ASRock's Formula for success

Subject: Motherboards | March 19, 2013 - 01:36 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: asrock, Z77 OC Formula, Intel Z77X

If you are shopping for a Z77 motherboard you have a lot of choice in make and model as well as price, they range from sub-$100 models to high end boards like the $225 ASRock Z77 OC Formula.  For that extra price you get a motherboard built with 12+4 phase power, premium alloy chokes, dual-stack MOSFETs and 8 layers of copper.  It is not just high end components, you also get a pair of PCIe 16x slots, a single PCIe 4x slot and a pair of 1x slots for add-in cards as well as four SATA 6Gbps ports and two SATA 3G ports, 10 USB 2.0 ports and 8 USB 3.0 ports along with onboard audio from Realtec's ALC898.  [H]ard|OCP did some testing to see if this board lives up to the OC in its name, which it did rather handily.

"Generally speaking our ASRock experiences have been positive save for one or two minor complaints. We’ve looked inexpensive but very popular ASRock model motherboards. Today we are taking a look at a higher end more expensive ASRock offering. The Z77 OC Formula caught our eye and will hopefully perform as good as it looks."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ASRock Z77 Pro4-M @ [H]ard|OCP
• Gigabyte Z77X-UD4H @ Funky Kit
• Gigabyte GA-H77N-WiFi Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• ASUS P8Z77-V LK Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• GIGABYTE Z77N-WiFi @ Tweaktown
• MSI's Z77IA-E53 Mini-ITX @ The Tech Report
• BIOS Option Of The Week - SDRAM Tras Timing Value @ TechARP
• Biostar Hi-Fi A85W @ Kitguru
• ECS A85F2-A GOLDEN @ Tweaktown
• ECS A970M-A Deluxe Motherboard Review @ OCC

It might be a little skinny but ASRock's Z77 Extreme4 can overclock

Subject: Motherboards | February 18, 2013 - 02:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Z77, asrock, Z77 Extreme4

ASRock has been steadily gaining popularity with system builders that want a balance between price, features and performance without sacrificing support or stability.  At $120, the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 seems to fit the first criteria, the pair of PCIe 3.0 16x slots capable of handling two cards at 8x speeds, four SATA 6Gbps ports and a half dozen USB 3.0 ports meet the second.  [H]ard|OCP tested the performance and stability of the board recently, getting an stable 4.8GHz overclock on their i7 3770K, demonstrating that even a value board can compete with expensive models.  The sacrifice made was in the thickness of the PCB, it is much thinner than most motherboards and while [H] did not break the PCB they had a few stressful moments; drop by to read about them.

"While ASRock is a well known new comer in the motherboard market, we’ve not exactly been fans of ASRock products based on past experiences. ASRock’s popularity grows and as a result we are taking another look at a motherboard from in the hope of understanding this popularity. Is it just price, or is there more to ASRock’s offerings?"

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• Zotac's Z77-ITX WiFi Mini-ITX @ The Tech Report
• ASRock's Z77E-ITX Mini-ITX @ The Tech Report
• GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 Intel Z77 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• Gigabyte Z77X UD4H Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
• ASRock Z77 Extreme11 @ Tweaktown
• ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Champion and X79 Professional Review: From a Gamer to Gamers @ AnandTech
• ASUS ROG Maximus V Extreme Intel LGA1155 @ techPowerUp
• ECS A85F2-A Golden Review @ OCC
• ASRock 990FX Extreme9 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• AMD Trinity A10-5800K & GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 @ Overclockers.com
• ASRock 990FX Extreme9 @ Kitguru

ASRock Launches FM2A85X-ITX Mini-ITX Motherboard

Subject: Motherboards | February 3, 2013 - 05:09 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: trinity, mini-itx, htpc, asrock, APU, amd, A85X

Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer ASRock has shown off a new mini-ITX motherboard aimed at home theater PC (HTPC) users called the FM2A85X-ITX. The new motherboard uses AMD’s A85X chipset and supports the company’s latest Trinity accelerated processing units (APUs).
The FM2A85X-ITX motherboard features an AMD FM2 socket surrounded by two DDR3 DIMM slots (max of 32GB 1866MHz RAM), a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, and seven SATA 6Gbps ports. A six phase VRM, two USB 3.0 headers, 8 channel audio chip, and RAID 0/1/10 support round out the package.

External IO on the mini-ITX motherboard includes:

• 1 x PS/2
• 4 x USB 2.0
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 1 x eSATA 6Gbps
• 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF
• 5 x Analog audio jacks
• 1 x DVI
• 1 x HDMI
• 1 x VGA

According to Tech Power Up, the new motherboard will cost around $110 USD. Thanks to the form factor, APU support, and multitude of storage connectivity options, the board would make for an excellent addition to a HTPC build!

Read about other mini-ITX motherboard options at PC Perspective!

ASRock Z77 Extreme6/TB4 Motherboard Offers Thunderbolt with Discrete Graphics

Subject: Motherboards | December 11, 2012 - 10:34 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: asrock, thunderbolt, Z77

Over the past 6 months or so we have seen most motherboard vendors release a Z77 option with support for the latest Thunderbolt connectivity option.  I did some initial testing on the ASUS P8Z77-V Premium motherboard and found that Thunderbolt was indeed impressive in terms of performance though it remained expensive and had a few hang ups. 

One of those was the need to use integrated graphics when utilizing the DisplayPort pass through of the connection.  Lucid was the first company to offer a solution thanks to their Virtu MVP software solution and GPU virtualization technology.  I tested that and it worked pretty well, allow us to utilize the power of your discrete GPU with a monitor connected through Thunderbolt on the motherboard.

Well ASRock has a new motherboard out, the Z77 Extreme6/TB4, that promises to allow you to use discrete graphics by simply utilizing a DisplayPort connection on the graphics card itself. 

Besides offering a pair of Thunderbolt connections, the motherboard claims to be the "world's only Thunderbolt motherboard supporting discrete VGA card via Thunderbolt port."

Essentially ASRock is taking the DP connection from the discrete graphics card, taking it into the motherboard through a DisplayPort input connection and then sending that back out the motherboard Thunderbolt header.  More than likely this is simple electrical pass through and there isn't much or any logic going on to "trick" the system.  It also raises concerns that the motherboard and display solution won't be officially approved by Intel.  (We are all, after all, still waiting to see the ASUS ThunderboltEX to hit the market...)

Hopefully we'll get one of these new boards in soon to see for ourselves!

ASRock Launches Extreme6/TB4 Motherboard With Two Thunderbolt Ports

Subject: Motherboards | October 29, 2012 - 11:24 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: Z77, thunderbolt, motherboard, extreme6/tb4, asrock

Update: The specifications page is now live on the ASRock website.

Pegatron-owned motherboard company ASRock has launched a new Z77 motherboard with dual Thunderbolt ports dubbed the Extreme6/TB4. While all the nitty-gritty details are still up in the error due to an error on the ASRock site, we do have some information on the board worth sharing.

The ASRock Extreme6/TB4 is based on the Z77 chipset, which supports socket 1155 processors (Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge). Further, the board has four DIMM slots for DDR3 memory running at up to 2800MHz. Additionally, the Extreme6/TB4 uses gold capicitors, digital power technology, and a 8+4 power phase. Quad SLI and CrossFireX multi-GPU technologies are also features.

It features two PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots (x16/x8 or x8/x8), two PCI-E 2.0 x1 slots, and two legacy PCI slots. For storage, the motherboard has four SATA III 6Gbps ports (RAID 0/1/5/10) and several USB headers.

Rear panel IO includes:

• 1 x PS/2
• 1 x eSATA
• 1 x eSATA/USB
• 2 x USB 2.0
• 4 x USB 3.0
• 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
• 1 x VGA
• 2 x Thunderbolt
• 5 x Analog audio jacks
• 1 x S/PDIF optical audio port
• 1 x HDMI

Thanks to the two Thunderbolt ports on the rear IO panel, the new ASRock motherboard can support up to 12 devices (with passthrough ports) and two DisplayPort displays. That's a lot of Thunderbolt gear!

Unfortunately, there is no word yet on pricing or when the motherboard will be available for purchase.

Read more about Intel’s Thunderbolt technology at PC Perspective.

Motherboard manufacturer merger mayhem

Subject: General Tech | September 28, 2012 - 02:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: purchase, merger, asus, asrock

The news from DigiTimes yesterday that Haswell will take even more features away from the motherboard and place them on the CPU signalled a problem for second and third tier manufacturers was worrying.  With less and less features being available for motherboard manufacturers to use to distinguish their products the market becomes less profitable for those boards which can't afford the additional costs incurred by including Thunderbolt or other high end features.  That could well spell the end of several current motherboard manufacturers.

If that wasn't enough to worry you about the possibility of having less choice in system parts in the future, how about the news coming out of SemiAccurate that ASUS is looking to purchase ASRock's motherboard business.  If that was to occur ASUS would own a huge portion of the first tier of motherboards and swamp Gigabyte with the volume they could produce.  At the same time they could leverage ASRock's lower cost motherboard business and compete with the second tier motherboard manufacturers.  With the competition being so fierce and the added features being so limited, at least for Intel boards, the third tier would not have a snowballs chance in the market and would collapse except for a few custom boards for niche markets.   Not the best news for enthusiasts or cost conscious consumers.

"Currently word has it that an offer has been made for Asrock, and Pegatron is essentially fine with the terms. This would take the #1 and #3 mobo makers and combine them, leaving the industry with one massive behemoth, one solid player, and a lot of minnows struggling to make waves. As of now, there is a first tier of Asus and Gigabyte, then Asrock, MSI, and ECS at less than half of that volume, plus a few niche players in the motherboard market."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Seagate's OCZ gobble was real, but went sour in CEO row @ The Register
• Adobe scrambles to revoke stolen cert @ The Register
• Touchscreen controller ICs in tight supply @ DigiTimes
• Making logic gates out of crabs @ Hack a Day
• Arctic Breeze USB Fan Review @ Legit Reviews
• Guru3D Rig of the Month for September 2012
• A Quick Review of Acronis True Image 2013 @ Techgage
• BE QUIET! COMPETITION @ Kitguru

Upper Middle Class; ASRock's high end X79 and Z77 boards

Subject: Motherboards | June 12, 2012 - 06:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sandy bridge-e, Ivy Bridge, asrock, Fatal1ty X79 Champion, Z77 Extreme9

There is an ASRock two-fer over at Legion Hardware, with the $400 Fatal1ty X79 Champion for SandyBridge-E and the $350 Z77 Extreme9 for IvyBridge.  As you can tell by the prices, ASRock has come far from its roots as a less expensive choice for value conscious buyers and is now ready to compete with the established companies like ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI.  The X79 Champion carries a lot of extras, the Marvell SE9230 adds SATA 6Gbps ports and the SE9172 adds eSATA, as well you get USB 3.0 support from a TI TUSB7340 chip but all that comes at a cost, only a pair of full 16x PCI 3.0 ports.  The Z77 Extreme9 also features extras in the form of the PLX PEX 8747 PCIe 3.0 chip which allows dual GPUs at 16x or quad at 8x, an ASMedia ASM1061 6Gbps for extra SATA 6Gbps and a a wireless and Bluetooth module. 

Drop by Legion Hardware to see how they perform.

"Overall we have been impressed by Asrock’s high-end offerings, as they really are top notch products. Asrock has continued to step up their game over the last few years and today we would have no problem purchasing one of their products over something from Asus or Gigabyte for example. The Fatal1ty X79 Champion and Z77 Extreme9 are more examples of why Asrock motherboards are worth checking out."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

Motherboards

• ASRock Z77 Extreme9 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
• Two LGA 1155 Mainboards from ASRock Reviewed: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and ASRock Z77 Extreme6 @ X-bit Labs
• Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe: New Look of the LGA 1155 Platform @ X-bit Labs
• Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H @ Kitguru
• Thunderbolt on Windows Part 2: Intel's DZ77RE-K75 & ASUS' P8Z77-V Premium @ AnandTech
• ASUS's AMD AM3+ Motherboards to get Intel Thunderbolt support? @ VR-Zone
• Asrock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• ASRock X79 Fatal1ty Champion Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
• Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H WiFi Intel Z77 Express LGA 1155 @ techPowerUp
• Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Socket 1155 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
• ASUS P8Z77-M Pro Micro-ATX Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Biostar TZ77XE4 (Z77) Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
• Cedar Trail Platform: Intel D2500HN and Intel DN2800MT Mainboards @ X-bit Labs
• BIOS Option Of The Week - CPU Hardware Prefetch @ TechARP

A tour through the booths at Computex 2012

Subject: General Tech | June 6, 2012 - 01:08 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: computex, computex 2012, nvidia, corsair, asrock

The Tech Report have been every bit as busy as Ryan, trying to get in as much of Computex as possible and post the sights to the web.  They dropped by Broadcom's booth to see new ARM based SoCs which will be used in the next generation of 802.11ac routers, taking wireless beyond gigabit speeds, with USB 3.0 added on for easy media distribution. They snapped a few pictures of the ASRock motherboards we saw earlier this week, including the dual Thunderbolt Z77 Extreme which features a DisplayPort in port to allow you to use a Thunderbolt display without needing Lucid's Virtu to translate.  They also saw Corsair's surprise new SSD controller from Link_A_Media Devices (LAMD), which will provide SATA 6Gbps and can use either ONFI or Toggle DDR NAND.  NVIDIA was showing off the new GT 640 which will use a 28nm Kepler chip sport 384 shader ALUs and cost under $100 and should bring a bit more power to low end machines, though don't expect a huge jump from the previous GTS450

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Computex 2012 Day 1 - Hit the floor sleepy @ Ninjalane
• Computex: Zalman prepares T1 chassis for affordable victory @ Kitguru
• SilverStone unveils the Raven RV04 and Fortress FT04 @ Kitguru
• Techies beg world to join the 1% on IPv6 launch day @ The Register
• Trend in mobile computing: Q&A with Intel's Gregory Bryant @ DigiTimes
• Samsung takes a seat with Intel and IBM at the Linux Foundation @ The Inquirer
• Windows Phone 8 launches on 20 June @ The Inquirer
• Ubuntu 12.10 Sets To Make ARM Even Stronger @ Phoronix