ASRock Z77 OC Formula - Performance Test



Introduction:

ASRock Z77 OC Formula was specifically designed for overclocking Ivy Bridge (IB) processors.This motherboard (mobo) was created, developed and engineered by world's well known Overclocking Master, Nick Shih. Like other Z77 mobos, this board comes with Intel Smart Response Technology and Virtu video switching technology, plus native support for four USB 3.0 ports. Besides that, it also features smart Connect and Rapid Start (faster boot times) as well as the Virtu Universal MVP technology. Full product specifications can be found HERE. Let’s see what this mobo has to offer.

Unboxing:


ASRock Z77 OC Formula was packed in a very huge box, becomes the biggest mobo box I have ever seen. The Lamborghini sport car picture illustrated on the box emphasized that the mobo was born to be fast.


Accessories bundled in the package.


With the colour scheme of yellow/gold/black, the board houses LGA1155 socket, supports Intel 3rd/2nd Gen Core i7, i5 & i3/ Pentium / Celeron processors. The mobo is an extended ATX (E-ATX) with a dimension of (12 x 10.5 inches or 305 x 257 mm).


The board is an 8 layer PCB with 4x 2oz copper – which should help improve overclocking performance.


A closer look at the CPU socket area and power delivery.. This mobo is powered by 12 + 4 Power Phase. The oversized heatsink on the OC FOrmula offers twin-Power cooling by integrating both air and water cooling into one solution. This new design increases the rate of heat transfer, therefore increasing the heat dissipation from the system.

The Z77 OC Formula supports up to 32GB of DDR3 dual channel memory ranging from 1066MHz to 3000MHz+ via overclocking. It has full support for Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 1.2 and 1.3 standards.Near the memory slots are the 24-pin power connector and the VProbe check points. Other items of interest are the Rapid OC buttons, Dr. Debug, and the PCIe on/off switches.


There are two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, one PCIe 2.0 X16 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots in which a single graphics card can be used at x16 or dual cards at x8/x8. Multi GPU setup up to Quad SLI/CF is supported.


There are six SATA3 (2x Intel + 2x Marvell SE9172) and four SATA2 ports (all Intel) on the board.


The rear I/O panel is actually pretty basic, and consists mostly of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports.

Testing Platform:


CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K @ 5.0GHz
MB: ASRock OC Formula, BIOS P1.60
DRAM: Team Xtreem 2600 10-12-12-25-1T 2 X 4GB
GPU: Gigabyte HD7970, MSI's special BIOS, Driver Catalyst 12.11 beta, CAP 12.10
Storage: 2x Crucial M4 128GB, FW 000F
ODD: LiteON DVD-RW
PSU: Corsair AX1200
Cooling: Custom watercooling - EK Supreme HF plate #6 CPU waterblock, 2x XSPC RX360 radiator, Swiftech MCP655 pump, EK FC7970 GPU waterblock, EK Multioption X2 Advanced reservoir, XSPC 1/2" ID 3/4" OD white tubing, 12x Scythe GT AP-15 1850rpm 120mm fan + Aerocool Shark 120mm fan, Coolaboratory Liquid Pro thermalpaste etc.
Casing: Dismatech Easy Dual V2 Bench Table
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 22 2012, 06:34 AM

The UEFI BIOS:

The UEFI BIOS of the OC Formula is uniquely designed, it is based on a ‘space theme’ with constantly moving star scape and sound! The boot speed is insanely fast!

Main page - OC Tweaker:


“Nick Shih’s OC Profile” - allows you to OC your CPU automatically, using preset setting profiles suggested by the OC Guru – Nick Shih.


DRAM Preset Profiles - makes memory OC a lot easier based on IC on your DRAM kits ranging from HyniX, Samsung, Elpida, PSC etc.


North Bridge Configuration - here you could choose to turn off iGPU function


Multi Thermal Sensor – tons of thermal sensors


H/W Monitor - to monitor temperatures, voltages and fan rotation speeds


Dehumidifier function - for extreme overclocking situations


Board Software/Tools:

ASRock Formula Drive - OC tweaking utility, is a tool for overclocking in windows environment without the needs to restart your PC.
Timing Configurator - for setting memory timings, can be set in real-time and without a reboot.



This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:14 AM

Stability Tests:

LinX 0.64 (11.0.1.005) w/ AVX:



The delidded 3770K overclocked to 5.0GHz @ 1.416v passed LinX without an error in 30 loops. One of the cores hit 88C at load but it's still way lower than TJmax of 105C. Hence, we could proudly declare that this OC is suitable for 24/7 usage.

Prime95 27.7 w/ AVX

The chip is prime stable for 12 hours as well.

This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 25 2012, 05:54 PM

Benchmark Tests:

3DMark11:


3DMark Vantage:


3DMark06:


3DMark03:


wPrime:


Super Pi 1M:


Super Pi 32M:


Hyper Pi 32M:


Cinebench 11.5:


Unigine Heaven XS:


This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:21 AM

Super Pi 32M Benchmark with Samsung IC RAM:

Team Xtreem 2600C10 @ 2666 9-12-12-25-1T


Team Xtreem 2600C10 @ 2709 10-12-12-25-1T


Team Xtreem 2600C10 @ 2766 10-12-12-25-1T


Team Xtreem 2600C10 @ 2800 10-12-12-25-1T


This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:24 AM

Super Pi 32M Benchmark with HyniX IC RAM:

G.Skill TridentX 2800C11 @ 2800 11-13-13-25-1T


G.Skill TridentX 2800C11 @ 2870 11-13-13-25-1T




This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:25 AM

Super Pi 32M Benchmark with PSC IC RAM:

G.Skill Pi 2200C7 @ 2500 7-11-7-28-1T


G.Skill Pi 2200C7 @ 2600 8-12-8-27-1T


This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:26 AM

Super Pi 32M Benchmark with Elpida BBSE IC RAM:

G.SKill RipjawsX 2133C8 @ 2500 9-12-9-28-1T


This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 07:27 AM

Thoughts & Verdicts:

Performance using Intel core i7 3770K was very impressive and overclocking was as great as other more expensive boards. ASRock has come up with a seriously competitive overclocking mobo. Priced at RM855, I bet you will bring home this beautiful mobo with a big smile. In summary, the ASRock Z77 OC Formula is highly recommended for serious overclockers.

Performance: 5/5
Materials: 4.5/5
Specifications: 5/5
Appearance: 5/5
Performance/Price Value: 5/5

This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 21 2012, 01:18 PM

thanks for sharing sir... great write up...

now i hope asrock can give amd fans some serious oc boards without burnin wholes in wallet...

Thanks for the compliment. Yeah, ASRock has changed a lot nowadays keep aggressively releasing great lineup to fight with other bigger brands such as Asus & Gigabyte. It's actually overtook MSI as the 3rd largest mobo market. I believe their partnership with Nick Shih is one of the keys for this success. Overall i think the OC Formula is the best bang for buck OC mobo.

Great review as always bro. Love the feet for the motherboard. Haha.

Thanks bro. LOL the feet is a brilliant idea for those who's torturing the board barely on the table.

wow your cpu have a very strong imc
great review bro! well done

Thanks lengleng. In the review I was actually using two 3770Ks.

1) Malay chip - low vCore; bad IMC capped at 2776, bought locally for RM1050
2) Costa Rica chip - high vCore; good IMC up to 2933, bought overseas as 2nd hand for $500 USD = RM1500+

great review bro.
asrock board not bad at all.

Thanks bro. ASRock rocks!
Meanwhile, I'm still continue playing with this board...

3DMark11 - tess OFF, MVP ON


3DMark11 - tess ON, MVP ON


3DMark11 - tess ON, MVP OFF


This post has been edited by owikh84: Nov 22 2012, 10:54 PM

Kevin koko, it's time for you to change your username to
"owsum84"

Thanks AceMeiMei
LOL so creative name!

---

Added on December 4, 2012, 7:33 amFound my old digital multimeter (DMM) to measure the vCore through the V-Probe point.

vCore
BIOS set: 1.415v (LLC level 1 = almost no vdroop on load)
CPU-Z: 1.424v
Formula Drive: 1.423v
DMM: 1.42v



You can see the voltage is pretty accurate on ASRock OC Formula
Hence, I must say that the ASRock OC Formula has the BEST VRM out there and needs less voltage (0.2v-0.6v) as compared to Asus ROG mobos.




This post has been edited by owikh84: Dec 4 2012, 07:33 AM

having a hard time on this board during LN2 session..
cold boot between -90'C to -120'C
cannot identify the code error 00, 10, 23

found the '55' error code = uneven socket pressure here damn i should try tighten my PSC that day (not as good as PI series btw)... only run 2200 8-10-9... little messy that time, cannot concentrate well. maybe next time.

Sorry to hear that you had had time putting this board on cold.
Cold boot = double boot
Cold bug = boot problem under extreme cooling
Have you guys tried the same chip on other mobo? Cold bug could be caused by CPU itself.

owh its cold bug
i think it's user prob, 1st time playing with LN2. hehe
tried other chip on this board, quite strong IMC, 2800Mhz very easy.

technically the chip belongs to hantarkatsini2 a.k.a afiq chii. lucky him.. bclk can clock at 110 summore..

Good chip he got there.
Saw lots of golden 3770K batch 3218XXXX available in local shops.
Many ppl claimed that it is very easy to find a good chip from this batch.
Source: hwbot forum

I can't boot/post RAM at 2933 with this board like i did on Maximus V Extreme.

nice review. supernice board

Thanks!
Yes if you want a low vCore, this board will fulfill your needs.

mind to tell me what is vcore? what makes the difference?

vCore

lol thanks taiko. it was so hard before u teach me. may i ask u based from ur experienced, what is the best m-ATX motherboard other than ROG lineup?

ASRock Z77 Pro4-M for features/price
ASRock Z77 Professional-M for performance

Nick shih Using i7 3770k up to 7.136 with this main board ,Ram 2856, this mainboard really powerful !!

nickshih is indeed awesome.
Great chip + motherboard + legendary OCer = awesome overclocking

Why you try to break record ?

Bro owikh

My Asrock Oc Formula ..ram slot 1 , 3 & 4..have error 55

Only slot 2 available

Already loose my heatsink...still have error 55

Any idea how to solve it

As per PM conv, pls check CPU socket for bent pin.
Prepare for RMA that's the last solution.