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:
- 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
This board is indeed
This board is indeed “win”.
Though, with Haswell coming just in June, I would NOT spend ANY money on ANYTHING right now.
Honestly, everybody should just wait for Haswell at this rate.
I don’t like the fan, that
I don’t like the fan, that needs to go.
“That fan” is alright.
I have
“That fan” is alright.
I have those kind of 40mm fans that are silent and inaudible with the machine running on my desk.
yea but those are always the
yea but those are always the ones that will get dust clogged the 1st and start to make annoying sounds and die… in which it can’t just be easily cleaned or replaced.
You could always buy a cheap
You could always buy a cheap can of compressed air and blow the fan out every once in awhile so you don’t have to worry about it ever getting clogged and it might last you awhile.
Correct, but they easily can
Correct, but they easily can be replaced. Just take the 4 screws out, and put this in:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40mm-VGA-cooling-fan-Sunon-MagLev-KDE1204PKV3-Mini-3pin-6-3cfm-only-18dBA-/170909808613?pt=US_Video_Card_GPU_Cooling&hash=item27cb04b7e5
Magnetic bearing, top notch fan.
Easily better than the crap quality fan they’d put over there.
Though, that fan looks like a decent fan with those shaped blades.