**Official** Asrock Z68 Extreme4 thread. Share your experiences, OCs & tech issues!

[hema]

I got my 2500 k now batchcode: L104A540
I will set my result here with the z68 -pro3

here is the result for now






after some tries here is the result




with the vcc 1.5 from bios
still need more voltage for stable or need some other voltage to mood lik(vtt or pll)
Another question
at this state what should I put the max power for the processor and with what duration

[aicjofs]

i was wondering if anyone would like to share what criteria led you to purchase this board vs. the other options available?

1. 775 mounting holes, didn't have to mess with my water block. That is what made the sale, that and...

2. Just like to try new brands. I have done Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI, etc. Just wanted to try it out of curiosity.

[jpm]

>jpm
-The last (third long) pci-e slot. On Asus if one wants to set it to 4x mode he has to switch off e-sata, some usb ports and pci-e x1 AFAIR. No such restrictions in Asrock's case.
-Asus had a little advantage in P67 concerning usb3 compatibility (Nec chip). But it is no longer valid as they changed usb3 controller in Z68.
-USB3 front panel as a bundle in Asrock.
-surprisingly robust community of Asrock users and faster response with bios updates from their support team.

thanks piquadrat - am surprised that the NEC USB3 chip is viewed as a better choice? recently the Etron EJ168 (used in the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 board, among others) passed USB-IF certification:

http://vr-zone.com/articles/etron-te...ion/12343.html

the ASMedia USB3 controller (used on the P8Z68-V Pro) has also passed this certification, although this article mentioned a potential Etron advantage over both ASMedia and NEC in that it is fully xHCI 1.0 compliant. has the NEC chip been proven better in practice?

also on the topic of chip selection, i noticed the ASRock board uses a Broadcom LAN chip that i've heard good things about.

[Ket]

I must say with the new Etron driver (v1.1) I was sent by one of my contacts really irons out a lot of the inital teething problems. Very enjoyable board to build a system around, everything just works as it should and so far in testing the latest UEFIs for the board are totally bug free.

[EzyRyder]

jpm,

The only problem I've had with my board is the fact that the eSATA port doesn't work as advertised. This seems to be a common problem with the Marvell controller I believe.

Everything else just works though with no issues. The UEFI contains lots of options and its easy to navigate. It overclocks as well as the Asus and it also has many more features than the Asus, including the front usb 3 panel and the extra PCI-E lanes chip.

[piquadrat]

thanks piquadrat - am surprised that the NEC USB3 chip is viewed as a better choice?

It was a better choice but this is progressively changing

also on the topic of chip selection, i noticed the ASRock board uses a Broadcom LAN chip that i've heard good things about.

What have you heard as I'm still wondering what's the real difference between Broadcom and Realtek LAN chips?

[jpm]

jpm,

The only problem I've had with my board is the fact that the eSATA port doesn't work as advertised. This seems to be a common problem with the Marvell controller I believe.

Everything else just works though with no issues. The UEFI contains lots of options and its easy to navigate. It overclocks as well as the Asus and it also has many more features than the Asus, including the front usb 3 panel and the extra PCI-E lanes chip.

thanks ezyryder, what issues are you having with the eSATA port?

[EzyRyder]

I believe its a problem with the Marvell controller and not the board itself as other users of other Asrock boards with the same controller have reported the problem.

The problem is basically when you plug an eSATA device your computer will become very laggy, the mouse will almost freeze and the computer will become unusable until you turn the eSATA device off.

[jpm]

What have you heard as I'm still wondering what's the real difference between Broadcom and Realtek LAN chips?

marvell LAN chips historically provided lower CPU utilization compared to realtek counterparts, and in some cases higher throughput as well. one relatively recent review demonstrating this is here:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1387/10/

comparing the marvell chip on an Asus board to the realtek chip on an ASRock board, the difference was quite significant. there are also some threads here on xtremesystems confirming the same:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...an-Port-to-Use

although some of the benchmarks you'll find are a bit dated, i don't think much has changed here in the past few years. motherboard manufacturers prefer marvell and realtek LAN chips because they are cheap, and because they can use them on both Intel and AMD motherboards, which simplifies their supply chain, driver management and board designs. a few recent Asus boards are using Intel’s WG82579V PHY chip, which is an interface to the P67/Z68 chipset's built-in network functionality. allegedly this reduces latency, additionally this avoids giving up a PCIe lane to a marvell/realtek controller. but this solution has not been popular with board manufacturers as they can't utilize it on AMD boards.

unfortunately networking benchmarks for the recent Z68 boards have been scarce. hardocp did some benchmarking of the Intel PHY on the Asus board that seem impressive, but there isn't anything to compare them to:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/...board_review/4

although i have read positive qualitative comments about the Broadcom BCM57781 (i.e. tom's hardware called the chip "reputable" and an "unusual strength" for the ASRock board), i haven't been able to find any actual comparisons of its performance or CPU utilization.

[piquadrat]

I'm having the same trouble with finding any useful info about that Broadcom controller. And can't position it in relation to the contenders. Is it Broadcom>Marvel>Realtek or the other way around?

[jpm]

digging further it seems that the Z68 Extreme4 is currently the only mass-produced board on the market using this broadcom chip. until we get some good benchmarks, we do have a spec sheet from broadcom:

http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pb/57781-PB00-R.pdf

on the optimistic side, ASRock moved to this broadcom chip from the Realtek RTL8111E used on the P67 Extreme4, so we can hope that they did so with better performance in mind.

[Nelly]

Hey guys, I am currently deciding on which board to purchase and have been looking at this thread with keen interest in regards to the Asrock-Z68-Extreme4.

Just curious, say your using a GTX 580 will it still use it's normal minimal power even though your say web browsing using the Intel Graphics Chip? how does it work as I haven't found much info in terms of Z68 users like yourselves.

I was going to purchase a Gigabyte Z68 board but just wondering if the additional features of the Asrock would be put to use and actually work well.

[Zayras]

So say I were to upgrade would you guys recommend the Z68 Extreme4 or the P67 Extreme6. - I have no real use for the extras provided by the Z68 chipset.

Does the "V16 + 2 Power Phase Design" really make that big a difference when overclocking as compared to the V8 design on the Extreme4?

They are the same price for me at Newegg and I have Shoprunner thing so shipping price is not an issue.

[radier]

@Ket

Check this thread: http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/4...t-problem.html
Looks like some serious bug in UEFI 1.4

[Ket]

I believe its a problem with the Marvell controller and not the board itself as other users of other Asrock boards with the same controller have reported the problem.

The problem is basically when you plug an eSATA device your computer will become very laggy, the mouse will almost freeze and the computer will become unusable until you turn the eSATA device off.

I'll chase up the status of this problem, but I won't hear anything from my contacts until Wednesday~ next week.

I'm having the same trouble with finding any useful info about that Broadcom controller. And can't position it in relation to the contenders. Is it Broadcom>Marvel>Realtek or the other way around?

AFAIK, Broadcom make some good stuff so the chip Asrock are using should be some good quality stuff, but I don't have any benchmarks for specific comparisons.

Hey guys, I am currently deciding on which board to purchase and have been looking at this thread with keen interest in regards to the Asrock-Z68-Extreme4.

Just curious, say your using a GTX 580 will it still use it's normal minimal power even though your say web browsing using the Intel Graphics Chip? how does it work as I haven't found much info in terms of Z68 users like yourselves.

I was going to purchase a Gigabyte Z68 board but just wondering if the additional features of the Asrock would be put to use and actually work well.

Virtu works by letting the IGP take over the tasks of general stuff and video encoding (faster than discrete cards) so your GTX580 uses less power and thus reduces your leccy bill. However, your GTX580 won't actually be "off", it will be in a low power idle state so should you launch a game, your GTX580 will kick to life and take over from the IGP.

So say I were to upgrade would you guys recommend the Z68 Extreme4 or the P67 Extreme6. - I have no real use for the extras provided by the Z68 chipset.

Does the "V16 + 2 Power Phase Design" really make that big a difference when overclocking as compared to the V8 design on the Extreme4?

They are the same price for me at Newegg and I have Shoprunner thing so shipping price is not an issue.

This is largely a personal preference choice. The Z68 will see you being more futureproof as you will be able to take advantage of Virtu. As for 8 phase
vs 16 phase both provide more than enough to get a monster OC out of the CPU. The main difference with 16 phase is you might be able to shave a smidge off of the vcore needed for the same OC on a 8 phase board.

@Ket

Check this thread: http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/4...t-problem.html
Looks like some serious bug in UEFI 1.4

Ask that guy to try UEFI 1.4A from the first page in this thread

[EzyRyder]

Cheers Ket - I know you were already chasing the issue

[hopester]

Damn, RMA time for me. My motherboard has developed a fault were the system after its been shutdown switches itself back on after 2 seconds. At first I thought it must be a windows issue but now all I have connected is the cpu, 1 stick of ram and the psu (no mouse, keyboard or any systems cables) - and it still restarts itself.

I've tried all the bioses available and pulled the battery for a while to get a full reset. I even tried a different psu to rule that out.

Oh well..

[piquadrat]

Check WOL (wake on lan).
If you switch off with power button (hard power down), does it restart by itself also?

[hopester]

Check WOL (wake on lan).
If you switch off with power button (hard power down), does it restart by itself also?

I tried toggling all the bios options related to waking the pc up including WOL. I have everything disconnected now so my final tests were using the power button built onto the board - and it still restarts after 2 seconds.

[hopester]

Check WOL (wake on lan).
If you switch off with power button (hard power down), does it restart by itself also?

I tried toggling all the bios options related to waking the pc up including WOL. I have everything disconnected now so my final tests were using the power button built onto the board - and it still restarts after 2 seconds.

[Ket]

Damn, RMA time for me. My motherboard has developed a fault were the system after its been shutdown switches itself back on after 2 seconds. At first I thought it must be a windows issue but now all I have connected is the cpu, 1 stick of ram and the psu (no mouse, keyboard or any systems cables) - and it still restarts itself.

I've tried all the bioses available and pulled the battery for a while to get a full reset. I even tried a different psu to rule that out.

Oh well..

Thats not the board, its your PSU

[Ket]

Damn, RMA time for me. My motherboard has developed a fault were the system after its been shutdown switches itself back on after 2 seconds. At first I thought it must be a windows issue but now all I have connected is the cpu, 1 stick of ram and the psu (no mouse, keyboard or any systems cables) - and it still restarts itself.

I've tried all the bioses available and pulled the battery for a while to get a full reset. I even tried a different psu to rule that out.

Oh well..

Thats not the board, its your PSU

[hopester]

Thats not the board, its your PSU

You have me confused now as I tried a different psu?

[Ket]

The only times I've ever known a system to turn itself back on after shutting it down or similar is when the PSU has been dodgy. Deffinately worth checking your system with a known working PSU before taking it apart.

[hema]

Damn, RMA time for me. My motherboard has developed a fault were the system after its been shutdown switches itself back on after 2 seconds. At first I thought it must be a windows issue but now all I have connected is the cpu, 1 stick of ram and the psu (no mouse, keyboard or any systems cables) - and it still restarts itself.

I've tried all the bioses available and pulled the battery for a while to get a full reset. I even tried a different psu to rule that out.

Oh well..

are use any program such as InstantBoot
try to remove it first