Xbox

Review: asrock z87 extreme9 / ac

Table of contents:

Anonim

A couple of weeks ago we tested the Astrock B85 Fatal1ty class low / mid range. Now is the time to go to the highest end of the Taiwanese manufacturer with your ASRock Z87 Extreme9 / ac.

It is an ATX format motherboard, a very sober aesthetic with more matte black colors, compatibility with fourth-generation Intel Haswell, PCI Express 3.0 connections, dual thunderbolt ports, dual GigaBit network connection and support for four maximum graphics cards status controlled by the PLX chip.

Product ceded by:

Technical characteristics

ASRock Z87 Extreme 9 / ac

A-Style - Home Cloud

- Purity Sound ™

- 802.11ac WiFi

CPU - Supports 4th generation Intel ® Core ™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Xeon ® / Pentium ® / Celeron ® in LGA1150 package

- Digi Power design

- 12 Power Phase design

- Dual-Stack MOSFET (DSM)

- Supports Intel ® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology

- Supports Intel ® K-Series unlocked CPUs

- Supports ASRock BCLK Full-range Overclocking

Chipset - Intel ® Z87
Memory - Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Technology

- 4 x DDR3 DIMM Slots

- Supports DDR3 2933+ (OC) / 2800 (OC) / 2400 (OC) / 2133 (OC) / 1866 (OC) / 1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory

- Max. capacity of system memory: 32GB *

- Supports Intel ® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 1.3 / 1.2

- Distortion-Free Slot

* Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows ® 32-bit OS. For Windows ® 64-bit OS with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.
BIOS - 2 x 64Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI support (1 x Main BIOS and 1 x Backup BIOS)

- Supports Secure Backup UEFI Technology

- ACPI 1.1 compliance wake up events

- SMBIOS 2.3.1 support

- CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.05V, PCH 1.5V Voltage multi-adjustment

Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics - Supports Intel ® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals: Intel ® Quick Sync Video with AVC, MVC (S3D) and MPEG-2 Full HW Encode1, Intel ® InTru ™ 3D, Intel ® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel ® Insider ™, Intel ® HD Graphics 4400/4600

- Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11.1

- Max. shared memory 1792MB

- Two graphics output options: HDMI and DisplayPort / Thunderbolt ™ Ports

- Supports Triple Monitor

- Supports HDMI Technology with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096 × 2304) @ 24Hz

- Supports DisplayPort / Thunderbolt ™ with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096 × 2304) @ 24Hz

- Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI Port (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)

- Supports HDCP with HDMI and DisplayPort / Thunderbolt ™ Ports

- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) playback with HDMI and DisplayPort / Thunderbolt ™ Ports

- Supports data transfer rate up to 10Gbps with Thunderbolt ™ Port

- Supports Daisy-chain up to 6 Thunderbolt ™ devices

* Intel ® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals and the VGA outputs can be supported only with processors which are GPU integrated. ** Due to chipset limitation, the Blu-ray playback of Intel ® HD Graphics is only supported under Windows ® 8/8 64-bit / 7/7 64-bit / Vista ™ / Vista ™ 64-bit. *** Intel ® InTru ™ 3D is only supported under Windows ® 8/8 64-bit / 7/7 64-bit.

Audio - 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec)

- Premium Blu-ray Audio support

- Supports Purity Sound ™

- 115dB SNR DAC with differential amplifier

- TI NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier (Supports up to 600 ohm headsets)

- Direct Drive Technology

- EMI shielding cover

- PCB isolate shielding

- Supports DTS Connect

LAN - Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb / s

- 1 x Giga PHY Intel ® I217V, 1 x GigaLAN Intel ® I211AT

- Supports Intel ® Remote Wake Technology (on Intel ® I217V)

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports Dual LAN with Teaming

- Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az

- Supports PXE

Wireless LAN - Supports IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac

- Supports Dual-Band (2.4 / 5 GHz)

- Supports high speed wireless connections up to 867Mbps

- 2 Antennas to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) Diversity Technology

- Supports Bluetooth 4.0 / 3.0 + High speed class II

Expansion / Connectivity
Slots - 5 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1 / PCIE2 / PCIE3 / PCIE4 / PCIE6: single at x16 (PCIE2); dual at x16 (PCIE1) / x16 (PCIE4); triple at x8 (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE3) / x16 (PCIE4); quad at x8 (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE3) / x8 (PCIE4) / x8 (PCIE6)) * PCIE1, PCIE3, PCIE4 and PCIE6 slots will be disabled if PCIE2 slot is occupied.

- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot

- 1 x Mini-PCI Express Slot: For WiFi + BT Module

- PLX PEX 8747 and PLX PEX 8605 embedded

- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX ™, 4-Way CrossFireX ™, 3-Way CrossFireX ™ and CrossFireX ™

- Supports NVIDIA ® Quad SLI ™, 4-Way SLI ™, 3-Way SLI ™ and SLI ™

Storage - 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb / s Connectors by Intel ® Z87, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel ® Rapid Storage Technology 12 and Intel ® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug

- 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb / s Connectors by ASMedia ASM1061, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug (SATA3_A4 connector is shared with the eSATA port)

- 1 x eSATA Connector by ASMedia ASM1061, supports NCQ, AHCI, Hot Plug and Port Multiplier

Connector - 1 x IR Header

- 1 x COM Port Header

- 1 x Power LED Header

- 2 x CPU Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)

- 3 x Chassis Fan Connectors (1 x 4-pin, 2 x 3-pin)

- 1 x Power Fan Connector (3-pin)

- 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector

- 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connectors)

- 1 x SLI / XFire Power Connector

- 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector

- 3 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 6 USB 2.0 ports)

- 1 x Vertical Type A USB 2.0

- 2 x USB 3.0 Headers (Support 6 USB 3.0 ports)

- 1 x Dr. Debug with LED

- 1 x Power Switch with LED

- 1 x Reset Switch with LED

- 1 x BIOS Selection Switch

* Wi-SD Box installation is required to support 6 USB3.0 ports.
Rear Panel I / O - 1 x PS / 2 Mouse / Keyboard Port

- 1 x HDMI Port

- 1 x DisplayPort Input for Thunderbolt ™ port

- 2 x Thunderbolt ™ Ports (Support Thunderbolt ™ devices or DisplayPort monitors)

- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port

- 1 x eSATA Connector

- 2 x USB 2.0 Ports

- 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (Intel ® Z87)

- 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (ASMedia hub)

- 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LEDs (ACT / LINK LED and SPEED LED)

- 1 x Clear CMOS Switch

- HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone

Other Features / Miscellaneous
Unique Feature - ASRock A-Tuning

- ASRock Instant Flash

- ASRock APP Charger

- ASRock XFast USB

- ASRock XFast LAN

- ASRock XFast RAM

- ASRock Crashless BIOS

- ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard)

- ASRock Internet Flash

- ASRock UEFI System Browser

- ASRock UEFI Tech Service

- ASRock Dehumidifier

- ASRock Easy RAID Installer

- ASRock Easy Driver Installer

- ASRock Interactive UEFI

- ASRock Fast Boot

- ASRock Restart to UEFI

- ASRock USB Key

- ASRock FAN-Tastic Tuning

- Hybrid Booster:

- CPU Frequency Stepless Control

- ASRock U-COP

- Boot Failure Guard (BFG)

- Good Night LED

Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, Google Chrome Browser and Toolbar, Start8 (30 days trial), MeshCentral, Splashtop Streamer
Accessories - 2 x ASRock SLI_Bridge Cards

- 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card

- 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI ™ Bridge Card

- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I / O Shield

- 10 x SATA Data Cables

- 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables

- 1 x ASRock Wi-SD Box

- 12 x Screws (For Wi-SD Box)

- 1 x USB 3.0 Cable

Hardware Monitor - CPU / Chassis temperature sensing

- CPU / Chassis / Power Fan Tachometer

- CPU / Chassis Quiet Fan (Auto adjust chassis fan speed by CPU temperature)

- CPU / Chassis Fan multi-speed control

- Voltage monitoring: + 12V, + 5V, + 3.3V, CPU Vcore

Form Factor - ATX Form Factor

- Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality conductive polymer capacitors)

- Multiple Filter Cap (MFC) (Filters different noises by 3 different capacitors: DIP solid cap, POSCAP and MLCC)

YOU - Microsoft ® Windows ® 8.1 32-bit / 8.1 64-bit / 8 32-bit / 8 64-bit / 7 32-bit / 7 64-bit
Certifications - FCC, CE, WHQL

- ErP / EuP ready (ErP / EuP ready power supply is required)

ASRock Z87 Extreme9 / ac

ASRock presents its product in a large and robust box. The cover comes with a window that tells us all the benefits of this wonderful motherboard. While the back we have all the most interesting features and specifications.

Many motherboards have passed through my hands and this brings one of the best bundles on the market:

  • ASRock Z87 Extreme 9 / ac motherboard.Instruction manual and quick guide.CD with drivers.Back, SATA cabling, USB 3.0 bay adapter and extension cable, Flexible and rigid SLI / CrossFire bridges, two molex to connect SATA cables feeding.

The WI-SD panel is a combo of 4 connections, USB 3.0 connections, SD card reader and Wifi connection. We make its connection directly by a USB 3.0 cable to the motherboard and a floppy disk molex supply.

The two cables for the wifi antennas must be installed on the mini-pci card that is between the PCI Express slots.

The ASRock Z87 Extreme9 / ac is ATX format : 30.5 x 24.4 cm. As usual by the Taiwanese manufacturer it keeps its PCB color brown. Accompanied by black and silver colors in the rest of expansion ports and heatsinks.

Compatibility with up to 32GB DDR3 at 2933mhz with overclock. Although this plate we have seen tests reaching 3000 mhz with major brands such as Corsair, G.Skills or ADATA.

We have 5 PCI Express 16x slots, this allows us to install up to four graphics cards at a time with 16x configuration. This is due to the PLX PEX8747 chip that allows a more powerful connection than those provided by the standard Z87 chipset (8x-8x).

WE RECOMMEND YOU Rock X370 Killer SLI Review in Spanish (Complete Analysis)

Here are the possible settings:

  • 1 card: x16 (PCIE1). 2 cards: x16 (PCIE1) / x16 (PCIE4). 3 x8 graphics cards (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE3) / x16 (PCIE4).4 x8 graphics cards (PCIE1) / x8 (PCIE3) / x8 (PCIE4) / x8 (PCIE6).

To have greater stability with MultiGPU systems, ASRock has thought about including a Molex PCI connection to give more power to graphics cards. This only includes the highest quality motherboards on the market.

To offer the most stability and overclocking, the board uses 100% Premium Gold Capacitors made in Japan. These solid capacitors are elegant, high-gloss with a gold coating that represents long life and stable performance.

It has 12 feeding phases and the best existing MOSFETs are Dual-Stack.

Double EPS power connection.

We also have 10 SATA 6.0 Gb / s connections. The first six are from the Intel chipset itself that supports RAD 0, 1, 5 and 10. The last four are controlled by the ASM1061 chip that supports the technologies: NCQ, AHCI, Hot Plug and Port Multiplier.

Finally, among the extras we have a dual-band wireless network card (2.4 / 5 GHz), a bluetooth 4.0 connection, a double internal USB 3.0 connection and the debug led to detect any error at the moment.

Purity Sound: This is a combination of various solutions (hardware and software) that deliver fantastic sound, driven by the Realtek ALC1150 chip. What are the improvements? Integration of a 115dB SNR DAC, Premium TI 5532 600 ohm headphone amplifier, shielding and interference isolation.

In the rear ports we have a PS / 2 connection, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, dual thunderbolt, double gigabit 10/100/1000 Intel, e-sata and sound card.

Regarding the expansion terms, it comes with five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots and a single PCI-e 3.0 x1 slot, offering a total of ten SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, integrated WiFi connectivity, the Purity sound chip, two Thunderbolt ports, two display outputs in the form of HDMI and DisplayPort, plus six USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a PS / 2 combo connector, and an eSATA port.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH

Processor:

Intel i7 4770k

Base plate:

ASRock Z87 Extreme 9 / ac

Memory:

G.Skills Trident X 2400mhz.

Heatsink

Liquid refrigeration.

HDD

Samsumg 840 250GB

Graphic card

Gigabyte GTX780 Rev 2.0

Power supply

Antec HCP 850

To check the stability of the processor and the motherboard, we have made an extreme OC of up to 4600 mhz with Prime 95 Custom by liquid cooling. The graphics we have used is a Gigabyte GTX780 Rev 2.0. We go to the results:

TESTS

3dMark Vantage:

P48031

3dMark11

P14739 PTS

Crysis 3

39 FPS

CineBench 11.5

10.3 fps.

Resident Evil 6

Lost planet

tomb Raider

Meter

13501 PTS.

140 FPS.

65 FPS

62 FPS

Final words and conclusion

The ASRock Z87 Extreme9 / ac is the ASROCK TOP range motherboard. It has a standard ATX format : 30.5 x 24.4 cm and its peculiar design: gray, silver and black. Aesthetically very elegant and sticks with many components.

What I liked most about this motherboard are its components: 100% Premium Gold capacitors, 12 power phases and Dual Stack Mosfet that will give us stability and above all, a large overclock margin. Another of its great points is the incorporation of the PLX chip that allows us to connect up to a 4 way SLI / CrossFireX with 16x configurations. Quite a luxury, considering that very few motherboards are able to offer us this type of configuration.

ASRock does not forget about storage and includes 10 SATA 6.0 Gbp / s connections. Six of them are from the Intel controller and the other four from Asmedia. It allows us to configure RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10.

To test the capacity of the motherboard we have installed a GTX 780 graphics card at 1250 mhz, an i7-4770k processor and a 250 gb at 500 mb solid state disk (read / write). The board has allowed us to overclock between 4500-4700 mhz without vrdoop. The feelings have been great. Good job!

In short, if you are looking for a top-of-the-range motherboard, with a lot of extras, wireless connection, dual gigabit, dual thunderbolt and a wide overclock. The ASRock Z87 Extreme9 / ac must be among the chosen ones. Its price is almost prohibitive to oscillate at € 320,

ADVANTAGE

DISADVANTAGES

+ QUALITY COMPONENTS.

-

+ CHIP PLX FOR 4 WAY SLI - CFX.

+ OVERCLOCK CAPACITY.

+ PURITY SOUND CARD.

+ DUAL THUNDERBOLT AND LAN.

+ 10 SATA CONNECTIONS.

The Professional Review team awards you the Platinum medal:

Xbox

Editor's choice

Back to top button