Asrock Z77 Extreme4 & Extreme6. Report issues, overclocks, and related stuff here!

[bat4]

Guys, did you know about the Etron USB 3.0 issues?
As far as I know, Z77 Extreme6 comes with 2 rear Etron EJ168A USB 3.0 ports.

Have a look at my list of links about the Etron USB 3.0 issues:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post5100398

Fortunately, the motherboard has some native Intel USB 3.0 ports which you can use in case the Etron ports fail.

[Betaboy]

Guys, did you know about the Etron USB 3.0 issues?
As far as I know, Z77 Extreme6 comes with 2 rear Etron EJ168A USB 3.0 ports.

Have a look at my list of links about the Etron USB 3.0 issues:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post5100398

Fortunately, the motherboard has some native Intel USB 3.0 ports which you can use in case the Etron ports fail.

It will be interesting to see if this proves to be an issue with the Extreme6, so far no one has reported it in this thread... though my Extreme4's Asmedia USB 3.0 ports caused some grief - see my post about it

[bat4]

It will be interesting to see if this proves to be an issue with the Extreme6, so far no one has reported it in this thread... though my Extreme4's Asmedia USB 3.0 ports caused some grief - see my post about it

I know that there are some issues with ASMedia USB 3.0 ports (I have these on my Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3), but they are almost nothing comparing them with the Etron issues.
How would you like random BSOD or high latency/crackling sound in your games, even when you are not using your Etron USB 3.0 ports?
When it comes to the etron EJ168A USB 3.0, it literally is luck of the draw on any motherboard using them. Some have got working chips, but some have got the faulty ones.
If you have Etron on your motherboard you can forget about safe hibernation.

[GregoryDonner]

And to add insult to injury, Etron makes sure you're aware of their "outstanding award" for it:

"For the remarkable features, EJ168 USB 3.0 Host Controller is just awarded the ?010 Info Month Outstanding IT Applications/ Products Award? and “Innovative Product Award? in Taiwan."

(from http://www.etron.com/EJ168.php)

Heck, they can't even get basic HTML right on their own website--let alone their hardware. I still have frequent external HDD lock-ups even with their latest driver attempt (1.0.0.112).

[HexiumVII]

What happened to the price of the Extreme6? Its like $229 on Newegg now! Its more than Asus boards!!! It was $175 at launch and trickled to $170.

[bolivete]

Anybody would know what is that fix on 1.6 bios version for extreme 4?

[hsn]

where i can get bios beta for fatality profesional??

[kpo6969]

Anybody would know what is that fix on 1.6 bios version for extreme 4?

Fix CPU loadline calibration issue when overclock.

It set my Bclk to 100.5 mhz besides making my mouse go crazy so much in bios settings that it made it unusable for me.
1.5 and 1.2 did the same thing also.

[Darknight]

where i can get bios beta for fatality profesional??

own the site.
it has the betazone

i have 1.10 official

[hsn]

own the site.
it has the betazone

i have 1.10 official

I see someone review fatality profesional z77, but use bios m1.10a
there are 1 option in bios,there are "pwm configuration"

[btdvox]

I know that there are some issues with ASMedia USB 3.0 ports (I have these on my Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3), but they are almost nothing comparing them with the Etron issues.
How would you like random BSOD or high latency/crackling sound in your games, even when you are not using your Etron USB 3.0 ports?
When it comes to the etron EJ168A USB 3.0, it literally is luck of the draw on any motherboard using them. Some have got working chips, but some have got the faulty ones.
If you have Etron on your motherboard you can forget about safe hibernation.

Well I don't know about the Extreme 6 but the Fatal1ty motherboard has Etron EJ188H chips, I don't think these chips have the same latency/distortion sounds.
I heard of all the etron issues in the past. I've had issues like this with other motherboards from ASUS, and I Was also duly pissed off afterwards and jsut swore them off, but I think EJ188H is the new chip they came out with and they fixed those exact issues.

It would suck if ASROCK used that chip on the Extreme6 though. My proof of it being the EJ188H chip is here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5842/a...loppy-on-z77/2

[btdvox]

New Bios is out: 1.2 released yesterday: ftp://174.142.97.10/bios/1155/Fatal1...l(1.20)ROM.zip

[bat4]

Well I don't know about the Extreme 6 but the Fatal1ty motherboard has Etron EJ188H chips, I don't think these chips have the same latency/distortion sounds.
I heard of all the etron issues in the past. I've had issues like this with other motherboards from ASUS, and I Was also duly pissed off afterwards and jsut swore them off, but I think EJ188H is the new chip they came out with and they fixed those exact issues.

It would suck if ASROCK used that chip on the Extreme6 though. My proof of it being the EJ188H chip is here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5842/a...loppy-on-z77/2

Well, I don't think the issues with the Etron USB 3.0 are a thing of the past.
See this recent review on Newegg about Asrock Z77 Extreme6. Poor USB 3 Performance:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo
Quote:

The performance of the USB 3 ports controlled by the Eltron chip is terrible. I measured the performance of a USB 3 hard drive enclosure connected to one of the Eltron USB 3 ports and large file sequential transfers ran in the 30 to 40 mega byte per second range. The same hard drive enclosure connected to an Intel USB 3 port ran at roughly 100 Mega Bytes per second - which is exactly what USB 3 performance should be for the enclosure I tested.

LOL, I recall that the Etron chip was touted as being the "world’s fastest USB 3.0 controller".

[Piospi]

http://www.asrock.com/mb/photo/IO/Z7...me4%28m%29.jpg

Where are the USB 3.0 ports from Intel? On the left (blue) or right (blue)?
USB 2.0 (black) is Asmedia or Intel ?


I can't find the information in the manual :/

[bat4]

http://www.asrock.com/mb/photo/IO/Z7...me4%28m%29.jpg

Where are the USB 3.0 ports from Intel? On the left (blue) or right (blue)?
USB 2.0 (black) is Asmedia or Intel ?


I can't find the information in the manual :/

You have an Asrock Z77 Extreme4, so you are not affected. You don't have an Etron controller.

For those with Asrock Z77 Extreme6:

Left blue USB 3.0 ports by Intel.
Right blue USB 3.0 ports by Etron.

At least according to this.

[btdvox]

Well, I don't think the issues with the Etron USB 3.0 are a thing of the past.
See this recent review on Newegg about Asrock Z77 Extreme6. Poor USB 3 Performance:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo
Quote:

LOL, I recall that the Etron chip was touted as being the "world’s fastest USB 3.0 controller".

Not the speeds i'm getting from my Compact Flash reader. Transferring RAW files from my CF using the Etron is getting me 80mb/s .
then again I don't know about the Extreme6 I have the Fatal!y Pro.

I would encourage users to buy this board simply because it has almost double the Power Phases.

On that board the top 2 USB 3.0 (or left most) are Intel and the rest are Etron IJ88.

Anyways Bat, main point being that the latency issues the last gen Etron chip had are gone, 3rd party USB Controllers and SATA controllers are never as good as Intel one's so I don't see why people complain.

[bat4]

Not the speeds i'm getting from my Compact Flash reader. Transferring RAW files from my CF using the Etron is getting me 80mb/s .
then again I don't know about the Extreme6 I have the Fatal!y Pro.

I would encourage users to buy this board simply because it has almost double the Power Phases.

On that board the top 2 USB 3.0 (or left most) are Intel and the rest are Etron IJ88.

Anyways Bat, main point being that the latency issues the last gen Etron chip had are gone, 3rd party USB Controllers and SATA controllers are never as good as Intel one's so I don't see why people complain.

Obviously we are talking about two different chips. I am talking about my experience with EJ168A. You are talking about the EJ188H (this is the chip on the Z77 Fatality Pro). I am not going to comment on EJ188H as I don't have it. The Asrock Z77 Extreme6 has the EJ168A, so I feel I have all the right to warn those who are willing to buy it about possible issues. I think every buyer has the right to know the whole story about the product, not only the fairy tale by biased reviewers.

[btdvox]

Obviously we are talking about two different chips. I am talking about my experience with EJ168A. You are talking about the EJ188H (this is the chip on the Z77 Fatality Pro). I am not going to comment on EJ188H as I don't have it. The Asrock Z77 Extreme6 has the EJ168A, so I feel I have all the right to warn those who are willing to buy it about possible issues. I think every buyer has the right to know the whole story about the product, not only the fairy tale by biased reviewers.

Yeah weird. Why would they install that same EJ168A chip. I would've thought it had the EJ188H chip too.
Another reason to buy the Fatal!y version. I wouldn't touch the Extreme 6.

[osiris999]

So what ports are these on the extreme6? Top or bottom. There's no left and right. Haven't had any issues with any ports myself.

[Piospi]

You have an Asrock Z77 Extreme4, so you are not affected. You don't have an Etron controller.

For those with Asrock Z77 Extreme6:

Left blue USB 3.0 ports by Intel.
Right blue USB 3.0 ports by Etron.

At least according to this.

It's weird. These ports do not work on the left - I installed the drivers from Intel ;o

[Ket]

Would $89 be considered a good price for a new one? I'm making the jump (finally) to SB (IB just seems like too much work to tame the temps) in a couple days and I'm trying to decide on the perfect board for me since I just don't upgrade too often these days.

If the price difference is significant between the E4 and E6, then yes $89 is a great price for the E4, otherwise if the difference isn't much the E6 will give you more bang for buck overall.

I'd personally go with 1.5V ram, just for compatibility/stability reasons. Also, I wouldn't worry to much about the speed, there is very little gain with SB with the increased memory speed. IVB may prove different (I haven't seen too many reviews, so I'm not sure), but I dare say running at 2133 compared to 1600 or even 1333 on SB or IVB will net you less than 2% performance increase in benchmarks, even less with real world stuff. I actually only ever upgraded to 2133 in my SB system because I was folding, and it gave a bit of a PPD increase.

Vengeance memory is by far the biggest pile of trash I've ever had the displeasure of reviewing and testing. Stay away from it at all costs. G-Skill will love you and you will love it.

I'm having an issue with the Extreme 4 and RAM stability. I've tried two 8GB (2x4) RAM kits now, a Patriot 2000MHz 1.65V kit and a Team Xtreem 2133MHz 1.5V kit. I cannot get either to POST at default RAM or CPU voltage. I thought perhaps it was an issue with the 1.65V RAM so I got the 1.5V RAM instead but can't get it to run at rated clock & timings even with XMP enabled. Setting it manually seems to make it worse. I've upped the voltage on the Team RAM to 1.59 and it's still not stable. Memtest bootable CD reboots the system immediately. In-windows memtest produces an error within 20 minutes or so. IBT extreme test fails within the first 10 minutes but passes the standard test.

Thoughts?

Dodgy RAM? I have 2 8GB RAM kits I've tested so far both of which run without any issues or needing to tinker.

[Ket]

Seems a new BIOS isn't all they've been working on... Checkout the Z77 Extreme9! Thread title probably needs an update now.

Slightly off-topic...
Does anyone find themselves chuckling at those Cleon Wang marketing videos?

Haha... "wang"...

[Ket]

Obviously we are talking about two different chips. I am talking about my experience with EJ168A. You are talking about the EJ188H (this is the chip on the Z77 Fatality Pro). I am not going to comment on EJ188H as I don't have it. The Asrock Z77 Extreme6 has the EJ168A, so I feel I have all the right to warn those who are willing to buy it about possible issues. I think every buyer has the right to know the whole story about the product, not only the fairy tale by biased reviewers.

Honestly bat, I did not have you down as a spam troll. You are repeatedly recycling the same thing everybody knows and its making things difficult for me to help people because I have to wade my way through all these posts as well. If you want to continue recycling all this old info then STICK TO ONE THREAD to do it in. Theres nothing that will be accomplished by repeatedly moaning about the EJ168A especially as its now a (very) aged controller. Driver updates for it are frequent still and fortunately most problems seem to be ironed out. No 3rd party USB3 controller is perfect so if you want to moan at anyone go moan at intel for taking so long to add native USB3 to their chipsets.

[bat4]

So what ports are these on the extreme6? Top or bottom. There's no left and right. Haven't had any issues with any ports myself.

[bat4]

Honestly bat, I did not have you down as a spam troll. You are repeatedly recycling the same thing everybody knows and its making things difficult for me to help people because I have to wade my way through all these posts as well. If you want to continue recycling all this old info then STICK TO ONE THREAD to do it in. Theres nothing that will be accomplished by repeatedly moaning about the EJ168A especially as its now a (very) aged controller. Driver updates for it are frequent still and fortunately most problems seem to be ironed out. No 3rd party USB3 controller is perfect so if you want to moan at anyone go moan at intel for taking so long to add native USB3 to their chipsets.

Ket, honestly, do you still get issues with your Quickcam Pro 4000 ? Do you still get BSOD just by plugging them into an Etron USB 3.0 port? Can you please test this with your Z77 Extreme6?
See your post about the BSOD:

bat4; The v0.96 driver and v1.0.0.0098 driver still causes a BSOD with the logitech Quickcam Pro 4000. Workaround: use a USB 2.0 port.