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If you have been reading our reviews in the last week, you will know that our particular sample of the Core i7 4770k from Intel is limited to a realistic 4.5ghz overclock with 1.225 voltage settings. Our previous testing with MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS boards has indicated a successful post at 4.9ghz (1.35V), although the temperatures hit 100c+ with a Corsair H100i in performance mode.
Not the greatest overclocking processor we have here in our labs. That said, we have been hearing a lot of negative reports from system builders as they test a wide sampling of 4770k processors. One 4770k may be stable at 4.9ghz with 1.225 volts and others 4.2ghz.
We looked at the OC Tweaker section of the ASRock Z87 Extreme 6 bios and noticed that ASRock have included some ‘preset' options for overclocking. They have been including this feature with many of their previous generation Z77 products and it is a great option for inexperienced users. We notice that they recommend no higher than 4.4ghz with the 4770k as the 4.6ghz and 4.8ghz options are highlighted in red.
We tried the 4.4ghz preset.
This 4.4ghz preset toggles the CPU Ratio from AUTO to ‘ALL CORE' with a figure of 44 (x100).
This automated setting pushed the CPU voltage to 1.270 – which is much higher than we would expect. We know from previous testing that the 4770k load temperatures would increase from around 80c under load to 90c with this voltage setting. We also noticed that it didn't adjust the CPU Load-Line Calibration settings either. We decided to disable these automatic settings completely and attempt overclocking ourselves directly.
We selected the CPU Ratio to a ‘per core' basis – moving them all to 45, aiming for 4.5ghz.
We select the ‘override' mode in the CPU voltage setting. We then selected 1.225v which we know has worked perfectly for this particular sample on MSI, GIGABYTE and ASUS boards in the last week.
We moved the CPU Load-Line Calibration from Level 5 to Level 1. This controls the negative effects of voltage droop of the processor when under load. We were happy to see that the system was completely stable at these settings without any further intervention.
Validation at the final overclock settings is available over here.
Good price, and well built. great review, very honest. The bios is quite ugly looking, not like some of their past efforts. maybe this was rushed.
Im still in love with the MSI board you reviewed last week. want it badly
the layout is good and the SATA config is best yet, shame about the bios. Gigabyte are miles ahead now IMO. hard for the others to follow. they really stepeed it up this time around
I don’t see why people care so much about how the BIOS looks. As long as it does what you need it to do, who cares? I can’t remember the last time I went into my BIOS since I got my 2500K OC stable at 4.8Ghz. Set it and forget it!
Can’t wait to get my Extreme6 Z87 board on Wednesday!
what brings a red flag to my mind is your review..
you say the board wont post with 2933mhz memory but there are two SPECIFIC 2933mhz g.skill memories listed on the board’s compatible memory… did you even check to make sure it matched? cuz you sure didnt indicate the model in your review. for all we know you just tried something you “thought” would work.
oh and buy the way, this memory: F3-2933C12Q-32GTXDG costs SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS on newegg.
thats right, enough to buy your college bound kid their first used econo car. so even if you are talking about that memory, are you fricking HIGH? what are you testing a low/mid model motherboard and putting ram that expensive for in it and crying?
the 16gb version, F3-2933C12Q-16GTXDG, is a STEAL at eight hundred dollars.
the motherboard memory list is here, on that place called the internet. i hear it has useful information. you may want to check it some time, because either you didn’t, and slammed the mobo for no reason, or wanted to put some fricking ferarri ram in a dodge challenger… derp derp?
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87%20Extreme6/?cat=Memory
Fallboat. Clearly you haven’t read the review, or can’t read properly. Not sure which. The memory worked with ASUS, MSI and GIGABYTE Z87 boards we previously tested in the last week – some of which aren’t actually much more expensive than this one. These other boards booted with the motherboard set at a lower speed setting and would overclock via BLCK to allow for the 2900mhz+ speeds. This board was the only one that wouldn’t post at all with it in the slots, regardless of the speeds, settings or timings.
Would people buying this board want 2933mhz memory? Who knows, people are selling it right now and it boots in other Z87 boards we tested. Should we ignore the fact it doesn’t or mention it doesn’t? One is lazy, the other isn’t. Some motherboard manuals list supported memory speeds up to 2,133mhz but work perfectly with 2,600mhz memory+. This is common knowledge, except to very inexperienced users.
The board was not ‘slammed’ either, we just mentioned the negative point compared to other Z87 boards we tested in previous weeks, seems logical to mention the fact.
I enjoyed your colourful message but it would help if you read the content properly before exploding in a fit of rage.
So to be clear, you tried the F3-2933C12Q-32GTXDG listed on the ‘supported list’ and it didn’t work?
Or you tried a variant not specifically supported, to see what would happen?
I’d like to know because the board looks interesting, but if it can’t post with ram it’s supposed to support, I think I’ll skip it.
That said about Ram modules it seems like 1600MHZ is the sweet spot for Haswell and works well. Also must PC geeks run about 1600 or 1866 for there set ups now days as its relatively cheap to buy and works. But my overall concern in this whole review would be the amount of Bios that was tested!! I want to buy this board, but i need to confident that the Bios will work properly and not cause me huge problems etc.
trawling through, I found the RAM tried in the MSI z87 Mpower Max review was:
F3-2933C12D-8GTXDG (12-14-14-35 1.65v)
which isn’t on the supported list, in case anyone is interested.
I think the issue is both the XMP profile, and the board’s treatment of BLCK adjustments
Like ajay57, I too would like to be confident of the BIOS – I think I’ll hold off for a couple of months and see what eventuates.
Just finished a build with this motherboard and I guess I got lucky as no problems with the GSkill F312800cl10d-16gbxl or the bios
CraigO…
Just curious as Im thinking of getting this board… how has it worked for you so far since July?? Thanks