Supermicro C7Z97-OCE

[testman78]

Introduction

Known more for its server and workstation motherboards and rackmount server chassis Supermicro dipped its toes into consumer (DIY) motherboards.Today we will have a look on the C7Z97-OCE, a socket LGA1150 motherboard based on the Intel Z97 Express chipset.With a Supermicro motherboard, you know that reliability will be part of the package, and the C7Z97-OCE is no exception. Supermicro indicates that the motherboard is built from more than 1,800 parts, and of course Supermicro uses server-grade components. But unlike a typical server motherboard, you're going to be able to overclock this Z97-based motherboard.Built in the standard ATX form-factor, this board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and 8-pin EPS connectors.



Main Specifications.



Before we jump into the nitty-gritty details with the motherboard, let's take a moment to see what Intel has (and hasn't) changed with the Z97 chipset. First off, know that the Z97 chipset is designed with the LGA1150 socket introduced with its 8 Series chipsets, so you'll be able to use existing Intel 4th Generation processors on a Z97 motherboard. Intel also designed the Z97 chipset to support the upcoming Devil's Canyon (a Haswell refresh) and 5th Generation Broadwell processor lineups.GPU support is the also same between the Z87 and Z97 chipsets. As a reminder, the stock design can support up to 3-way GPU configurations and utilize the 16 PCI-E 3.0 lanes built into Intel's 4th Generation processors. You can have one GPU running at the full x16 speed or two GPUs running at x8 speed. In three-GPU setups, one would run at x8 and the other two would run at x4 speed. Motherboard manufacturers can amp up multi-GPU speed with bridge chips that increase the total PCI-E 3.0 lanes. Memory support is the same between chipset generations, too, as you'll enjoy support for dual-channel DDR3 memory clocked at 1,600MHz. Most motherboard makers deviate from the stock speeds in this regard, as well, and many of the motherboards in our roundup offered memory speeds up to DDR3-3000.Now onto what's new. The Z97 chipset adds support for Intel Rapid Storage Technology for PCI-E storage. That means that PCI-E based storage devices, such as M.2 and SATA Express hardware, can be incorporated into the chipset. Current prototyped PCI-E storage devices use the PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface that can deliver up to 10Gbps bandwidth for superfast storage. The 10Gbps speed is a big deal, because the bandwidth is a significant jump over SATA 3.0's 6Gbps limitation.M.2 is the successor to the internally mounted mSATA interface, and it's compatible with both SATA and PCI-E interfaces. As such, the native M.2 port could be used with current PCI-E and SATA-based M.2 storage, as well as future models that provide throughput greater than what you see on current 6Gbps SATA devices. The M.2 interface can also work with other types of internally mounted cards, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, and WWAN modules.SATA Express drives are expected to be offered in a form factor similar to modern 2.5-inch SSDs and the interface will be dedicated for use with storage devices. Intel was able to perform only limited testing of the SATA Express interface, due to the limited number of available SATA Express devices, but is encouraging system and motherboard vendors to further explore the use of SATA Express with its 9 Series chipsets. As such, you may won't find SATA Express ports on every Z97 motherboard?though you will find them on a good number of motherboards in this roundup. SATA Express SSDs are expected to be available sometime late in 2014, so SATA Express is a feature you'll want to strongly consider for your next motherboard.For compatibility with current storage devices, the stock Z97 chipset includes six 6Gbps ports that support RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations. External storage is also covered with 14 USB ports (six of which can be USB 3.0 ports), which are the same number of I/O ports as Intel provided on the stock Z87 chipset. You'll also find stock support for a 10/100/1000 Intel Ethernet Connection and Intel HD Audio.




Packaging & Contents


The packaging is standard fare.You can see Supermicro is highlighting the OC features a fair bit, along with a more detailed description of the specifications on the back of the box, alongside a picture of the board.The box itself protected the motherboard during shipment and arrived intact.



Moving inside the package, we see it's a fairly standard bundle.The box is divided into two layers.We can find six SATA 3 cables,I/O plate,srews,cd driver and a small quick reference guide for the board.I'am not all that surprised with the bundle being on the light side of things considering Supermicro's background in the server side.




Layout

Taking a look at the motherboard, we straight away see how nice the black and blue color scheme looks.I never knew Supermicro made sexy OC ready motherboards, I always looked at them from the business perspective, and Z97 seems more of a consumer/enthusiast grade platform rather than something for a server/workstation environment.There are five 4-pin fan headers, three of which are situated along the top or right edge of the board, and two more that are located at the front and rear edges near the middle.I also like that the fan headers have clip locks that assure your fan connectors are solidly attached. Supermicro makes the C7Z97-OCE easy to troubleshoot, too, with its LED debug, clear CMOS button, and BIOS restore button.



Supermicro builds orange and black heatsinks onto the motherboard's VRM and PCH, and the heatsinks are complimented nicely with some blue and black memory and expansion slots on the motherboard.You can see the overall layout of the motherboard, and nothing stands out in an unusual manner.So, saying that, let's move in closer and see just what we're dealing with here today.



The rear of the socket is ready and waiting for your after-market backplate.



The board is designed with an 6 phase power system and 2-phase for memory. Both are adopted integrated Driver MOSFET of Infineon (TDA21215).



Looking at the CPU area you can see the main 8-pin CPU power connector and the socket itself.



The Supermicro C7Z97-OCE's slot arrangement is pretty basic, with three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and four PCIe 2.0 x1 slots.The top PCI-E 3.0 slot can run at x16, x8, or x4 speeds, while the second can operate at x8 or x4 speeds and the bottom defaults to x4 speed.



The board's bottom edge is full of the usual stuff: USB, audio, and case-wiring headers are all present.



The fabled M.2 SATA slot makes an appearance as well, although using it does disable a couple internal SATA ports.



Z97 Chipset.



The I/O side of things. Starting from the left, you can see we've got two USB 2.0 connectors along with a combo PS/2 port at the top. Moving along, you can see the video out options include DVI, VGA, and HDMI and DisplayPort.We've got a total of four USB 3.0 connectors. Dual Gigabit networking is provided by an Intel chip and the Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 LAN chip. Audio connections come via five auxiliary ports along with an optical out that all run off of the Realtek ALC1150 Codec.



You can see the main 24-pin ATX power connector.We've also got a number of fan headers floating around this part of the board.There are four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32GB of DDR3 at speeds ranging from 1333MHz DDR to 3300MHz DDR via overclocking.



Turning the corner, you can see a total of six SATA ports.The M.2 port takes up two of the Z97 chipset's stock 6Gbps SATA ports, and Supermicro replaces those two lost ports through an ASMedia SATA controller, so you'll still have access to six 6Gbps ports.The ASMedia SATA ports support RAID 0 and 1.



We can also see the overclock buttons. Supermicro includes three overclock buttons (OC1, OC2, and OC3) for extra speed at the push of a button. OC1 runs at a 15% CPU overclock, OC2 operates at a 20% to 25% overclock, and the third OC button can be configured in the BIOS.Want to go back to the stock BIOS speeds? Just press the Home button on the motherboard. An M button is available activate a memory overclock set in the BIOS, which can include Intel XMP settings.Supermicro tells me an optional front panel with OC1, OC2, and OC3 buttons will be available soon, so that you can select an overclocking configuration without even opening your case.



On the board's bottom edge is a dual-digit POST display that displays error codes during the POST process, but it switches over to show CPU temperatures once POST is complete.



We have a further two USB 3.0 ports that run off the ASMedia ASM1042AE controller.



The audio is arranged by a Realtek HD audio chip (RT ALC1150).



Scattered about the PCI-E expansion slot area, you'll find ASMedia ASM1480 ICs to provide the switching capabilities for all the PCI-E lanes.



The data to do so is provided by the Nuvoton NCT6792D Super I/O chip that is also responsible for this board's excellent fan controls and its onboard PS/2 port.



The ASMedia ASM1061 controller has been included to provide an additional four SATA 6Gb/s ports, which support NCQ, AHCI,and Hot Plug Technology.



The Supermicro C7Z97-OCE comes with a PLX-chip to enable 4-Way SLI / CrossFire.




The UEFI BIOS

SuperMicro's new UEFI BIOS is good looking and extremely well laid out. It's a snap to quickly find what you're looking for, and you are constantly given critical system and monitoring information at the top of every screen.Drop-down menus are available to let you quickly select available settings.The Overclocking section also features a detailed breakdown of real-time temperature, fan speed, and voltage information.



Upon entering the UEFI BIOS, you land at the Overclocking tab where you can tweak the system's performance to your liking. All the voltage settings are located here, along with frequency, BCLK, and CPU multiplier options.



Under the Memory tab, you'll find a plethora of available memory tweaking options. You can either set the XMP profile from here or manually tweak the timings using basic, second, and third configuration options.




Drivers & Software

After you've installed the Windows Operating System, a screen as shown below will appear.You are ready to install software programs and drivers that have not yet been installed.



The SuperDoctor III program is a Web-based management tool that supports remote management capability. It includes Remote and Local Management tools. The local management tool is called the SD III Client.The SuperDoctor III program included on the CDROM that came with the motherboard allows you to monitor the environment and operations of your system. SuperDoctor III displays crucial system information such as CPU temperature, system voltages and fan status.Supermicro provides a variety of PC health monitoring tools in the form of it its SuperDoctor software to ensure that your rig is stable. For instance, there's an onboard hardware-monitoring chip that continuously scans your system's CPU Vcore, 12V, 5V, 5VSB, 3.3V, and 3.3VSB voltages. Like a good doctor, SuperDoctor will provide a warning if your numbers indicate any instability. The voltage thresholds are user adjustable, too. See the Figure below for a display of the SuperDoctor III interface.




Test System

Processor:Intel i7 4770K @ 3.9 GHz (Stock) and 4.9Ghz Overclocked
Motherboard:Supermicro C7Z97-OCE
Cpu Cooler:Larkooler SkyWater 330
Memory: 2?4 GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR3-2666 11-13-13-32
Graphics Card: ASUS GTX780-DC2OC
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Chassis:dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5



Below are the overclocked results for this setup.


Results



I managed to get back up to 5.1 GHz and I'm temperature limited here.This board can handle these clocks.




Conclusion

Supermicro has brought an attractive option to the increasingly crowded Z97 motherboard market with its release of the C7Z97-OCE.Being one of only a handful of Z97 motherboards supporting CrossfireX, it's sure to please the enthusiast looking for unparallelled gaming performance.In games, C7Z97-OCE doesn't show any cause for concern.If you're an overclocking enthusiast, you'll find the C7Z97-OCE eager to please with its host of overclocking friendly features.Performance is generally good.The new-look UEFI BIOS provides all the options needed to get the most from your CPU and memory, all in an easy to navigate and well laid out interface. While I didn't spend days on end dissecting every setting in the UEFI BIOS, I found it to work extremely well right out of the box.



The C7Z97-OCE provides a nice set of features.I especially like the BIOS interface. It's user-friendly and still manages to provide access to all of the controls you'd want to adjust. The motherboard's health management and reliability features should also come in handy when overclocking and/or troubleshooting. Supermicro's latest enthusiast board is a solid, inexpensive onramp to Z97 that shouldn't be overlooked.From aesthetics to performance,Supermicro seems to have checked all the right boxes with the C7Z97-OCE.Its price(214 US Dollars) does put it above the competing options.The sub-220 US Dollars gaming motherboard market is a particularly fierce battling ground.If you're considering a jump into the Z97 platform, you'll definitely want to keep this motherboard on your shortlist.