.15
With the Extreme7+, ASRock has a well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with a plethora of features. In case of the Z170 version the vendor makes no exception and especially the variety of connectors for storage media is interesting. There are for example no less than three Ultra M.2 slots which offer up to 32 Gigabit of bandwidth.
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Already the Z97 Extreme7 from ASRock came with a ton of features and apart from that it also had stunning looks. When it comes to their Z170 line-up ASRock has decided to come up with a completely new design, which in the case of the Extreme7+ includes a cover for the back I/O connectors as well as the audio solution.
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z170 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 3500 (O.C.) / 3233 (O.C.) / 2933 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Sound | Realtek ALC1150 8-Channel Purity Sound 3
|
| Storage |
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (128 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- 4 x SATA Data Cables
- 1 x SATA-Express Data Cable
- 1 x USB Power Cable
- 1 x ASRock SLI bridge
- 1 x ASRock Front USB 3.1 Panel
- 1 x Back shield
- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD
Features
Super Alloy Power Design |
Since quite some time ASRock has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. This time the company is rather proud, that they're using their so called "Super Alloy" chokes, which help reducing operating temperature and therefore increase lifespan. |
 |
|
ASRock APP Shop |
ASRock has made their own small App Shop. Users can download applications to optimize their system to individual needs. |  |
|
M.2 / NVMe Support |
Featuring three M.2 slot this board can be equipped with SSDs in M.2 format. All slots support up to 32 Gbps bandwidth and if you wish to you can also plug in NVMe adapters. Unfortunately there are no such adapters in the delivery. |  |
|
ASRock Cloud |
For it's cloud storage service ASRock partnered up with Kloudian, offering customers a free three year subscription to the service. ASRock Cloud helps you synchronizing data you have on your smartphone as well as PC. |  |
|
Purity Sound 3 |
ASRocks Purity 3 audio solution is based on a Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, which features 115dB SNR. Other than that there is EMI shielding for the main chip as well as onboard insulation. To improve signal quality there are excellent Nichicon capacitors. |  |
|
SATA Express Connector |
SATA Express is a port for storage devices. It combines two SATA connectors and bundles them. Each SATA Express port has been wired using two PCI Express Gen2 lanes offering a total of 10 Gbps bandwidth. Compared to SATA-III with 6 Gbps bandwidth this is quite an improvement. |  |
|
Layout
At a first glance the ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ looks very good with its harmonic design. In this case ASRock is using a combination of black and gold. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are angled SATA connectors, which have been moved alongside the northbridge allow for easy installation of oversized graphics cards. We also like that placement of the M.2 Slots, which are above and in between the PCIe slots.
ASRock equips the Extreme7+ with a twelve phase digital power phases regarding the CPU. Furthermore there are ASRocks so called "Super Alloy chokes" on this motherboard, which, as the name indicates, are made from a special alloy. This alloy should help reducing operating temperature. Also ripple and DCR are lower than with the chokes used on previous generation motherobards. Apart from that, saturation current is also higher.
There are four DIMM-slots on the
Z170 Extreme7+. Officially supported are DDR4
3500 (O.C.) / 3233 (O.C.) / 2933 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 (O.C.) / 2133. There is enough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which
means that you won't encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0.
On the
Z170 Extreme7+ the southbridge is being cooled by a
passive cooling block. A closer look at the VRM area shows
that there are two additional heatsinks connected to eachother via a heatpipe. All blocks feature excellent build quality and aprt from that also the overall weight of the motherboard is high. This underlines that the Extreme7+ is a high-end board.
Connectors and I/O
ASRock equipped the Z170 Extreme7+ with six angled SATA ports. All ports offer 6Gbps bandwidth. Apart from that there are also three SATA Express ports, which feature 10 Gbps bandwidth. There are even three "Ultra M.2" slots allowing up to 32 Gigabit per second (4 Gigabyte per second) to be pushed over the bus. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons in the bottom right corner of the board and a debug display also isn't missing.
In total there are five fan headers on the Z170 Extreme7+ which is enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as well as spread over the motherboard. All headers feature four pins, which allows controlling fans from within Windows via ASRock's bundled software.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASRock equipped the Z170 Extreme7+ with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, six USB 3.1 ports (one Type-C connector), two USB 2.0 ports, two gigabit ethernet ports, an HDMI connector, a DisplayPort, a DVI port and an optical out as well as an analogue audio panel.
BIOS
For their Z170 motherboards ASRock once more reworked their UEFI BIOS. This latest version comes with a good looking design and an easy to understand structure. If you're looking for the different settings, you'll find them quickly. This board is also ready for overclocking and therefore there are all the different settings you need for that purpose. Apart from that ASRock equipped this BIOS with a lot of useful tools like System Browser, UEFI Tech Service, Easy RAID Installer, Easy Driver Installer and Instant Flash to mention the most interesting ones.
Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard |
|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ares DDR4-2133 CL15-15-15-2T 350 |
| Graphic card | ASUS GeForce GTX 980 |
| Driver | ForceWare 353.62 |
| Hard disk | Intel 335 Series SSD 120 GB |
| Power supply | Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W |
Preview / Gallery
| Product Picture | Link to Gallery |
 |
ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ |
  |
ASUS Maximus VIII Gene |
  |
ASUS Maximus VIII Hero |
 |
ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
 |
ASUS Z170-A |
 |
MSI Z170 Gaming M7 |
  |
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 |
3D Mark
Ice Storm
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 195'178 | 100.85% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 195'737 | 101.14% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 195'107 | 100.82% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 193'524 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 187'768 | 97.03% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 186'491 | 96.37% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 185'448 | 95.83% | |
| more is better | |||
Ice Storm Physics
| 3D Mark Ice Storm Physics Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 68'073 | 104.08% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 66'332 | 101.42% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 65'681 | 100.42% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 65'404 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 63'524 | 97.13% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 62'866 | 96.12% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 62'072 | 94.91% | |
| more is better | |||
Fire Strike
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 12'089 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 12'085 | 99.97% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 12'085 | 99.97% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 12'071 | 99.85% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 12'061 | 99.80% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 12'061 | 99.80% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 12'059 | 99.75% | |
| more is better | |||
Fire Strike Physics
| 3D Mark Fire Strike Physics Score |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 13'000 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 12'993 | 99.95% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 12'987 | 99.90% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 12'977 | 99.82% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 12'972 | 99.78% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 12'938 | 99.52% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 12'925 | 99.42% | |
| more is better | |||
3D Mark 11
| 3D Mark 11 Total |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 16'425 | 100.25% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 16'416 | 100.20% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 16'406 | 100.13% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 16'384 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 16'366 | 99.89% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 16'377 | 99.96% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 16'357 | 99.83% | |
| more is better | |||
CPU
| 3D Mark 11 Physics |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 11'548 | 100.84% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 11'531 | 100.69% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 11'519 | 100.59% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 11'502 | 100.44% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 11'459 | 100.06% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 11'452 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 11'357 | 99.17% | |
| more is better | |||
3D Mark Vantage
| 3D Mark Vantage Total |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 46'052 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 45'932 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 45'900 | 99.93% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 45'891 | 99.91% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 45'881 | 99.89% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 45'793 | 99.70% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 45'717 | 99.53% | |
| more is better | |||
| 3D Mark Vantage CPU |
Review Rating |
Percent | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 32'852 | 100.63% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 32'850 | 100.62% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 32'801 | 100.47% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 32'646 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 32'590 | 99.83% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 32'461 | 99.43% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 32'304 | 98.95% | |
| more is better | |||
PC Mark 08
| PC Mark 08 Total |
Review Rating |
Points | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 4'631 | 100.02% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 4'630 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 4'627 | 99.94% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 4'621 | 99.81% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 4'620 | 99.78% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 4'618 | 99.74% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 4'612 | 99.61% | |
| more is better | |||
| Web Browsing - JunglePin |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.28177 | 100.08% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.28200 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.28200 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.28215 | 99.95% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.28219 | 99.93% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.28284 | 99.70% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.28300 | 99.65% | |
| more is better | |||
| Web Browsing - Amazonia |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.12182 | 100.07% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.12185 | 100.05% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.12186 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.12191 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.12200 | 99.88% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.12200 | 99.93% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.12256 | 99.42% | |
| more is better | |||
| Writing |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 3.09199 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 3.10012 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 3.10024 | 99.99% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 3.14001 | 98.73% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 3.11766 | 99.44% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 3.21000 | 96.58% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 3.21000 | 96.58% | |
| more is better | |||
| Casual Gaming |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 140.10 | 100.96% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 139.32 | 100.40% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 139.05 | 100.11% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 138.90 | 100.09% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 138.77 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 138.65 | 98.97% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 137.39 | 98.07% | |
| more is better | |||
| Video Chat Playback 1 |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 30.00 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
| Video Chat encoding |
Review Rating |
ms | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 48.62 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 48.88 | 99.47% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 49.00 | 99.22% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 50.00 | 97.24% | |
| more is better | |||
| Advanced Photo Editing |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 0.30548 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 0.30810 | 99.15% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 0.31100 | 98.23% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 0.31240 | 97.78% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 0.31300 | 97.60% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 0.31357 | 97.42% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 0.31645 | 96.53% | |
| more is better | |||
SiSoft Sandra 1
Arithmetic Benchmark
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone |
Review Rating |
GIPS | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 155.23 | 102.46% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 155.20 | 102.44% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 155.10 |
102.38% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 155.00 | 102.31% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 155.00 | 102.31% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 152.00 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 151.50 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Whetstone |
Review Rating |
GFLOPS | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 108.47 | 100.57% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 107.86 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 107.46 | 99.63% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 107.41 | 99.58% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 107.17 | 99.36% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 106.73 | 98.95% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 106.14 | 98.41% | |
| more is better | |||
Multimedia
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer |
Review Rating |
MPixels/sec | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 512.34 | 101.54% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 504.69 | 100.03% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 504.56 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 502.20 | 99.53% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 501.55 | 99.40% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 499.12 | 97.42% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 498.84 | 97.37% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Floating Point |
Review Rating |
MPixels/sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 495.73 | 101.83% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 490.73 | 100.81% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 490.29 | 100.72% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 489.18 | 100.49% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 488.07 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 486.80 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 480.54 | 98.23% | |
| more is better | |||
Crytography
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - AES 256 |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 7.80 | 101.17% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 7.80 | 101.17% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 7.78 | 100.91% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 7.73 | 100.26% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 7.71 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 7.68 | 99.61% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 7.66 | 99.35% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA 256 |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 1.55 | 101.31% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 1.53 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
SiSoft Sandra 2
Memory bandwidth
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - Integer |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 23.35 | 101.52% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 23.32 | 101.39% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.12 | 100.52% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 23.11 | 100.48% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 23.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 23.00 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 22.91 | 99.61% | |
| more is better | |||
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - floating point |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.34 | 102.46% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 23.11 | 101.45% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 23.00 | 100.97% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 22.86 | 100.35% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 22.80 | 100.09% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 22.78 | 100.00% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 22.67 | 99.52% | |
| more is better | |||
Memory latency
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory latency |
Review Rating |
ns | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 22.8 | 101.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 22.9 | 100.87% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 23.0 | 100.43% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 23.1 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 23.2 | 99.57% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Memory and cache access
| SiSoft Sandra - Cache |
Review Rating |
GB/sec | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 207.20 | 100.33% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 207.18 | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 206.87 | 100.17% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 206.65 | 100.07% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 206.51 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 206.40 | 99.95% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 205.49 | 99.51% | |
| more is better | |||
UC Bench
| UC Bench |
Review Rating |
PW/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 1'056.3 | 100.28% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 1'055.9 | 100.24% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 1'055.9 | 100.24% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 1'055.5 | 100.20% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 1'055.1 | 100.16% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 1'054.6 | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 1'053.4 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | |||
Super Pi 1M - 32M
Super Pi 1M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 9.079 | 100.45% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 9.095 | 100.27% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 9.095 | 100.27% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 9.110 | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 9.111 | 100.10% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 9.111 | 100.10% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 9.120 | 100.00% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Super Pi 32M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 481.135 | 100.38% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 482.305 | 100.14% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 482.462 | 100.11% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 482.789 | 100.04% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 482.985 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 485.394 | 99.38% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 487.266 | 99.12% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
wPrime 1024M Multicore
| wPrime - 1024M Multi Core |
Review Rating |
sec | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 158.752 | 100.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 158.816 | 100.45% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 159.026 | 100.32% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 159.042 | 100.31% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 159.401 | 100.08% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 159.459 | 100.05% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 159.536 | 100.00% | |
| more is better | more is better | ||
Cinebench R15
| Cinebench R11.5 - Multi Core |
Review Rating |
pts | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 884 | 100.34% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 882 | 100.11% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 881 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 879 | 99.77% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 878 | 99.66% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 877 | 99.55% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 874 | 99.21% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Tomb Raider
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Tomb Raider (low resolution, low details) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 264.6 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 261.0 | 98.64% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 260.6 | 98.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 260.0 | 98.26% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 258.1 | 97.54% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 257.1 | 97.17% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 255.1 | 96.41% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Tomb Raider (high resolution, high details) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 147.9 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 147.9 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 145.9 | 98.65% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 144.3 | 97.57% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 144.0 | 97.36% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 143.1 | 96.75% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 142.0 | 96.01% | |
| more is better | |||
Metro Last Light
Low resolution - 1024 x 768
| Metro Last Light (low details, low resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 186.03 | 101.53% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 184.71 | 100.81% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 184.02 | 100.44% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 183.22 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 182.29 | 99.49% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 181.85 | 99.25% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 181.55 | 99.09% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution - 1920 x 1080
| Metro Last Light (high details, high resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 57.23 | 100.81% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 56.77 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 56.77 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 56.70 | 99.88% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 56.57 | 99.65% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 56.54 | 99.59% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 56.06 | 98.75% | |
| more is better | |||
Sleeping Dogs
Low resolution, low details
| Sleeping Dog (low details, low resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 555.2 | 101.52% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 550.4 | 100.64% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 550.2 | 100.60% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 548.3 | 100.26% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 548.1 | 100.22% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 546.9 | 100.00% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 545.7 | 99.53% | |
| more is better | |||
High resolution, high details
| Sleeping Dogs (high details, high resolution) |
Review Rating |
fps | Percent |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 244.4 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 242.5 | 99.22% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 241.7 | 98.90% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 241.1 | 98.65% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 241.0 | 98.61% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 240.8 | 98.53% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 238.4 | 97.55% | |
| more is better | |||
Power Consumption
Idle
| Idle |
Review Rating |
Watt | Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 48 | 127.08% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 49 | 124.49% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 55 | 110.91% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 56 | 108.93% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 59 | 103.39% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 61 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 61 | 100.00% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Load
| Load |
Review Rating |
Watt | Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 108 | 123.15% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 109 | 122.02% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 113 | 117.70% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 121 | 109.92% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 133 | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 133 | 100.00% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 133 | 100.00% | |
| less is better | more is better | ||
Performance Rating
| 3D and Gaming Benchmarks |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 100.16% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 99.92% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 99.82% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.18% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 98.80% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 98.64% | |
| more is better | ||
| 2D Benchmarks |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 100.32% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 99.82% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.82% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 99.61% | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 99.41% | |
| more is better | ||
| Performance per Watt |
Review Rating |
Percent |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | 79.57% | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | 84.57% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | 89.37% | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | 90.68% | |
| ASUS Z170-A | 98.91% | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | 99.50% | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe | 100.00% | |
| less is better | ||
Price comparison
| Model |
Geizhals.eu |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
|
| ASUS Z170-A |
|
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ |
|
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The Z170 Extreme7+ from ASRock is definitely an interesting board. Next to an attractive design in black and blue all the different connectors for storage media are interesting. Therefore it doesn't matter whether you want to connect standard SATA drives, drives with SATA Express connector or even M.2 SSDs. In case of the M.2 slots there is even an Ultra M.2 port offering up to 32 Gigabit per second of bandwidth (4 Gigabyte per second). On such a motherboard it's then almost standard there is a capable power design. The 12+2 phases with high-side and low-side on each driver MOSFET will guarantee stable power supply for the CPU as well as to the memory. On another note we one more like the audio solution. What you get is a Realtek ALC1150 with EMI shield and alongside the chip there are high-quality Nichicon capacitors | -
Design - Layout - Features - 3 x Ultra M.2 Slot |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Basically the ASRock Z170 Extreme7+'s Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. The placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. Between the first and the second PCI Express x16 slot there are two free slots which means that the first card in a SLI/CrossFire setup gets plenty of fresh air. Another detail we liked is the position of the first PCI-Express x1 slot, that has been located right above the first PCI-Express x16 Gen 3.0 slot. This ensures, that you always have a free x1 slot that can be equipped and apart from that there is also enough clearance to easily plug in and remove graphics cards, even if there are large coolers in CPU heatsinks in place. | - Angled SATA connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| Calculating the average of all 3D benchmarks we ran, we see that this board comes in last. In the case of the average 2D values the Extreme7+ ranks second to last. We're sure, ASRock is going to release a number of BIOS updates in order to increase the performance of this board. We also had a look at power consumption and we were surprised to see how efficient this board is. Especially in idle power consumption is very low. | - Power consumption | - 3D Performance - 2D Performance |
|
| Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
| ASRock has a beautiful looking BIOS when it comes to their new Z170 motherboards. The UEFI BIOS gets a black background and there are a few additional blue design elements. Meanwhile it's almost normal that a BIOS is absolutely complete offering countless features. If you're looking for overclocking options you'll find a great many of them and they are equally practical for novices as well as experienced overclockers. We always love the pre-defined profiles, which make overclocking quite a bit more efficient. Boosting our CPU to 5.0 GHz was absolutely no problem at all. | - Sheer amount of
options - Design |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The ASRock Extreme7+ is an excellently equipped Z170 motherboard, which would benefit from some performance improvements every here and there. Currently this board sells 253 Euro and at that price we can highly recommend it. | -
Price
-
Gaming - Enthusiast - Overclocking |
||
| Rating | |||
| The ASRock Extreme 7+ receives good 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
