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

[Ket]

1.665v is pretty good. When I tested how far the kit would go with that voltage it reached 2220MHz 8-10-8. Might of had more in it but I hit IMC limitations after that point.

[Anusha]

how can u set 2220 in bios? i thought u could only set multiples of 266 (eg: 1333, 1600, 1866, 2133)

[BranFB]

BCLK you just pump 100+ MHz to core.

[Anusha]

oooh. it works like that ha? i thought the clocks were decoupled. hmm...i guess i don't want to experiment for how much performance gain again? not even noticeable to benchmarks.

[Ket]

I don't play benchmarks, I play voltages and MAXIMUM MHz

On a side note I've been invited by Asrock to London It'll be very interesting and great to shake hands with one or two of the contacts I've been speaking with

[Anusha]

I don't play benchmarks, I play voltages and MAXIMUM MHz

On a side note I've been invited by Asrock to London It'll be very interesting and great to shake hands with one or two of the contacts I've been speaking with

great.

can you make them do a better fan control thingy in BIOS? a graph like thing, instead of setting a temperature value and making the FAN run at full speed if they temp is exceeded?
something like this? pretty easy to implement these in uefi i guess?

Trixx.jpg

[Ket]

great.

can you make them do a better fan control thingy in BIOS? a graph like thing, instead of setting a temperature value and making the FAN run at full speed if they temp is exceeded?
something like this? pretty easy to implement these in uefi i guess?

Trixx.jpg

See post 297. In short, I have suggested (thats all I can do, what Asrock choose to do is up to them) the "Level" mode be replaced with a percentage based mode where the user can set a percentage between 25%-100%. That'll allow users to easily dial in the best cooling to noise ratio.

[Anusha]

push them harder at it Ket.

[anewbie]

before I return the board is there a way for me to obtain the temperature (er software tool) ? Yes it feels very hot to me but I truely have no clue how warm it actually is - I would hate to return it; get a new board and discover that this is normal. If i rest my fingers on the v8 I would say they are uncomfortably warm but not on fire. I suspect if I leave them there for a few minutes they might become very uncomfortably warm. So definitely well over 35. 50c woudl be around 132 which shoudl be warm but not horribly uncomfortable so I have to guess it is higher than 50c.

I do have a $10 digital thermometer (basically ti has a long wire for out side temp). It is not very accurate but if I place it on top of the v8 heatsink would that be accurate enough ? I mean if it reads 200f woudl taht be sufficient for me to know I should return the board ? What about 170 ?

Using my temperature gun (+/- 2% range) with the system idle in a case with the side panel off I measured 40.6c. (See Z68 E4 review link in my sig), I can well imagine in a closed case even with good airflow that temp rising to around the 50c mark. You have a few choices here really;

1. Remove your mobo and send it back.
2. It's very probable that the reason for your high temps is a poorly mounted "V8". You could remove the heatsink, clean off the TIM (which for stock TIM is actually quite good.. its no AS Ceramique though) check to make sure there are no "bumps and bobbles" on the HS base (if there is, simply sand them away with some sand paper) apply fresh TIM and remount the heatsink.

The latter of those options is likely going to be the fastest fix, albiet at some inconvenience. Just be aware doing the latter might void your warranty.

@ Users with eSATA / SSD issues: We are currently waiting on some devices to arrive. Once I know more, I'll let you know.

General Info;

I have suggested that the "Level" fan mode in the UEFI is replaced with a percentage method letting the user set a custom fanspeed between 25% - 100% for greater cooling to noise ratio control. Response is pending.

[Ket]

Asrock are doing well. They are new to the enthusiast level and learning fast, just give them a chance it takes time for new ideas and suggestions to be discussed and the best possible implementation to be decided on if they decide to add / change things

[Ket]

before I return the board is there a way for me to obtain the temperature (er software tool) ? Yes it feels very hot to me but I truely have no clue how warm it actually is - I would hate to return it; get a new board and discover that this is normal. If i rest my fingers on the v8 I would say they are uncomfortably warm but not on fire. I suspect if I leave them there for a few minutes they might become very uncomfortably warm. So definitely well over 35. 50c woudl be around 132 which shoudl be warm but not horribly uncomfortable so I have to guess it is higher than 50c.

You can monitor chipset temps in the UEFI under "H/W Monitor".

[anewbie]

You can monitor chipset temps in the UEFI under "H/W Monitor".

That only provides two values - MB and CPU; both are under 40C. I don't think it indicates the temp of the z68/v8 cooler... or am i mistaken ?
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I do have a $10 digital thermometer (basically ti has a long wire for out side temp). It is not very accurate but if I place it on top of the v8 heatsink would that be accurate enough ? I mean if it reads 200f woudl taht be sufficient for me to know I should return the board ? What about 170 ?

[MacClipper]

before I return the board is there a way for me to obtain the temperature (er software tool) ? Yes it feels very hot to me but I truely have no clue how warm it actually is - I would hate to return it; get a new board and discover that this is normal. If i rest my fingers on the v8 I would say they are uncomfortably warm but not on fire. I suspect if I leave them there for a few minutes they might become very uncomfortably warm. So definitely well over 35. 50c woudl be around 132 which shoudl be warm but not horribly uncomfortable so I have to guess it is higher than 50c.

The Southbridge heatsink gets real warm on all my Sandy Bridge mobos - be it Asrock, Asus or Gigabyte since the local ambient temps here are ~25-35C plus the Southbridge is located directly right under the hot new video cards. imo, probably no real cause for alarm unless it quickly burns your finger ie. >70C.

[anewbie]

So if I can leave my finger on it for 30 seconds with no obvious burn then you think it is ok ?

The Southbridge heatsink gets real warm on all my Sandy Bridge mobos - be it Asrock, Asus or Gigabyte since the local ambient temps here are ~25-35C plus the Southbridge is located directly right under the hot new video cards. imo, probably no real cause for alarm unless it quickly burns your finger ie. >70C.

[Ket]

That only provides two values - MB and CPU; both are under 40C. I don't think it indicates the temp of the z68/v8 cooler... or am i mistaken ?
-

I do have a $10 digital thermometer (basically ti has a long wire for out side temp). It is not very accurate but if I place it on top of the v8 heatsink would that be accurate enough ? I mean if it reads 200f woudl taht be sufficient for me to know I should return the board ? What about 170 ?

AFAIK, mainboard temp is the chipset temp. Unless it was coincidence, both my temp gun and the UEFI reported very close to one another.

[cmthomson]

I have suggested that the "Level" fan mode in the UEFI is replaced with a percentage method letting the user set a custom fan speed between 25% - 100% for greater cooling to noise ratio control. Response is pending.

That's a good suggestion. However, it would be even better if the lower bound was 20%. I run my PWM fans at 21% using SpeedFan.
Note that the CHA2 header can be controlled only from BIOS, but not SpeedFan, and it can be set to only LEVEL1/2/3/4, all of which are too fast for a quiet system unless you install a secondary controller such as an NMT-3. So getting a percentage control on that header would be helpful.

[cmthomson]

AFAIK, mainboard temp is the chipset temp. Unless it was coincidence, both my temp gun and the UEFI reported very close to one another.

I'm pretty sure the motherboard sensor is not in the chipset. My MB temp reads 41c, and the V8 heat sink is HOT to the touch, which means the chip is way over 60c.
One of my weekend tasks is to remount that heat sink and probably add some pin-fin RAMsinks as well.

[Ket]

40c with just a lump of metal over it is bound to feel hot I'll take the chipsets temp again with my gun and compare with the UEFI reading, if they closely match again, I'd say its safe to assume "mainboard temp" applies to the chipset.

[anewbie]

Ok then maybe what I think feel hot isn't all that hot as the hw sensor indicates below 40 which would be a measly 104. I think it is a lot warmer than that but certainly my fingers do not have burn marks. I'll run a few more tests when I get home (including trying the thermometer).

The reason I'm a bit concern is that unlike my game system which I use like an appliance this system will be on 24/7 so being significantly out of spec would be an issue after a year or two.
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Oh well thanks for the assistance.

AFAIK, mainboard temp is the chipset temp. Unless it was coincidence, both my temp gun and the UEFI reported very close to one another.

[cmthomson]

40c with just a lump of metal over it is bound to feel hot I'll take the chipsets temp again with my gun and compare with the UEFI reading, if they closely match again, I'd say its safe to assume "mainboard temp" applies to the chipset.

No, 40c feels vaguely warm. After all, that's only 3c above blood temperature.
When I say HOT, I mean HOT! As in uncomfortable after a couple of seconds. At least 55c.

I'm pretty sure the TIM on my V8 heat sink is compromised. I vaguely recall the heat sink shifting while I was wrestling the motherboard with its Megahalems attached into the case. (Years of using a Ninja taught me to mount the HSF outside the case. With Megahalems this isn't necessary any more. All things change eventually...)

[Ket]

I just took the temp of the PCH again and it read around 40c, UEFI reported 35c. Taking into account the +/- 2% error margin for my temp gun and possibly slight calibration errors in software, seems about right IMO.

[anewbie]

UEFI reports around 36 for me; the thermometer i rested on top of the heatsink sez 38 under load and drops to 34 when I killed the load.

So maybe it just feels hot to me and my estimate was way off.

I just took the temp of the PCH again and it read around 40c, UEFI reported 35c. Taking into account the +/- 2% error margin for my temp gun and possibly slight calibration errors in software, seems about right IMO.

[Ket]

It would seem that way. Only way you will be able to put your mind at ease for certain would be to point a temp gun at it though.

[phillai]

I've got a USB problem with my Asrock Z68 Extreme4.

All of a sudden, my webcam and TV card is not working - Any ideas?

I have uninstalled my USB drivers and reinstalled them to no avail.

[phillai]

I think I may have solved this USB problem... I think my USB 2.0 devices don't like the USB 3.0 ports on the Asrock Z68 Extreme4.