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

[noddi]

Just a quick SS of my OC.

I'm still a noob when it comes to OCing so please feel free to help me with improving my OC.

I get about 30-35c idle

ASRock Z68 Extreme 4, 2133 Ripjaw X
i5 2500k
Batch Number 3102C246.

[RealTelstar]

guys am i understanding this correctly that the Asrock Z68 series will be able to run an Ivy Bridge when released

Yes. All UEFI Z68 mainboards should with just a bios... pardon uefi update.

[piquadrat]

Yes. All UEFI Z68 mainboards should with just a bios... pardon uefi update.

Is there any official intel's declaration in this subject?

[Lestat]

hey guys wasnt there a Z68 Pro 3 and Pro3-M thread ?

anyways i am on the Pro3-M and at 4.6Ghz 1.3v Actual with my 2500k
i dont beleive that cpu's and computer hardware have a break in period but i am seeing something to which could be called a break in period with several days having passed and i have went from 44x to 45x and now 46x with no changing of the vcore or anything else.
looking forward to see how far it will go!

[RollerBall]

Are any 2500k users having issue reaching 5ghz? Just trying to gauge how well this board overclocks. Seen mixed reviews. Will be on water (EK Supreme HF Plexi/Nickel) in the same loop as a 6970 but with a XSPC RX480 and a MCR220 + Appropriate number of yates in pull.

[richierich]

hey guys wasnt there a Z68 Pro 3 and Pro3-M thread ?

Well Ket's thread sub-title is named, "**Official** Asrock Z68 Extreme4/Pro3/Pro3-M thread. Share experiences/issues here!"

So this is the right thread.

Lestat, did you need to enable PLL overvoltage to be able to use the 46x multi? My computer refuses to POST if I don't enable PLL overvoltage with multis over 45x, sadly.

[aicjofs]

dont beieive that cpu's and computer hardware have a break in period but i am seeing something to which could be called a break in period with several days having passed

The TIM might have had a chance to settle in that time tho, leading to a bit cooler temps?

Are any 2500k users having issue reaching 5ghz? Just trying to gauge how well this board overclocks. Seen mixed reviews. Will be on water (EK Supreme HF Plexi/Nickel) in the same loop as a 6970 but with a XSPC RX480 and a MCR220 + Appropriate number of yates in pull.

I have 2600K not a 2500K, been folding for almost a month straight now at 4.8Ghz at 1.43v on water, original UEFI, temps in 60's on a water loop of Iwaki MD-20, Dtek Fusion v1, and thermochill PA120.3 that hasn't been cleaned out in 4 years(can't even imagine what the block looks like on inside). Board easily benched at 5100Mhz and that's all I have done... But its been solid, without a single crash at 100% CPU, and a 460GTX at 100% for about 4 weeks, it's just an opinion but I think the board could do 5Ghz 24/7 without issue. I experimented with 5Ghz and I just needed too much voltage for folding stability, but I think I don't have a great clocker of a CPU either.

Now one could argue that the board is what is requiring the higher Vcore to achieve stabilty, in my experience over the years the better the Vreg circuit the lower Vcore you need for stabilty. Maybe this board doesn't have that, maybe it does, but I can say it's been stable.

[Ket]

guys am i understanding this correctly that the Asrock Z68 series will be able to run an Ivy Bridge when released

Indeed, the Z68 should support IB with a UEFI update, that's what intel have said anyway.

Are any 2500k users having issue reaching 5ghz? Just trying to gauge how well this board overclocks. Seen mixed reviews. Will be on water (EK Supreme HF Plexi/Nickel) in the same loop as a 6970 but with a XSPC RX480 and a MCR220 + Appropriate number of yates in pull.

My 2500k caps at 4.5GHz 1.3v from all the testing I've done, anything else BSOD. I got a strictly average clocking 2500k

[Ket]

Oh, here is a new EtronTech driver sent to me by one of my contacts, v1.1. I'm told it should fix some problems with some of the problem devices reported.

CLICKY

[RollerBall]

My 2500k caps at 4.5GHz 1.3v from all the testing I've done, anything else BSOD. I got a strictly average clocking 2500k

What happens when you push the volts up to ~1.4?

[Ket]

Lots of heat, and very little gain.

Theres a new Lucid Virtu driver available, grab it HERE

[chippy]

Hi guys had my board about a week so just wondered what motherboards temps your getting im getting 64c according to speccy not sure if thats high or not so would like to check with you guys.

[Ket]

When you say motherboard temps, what temps do you mean exactly? I have measurements taken with my temp gun for MOSFETs (side/top idle & load) and PCH.

[Lestat]

hey guys wasnt there a Z68 Pro 3 and Pro3-M thread ?

anyways i am on the Pro3-M and at 4.6Ghz 1.3v Actual with my 2500k
i dont believe that cpu's and computer hardware have a break in period but i am seeing something to which could be called a break in period with several days having passed and i have went from 44x to 45x and now 46x with no changing of the vcore or anything else.
looking forward to see how far it will go!

oh and my batch is 3049B295

i returned my gskill 16GB 1333 kit because of 1 bad stick and ordered a new 16GB Ripjaw 1600 kit for the same price after coupon!
i am eager to see what she will do. i have read a few things saying that most of the 1600 kits will do 1800 easily. plus at 1N not 2n
my 1333 kit did 1600 9-9-9-24 @ 1N no prob.
funny they rate the kits at 2N if they will do 1N (which i assume is the same as 1T or 2T with DDR/DDR2)

either way i am very surprised and very happy so far with my Z68 Pro3-M
very nice board... too bad it doesnt have more SATA connectors... but its matx so 5 is enough lol.

[hopester]

Just installed my board with an i5-2500k, running nice at 4.5Ghz, 1.2V. Only issue so far is my Steelseries Xai mouse causing long boot delays and not working correctly in the bios.

[noddi]

Just installed my board with an i5-2500k, running nice at 4.5Ghz, 1.2V. Only issue so far is my Steelseries Xai mouse causing long boot delays and not working correctly in the bios.

It will be highly unlikely for you to be running it at that voltage/clock. I don't think anyone could have a stable speed like that. Make sure you're running the latest version of CPU-Z because you can get miss readings with it.

[Utnorris]

Has anyone tried the Virtu function out yet? Does it need supporting software like Cyberlink to work or can you use it to convert a video without extra software? Also, I saw mention of an Exteme7, any idea of a release for it?

[aicjofs]

Pretty sure you need extra software. It's just allowing use of quick sync, while having discrete video card. Mediacoder has added support so there are free solution besides arcsoft and cyberlink. I do plan on trying it soon. Been folding for last month and haven't had a chance to do much with this board, but time is now.

[radier]

It will be highly unlikely for you to be running it at that voltage/clock. I don't think anyone could have a stable speed like that. Make sure you're running the latest version of CPU-Z because you can get miss readings with it.

HAHA I like people of that kind. Do not be faithless.



It was at the begining on BOX cooler.
Now my CPU is running 5GHz @ 1,336V but it easly crunch LinX at only 1.304V



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Ghostleader]

@radier

Nice chip you got.

I see you run Win 7 sp1 but you probably run an old Linpack without the AVX and therefore your GFlops are a bit low, here can you get the latest LinX with updated Linpack.

It should put some more pressure on your chip, you should push ~130+ GFlops @ 5GHz with 3Gb of ram load.

It would be nice to see if you still can push 5GHz with the new Linpack library.


Here´s what my mediocre chip do @ 4,5GHz.

LinX.jpg

[radier]

Yeah those ss are from January before the relase of SP1. With AVX Linx is stable but RealTemp shows sky high temp of even 98C so I don't really want to burn my CPU. For me Prime95 in blend mode is telling you more about stabbility where Linx was stable at 1,304V Prime95 needed 1,336V. Another thing is when you are using offset and most of the games doesn't use all 4 cores at 100% then vCore is a little bit lowered.

[hopester]

It will be highly unlikely for you to be running it at that voltage/clock. I don't think anyone could have a stable speed like that. Make sure you're running the latest version of CPU-Z because you can get miss readings with it.

These were what I used to check, I hope they are reporting right..

[Ghostleader]

@radier

I see, yeah, LinX can run quite hot sometimes and there´s no reason to push ones chip for a few screenshots and you´re right, there´s otherways to check for stability.

I´m also using offset and I noticed that the vcore are different if I load one, two, three or all four cores (lower with less cores) but it seems to work very well nevertheless.


Anyway, you seems to have a really nice chip, enjoy it :-)

[jpm]

have been following this thread as i prepare to build my next OC'd system based off a i7-2600K, thank you all for the insights.

since this is the official thread for owners of the ASRock Z68 Extreme4, i was wondering if anyone would like to share what criteria led you to purchase this board vs. the other options available? for anyone purchasing a Z68 Extreme4 i think it will be an obvious alternative to consider the ubiquitous Asus P8Z68-V Pro. these two boards are close in features, but not identical, and i'm wondering if it is the slight differentiation that has led people to the ASRock board, or whether people are being led to the ASRock brand for other reasons?

for me the differentiating feature is the DisplayPort output that ASRock provides. i am building this machine primarily for large-scale RAW photo processing, so i need it to drive my 2560x1600 30" monitor, and evidently the Asus P8Z68-V Pro DVI-D output does not support higher-resolution dual-link connections. i have no need to play games on this system, so i would actually prefer to use SB video instead of a discrete card as this will eliminate a substantial amount of heat and noise from my system. this may also have the added benefit of allowing me to clock up my CPU further while keeping overall temps at reasonable levels.

i was initially a bit hesitant to go with ASRock due to its origins of being a lower cost OEM solution spun off by Asus, but with their P67/Z68 Extreme4 series boards they seem to be stepping up to an almost comparable level, at least as far as product positioning goes. and judging from the posts in this forum, there seems to be a lot of confidence in the stability and OC potential of this ASRock board...

[piquadrat]

>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.