Intel S1155 by stefan @ 2011-09-20
The new Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard from ASRock comes with a rich software bundle, but also very useful features like C.C.O., Intel Smart Response Technology, Lucid VIRTU or PCI-E 3.0 slots (to be used with future Ivy Bridge CPUs). The color scheme has been reworked, so now the motherboard has a more professional look.
At first I would like to thank ASRock for offering me a sample of their Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Motherboard for review.
"ASRock Inc., established in 2002, target at entry to mainstream segment MB business, is an energetic company with the combination of technology and humanity. Devoting efforts to bring customers the innovative and reliable motherboards with the design concept of 3C, "Creative, Considerate, Cost-effective", ASRock has successfully established a well-known leading brand of the best price-performance motherboard in the industry. ASRock products' high recognition stems from company’s devotion to bring the most cost-performance products to users.
Besides creative features and solid products, ASRock engineers also pay special attention to EMI, thermal, acoustics and details to achieve complete customer satisfaction. In addition to price-performance, creative and considerate features, ASRock also pay special on the issue of eco-environmental protection with the released of ROHS products and energy saving functions to save the environment.
To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, ASRock provides great products with speed-to-market, cost and service to customers.
Facing the constantly changing technologies of motherboard, ASRock will always keep the vision of the future and develop future-proof products upon our 3C design concept to our customers.
It is the commitment to our customers and products, like the spirit presented in our maxim:
"Motherboard, We Master It!" "
By adapting PCI-E 3.0 quick switch IC onboard, the ASRock motherboards can support the Next-Gen PCI-E 3.0!
PCI Express 3.0 can maximize the bandwidth for the next-gen PCI Express 3.0 VGA cards, provide ultimate graphics performance.
Get PCI-E 3.0 Benefits
• Higher bit rate - 8.0GT/s
• Higher bandwidth per lane - 1GB/s
• Higher efficiency - 98.5% encoding efficiency
• 100% backward compatible with previous PCI-E 2.0 / 1.0 standard
ASRock XFast LAN is a smart productivity tool to help you manage your priorities of internet applications, simplify your digital life and accomplish more. The innovative features include : Internet Application Prioritization, Lower Latency in Game, Traffic Shaping and Real-Time Analysis of Your Data. It's the smartest way to control your web programs.
ASRock XFast USB Technology redefines the new standard in high performance computing. Proving once again to be the pioneer in motherboard industry, ASRock XFast USB Series Motherboards integrate with the latest XFast USB Technology which delivers the world's fastest USB data transfer speed. According to the below graph, it shows that the ASRock XFast USB technology can even boost USB 3.0 performance up to 386.14%!
Even when the system is powered off (in ACPI S5 mode), On/Off Play Technology still allows users to enjoy the great audio experience from the portable audio devices through the PC speaker.
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a revolutionary BIOS utility which offers tweak-friendly options in an advanced viewing interface. Compared with traditional BIOS design, the latest UEFI utility provides lots improved functions. The major features of UEFI include:
1.Graphical Visual Experience – UEFI provides an improved visual interface with colorful icons and makes your computing environment more versatile to replace the traditional dull BIOS page.
2.Mouse Enabling – Besides keyboard control, you can freely use mouse to select your ideal settings in UEFI as well.
3.Supports 3TB bootable HDD - UEFI breaks the limitations of 2TB bootable HDD on traditional BIOS. With UEFI, you can enjoy 3TB bootable HDD size.
CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 trial now supports Intel® Quick Sync Video hardware transcoding and is optimized for second generation Core i7, i5, and i3 processors to accelerated conversion of all your favorite media files for your favorite portable players. Now you can easily display your favorite movies, songs and photos on iPhone, iPad, PSP, XBox, Youtube, Facebook etc. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs as much as you want and enhance your videos to new levels with TrueTheater Technology. Try it today!
Limitations:
30-day trial limitation
Convert videos to the H.264 format 50 times
THX TruStudio is specially designed to bring the same great audio experience found in live performances, films, and recording studios to the PC.
The ultimate solutions to enhance your media experience. From music management, music creation, video editing to photo management. Simply do more with your media than you ever thought possible.
With Lucid Virtu software, next-generation PCs with 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor platforms will dynamically assign tasks in real time to the best available graphics resource based on power, performance and features.
For users who are tempted to connect the SSD and HDD on motherboard, the Intel® Smart Response Technology can make the SSD become the "Cache of the HDD" to boost up the HDD access speed.
Compared with others Z68 chipset motherboard which brings limited PCI-E lanes, ASRock Z68 motherboard break the limitation and offer sufficient PCI-E lanes solution by embedding PLX PEX8608 chip onboard. Users can simply enjoy all PCI-E devices.
With PLX PEX8608 chip, it generates more PCI-E lanes for PCI-E devices, so that all PCI-E devices are able to work at the proper speed simultaneously!
With traditional switch, if users want to run the PCI-E x4 slot at PCI-E, then the other 3 PCI-E x1 slots can not be used. If users install device in any of the PCI-E x1 slot, then the PCI-E x4 slot will suffer to downgrade running at PCI-E x1.
By adopting digital Pulse-width modulation (PWM), the ASRock motherboard can provide CPU Vcore voltage more efficiently and smoothly. Compared to analog PWM, digital PWM can optimize the CPI power solution and provide a proper and stable Vcore for the processor.
Premium Gold Caps are luxury capacitors. These 100% Japan-made solid capacitors are sleek, high gloss caps with a premium gold coating representing long life and stable performance.
ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one software to fine-tune different features in an user-friendly interface, which includes Hardware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking, OC DNA and IES. In Hardware Monitor, it shows the major readings of your system. In Fan Control, it shows the fan speed and temperature for you to adjust. In Overclocking, you are allowed to adjust the CPU frequency, ratio and some voltages for optimal system performance.
In OC DNA, you can save your OC settings as a profile and share with your friends. Your friends then can load the OC profile to their own system to get the same OC settings. In IES (Intelligent Energy Saver), the voltage regulator can reduce the number of output phases to improve efficiency when the CPU cores are idle without sacrificing computing performance.
he cardboard box in which the Extreme4 motherboard from ASRock ships is provided with a plastic handle and contains on the frontal side some logos which represent the supported technologies:
On the back of the box we can see a photo of the mainboard with the components explained, and further down we can see the main board features listed:
The box content is split in two separate layers; the top one comes with the documentation, additional bundle and the bottom one houses the motherboard itself:
The motherboard bundle is composed of:
-4x SATA3 (6Gbps) cables
-1x USB 3.0 Front Panel
-1x 80-conductor Ultra ATA66/100/133 IDE Ribbon Cable
-2x MOLEX to Serial ATA HDD Power cables
-1x Rear USB 3.0 Bracket
-1x 3.5mm Audio Cable
-1x I/O Shield
-1x SLI_Bridge_2S Card
Also, we can find documents explaining the XFast USB feature, Virtu, how to install HDDs larger than 2TB, a Software Setup Guide, one Quick Installation Guide, along with a disk which contains the necessary drivers and applications:
Inside the Software Setup Guide, we get explanations on how to use the UEFI interface, along with the AXTU overclocking software in Windows:
The Quick Installation Guide lets us know about the main motherboard components and guides us on how to perform the installation to get a fully functional system:
The motherboard is wrapped inside an anti-static bag and for additional protection, the PCB is surrounded by a foam material frame:
Compared to the P67 Extreme4 motherboard, the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 comes with a sightly modified color scheme, which, in my opinion, looks much better; now we have a grey/black color scheme, compared with the older versions that had blue and white colors for the connectors. The PCI-E and PCI slots are in the same positions as on the older Extreme4:
Between the I/O shield connectors and the VRM, we can find not one, but two Asmedia ASM1442T controllers, which are the high speed TMDS level shift ICs for High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and Digital Video Interface (DVI) video application. These convert low-swing AC-coupled differential input from existing PCI Express in the chipset of PC to HDMI compliant differential output, supporting up to 3.4Gbps bandwidth of pixel data transition, as indicated in HDMI Rev1.3a:
Further down, but on the same side, we can find one EtronTech EJ168A USB 3.0 Host Controller chip:
Next to it, there is a MOLEX connector which supplies extra power in case we have installed a SLI or Crossfire setup; in the same zone we can also see two chassis fan headers:
On the left side of the PCB, another small IC can be found, a Broadcom BCM57781 Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Controller:
The Super IO chip on this motherboard is a Nuvoton NCT6776F:
Further down, the Realtek ALC892 high-performance multi-channel High Definition Audio Codec can be found:
A VIA FIRE VT6315N/S PCI-Express 1394 Host Controller is located between the first two PCI-Express x16 slots:
Surrounding the first PCI-Express x16 slot, we can find multiple quick switch ICs, for PCI-Express 3.0 compatibility. However, this feature cannot be put into value until a next-gen Ivy Bridge CPU is installed into the socket:
The bottom of the PCB is also populated with plenty of connectors and headers:
-Front Panel Audio Header
-HDMI_SPDIF Header
-COM Port Header
-Floppy Connector
-Infrared Module Header
-Front Panel IEEE 1394 Header
-Consumer Infrared Module Header
-3x USB 2.0 Headers
-1x USB 3.0 Header
-Chassis Speaker Header
-System Panel Header
-Power LED Header
Close to the Dr. Debug LED display, we can find the Asmedia ASM1083 PCIe-PCI bridge:
Another EtronTech EJ168A USB 3.0 Controller is found in the bottom right corner of the PCB:
The PLX PEX8608 chip is used for providing additional PCI-E lanes:
Near the Power, Reset buttons and UEFI chip, we can find 4 SATA 2 and 4 SATA 3 ports:
Two of the mentioned SATA 3 ports are controlled by the Marvell 88SE9120 chip:
Close to the ATX 24-pin power connector, we can find the Clear CMOS jumper, and another chassis fan header:
All memory slots have now the same color, not different as we have seen on the P67 Extreme4:
Two CPU fan headers are located between the VRM heatsink and the memory slots, on the top side of the PCB:
As it wasn't enough, another fan header can be found hidden near the 8-pin 12V power connector:
This motherboard features an advanced V8 Power Phase Design and the VRM is covered with the same heatsinks as we have seen on the Extreme4:
Both heatsinks are linked together with a single heatpipe:
In the same area with the heatpipe, we can spot a ChiL CHL8328, which is a Dual Loop, 7+1 multiphase PWM controller:
In the middle of the PCB, we can find imprinted the logos of the supported technologies:
ASRock did not forget about the people which still use older heatsinks, so we have also holes drilled for the LGA775 coolers:
A Lucid Virtu sticker can be found on the VGA connector block:
The same chipset heatsink as we have seen on the Extreme4, can be also found here:
Finally, the I/O Panel Connectors are the following:
-PS/2 Keyboard Port
-4x USB 2.0 Ports
-DVI-D Port
-D-Sub Port
-HDMI Port
-DisplayPort
-Clear CMOS Switch
-eSATA3 Connector
-IEEE 1394 Connector
-2x USB 3.0 Ports
-Audio Connectors
The UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) for the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard looks very similar to the one found on previously reviewed models, Extreme4 and Extreme6; the main BIOS sections are represented with buttons on the top side of the interface and the current date/time is shown in the bottom right portion of the screen.
The Main section contains information regarding the currently installed UEFI version, the CPU name along with its rated speed, the current processor speed, microcode update, the CPU cache size, total memory installed and how the memory is distributed in the slots:
The OC Tweaker tab is the section of the UEFI where we can alter the system performance;here we can modify the CPU multiplier (if we do own a K series CPU), set custom voltages, memory timings or even save our settings in 3 different slots; in the first section we can also observe the Internal PLL Overvoltage option, which allows better CPU Turbo Ratio overclock capability with D2 stepping CPUs, the fully adjustable power throttle (we can customize both short and long power duration limits) or the Core Current Limit. In this section we can also adjust the BCLK, but the range is very limited on Sandy Bridge CPUs:
Next, we can set various voltages like Vcore, DRAM voltage, PCH, PLL, VTT (VCCIO), VCCSA or select the Load-Line Calibration levels. The modifications we've made can be saved with the name of our choice, in 3 separate slots:
In a separate menu, we can adjust the memory timings, or we can just select the preloaded XMP profile:
The Advanced section contains some more sub-menus that we can configure:
In the CPU Configuration sub-menu, we can set how many CPU cores we would like to be enabled, enable/disable the Hardware Prefetcher or the Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch function; the CPU Thermal Throttling can be enabled or disabled from the same menu, along with the Intel Virtualization or No-Execute Memory Protection:
In the North Bridge Configuration sub-menu, we can customize the Low MMIO resources alignment, specify which will be the first Primary Graphics Adapter to initialize, enable or disable more Integrated Graphics options like Render Standby or IGD Multi-Monitor or we can modify some options regarding video memory:
In the South Bridge Configuration sub-menu, we can enable/disable some of the onboard interfaces, like LAN, Firewire, HD audio or we can enable/disable the Front Panel audio, On/Off Play technology. In the same menu we can also configure the Good Night LED and Onboard Debug Port LED features:
The Storage Configuration sub-menu allows us to change the functionality of the onboard SATA3 Marvell controller, or we can set the SATA mode for the SATA2/3 ports, enable/disable S.M.A.R.T. and so on. In the same menu, we can see listed the detected drives connected to the motherboard:
In the Super IO Configuration submenu, we can enable/disable the Onboard Floppy Controller, the Serial Port or the Infrared Port:
In the ACPI Configuration sub-menu, we can modify some of the usual power management settings:
In the USB Configuration sub-menu, we can enable/disable the USB controllers, or enable compatibility mode for other devices:
The H/W Monitor section shows us extended live information regarding the temperatures, connected fan speeds or the voltages; in the same section we can set the fan speeds on different levels, or we can enable/disable the Over-Temperature Protection feature:
In the Boot section, we can set the boot option priorities, enable/disable the Full Screen Logo, LAN boot or the Boot Failure Guard:
In the Security section, we can see options most of us are familiar with from the older BIOSes; here we can set the Supervisor or User passwords:
Finally, the Exit section contains options to save, discard or load default UEFI values; there is another new option available, which makes the launch of the EFI Shell from a file system device possible:
CPU: Intel I5 2500K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua U12P SE2
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Video: Sparkle X460 Calibre 1GB
Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
Stability at 4.8GHz could be obtained with a similar voltage as on the Extreme4 board:
With the latest version of AIDA64 utility, we can reveal more information regarding the motherboard, the CPU IMC and the Z68 chipset:
Motherboard
Sandy Bridge IMC
Z68 Chipset
One of the interesting applications that can be found on the installation disk is AXTU, which lets us monitor the board parameters, but with it we can also overclock. Its interface is split into multiple tabs and on the first one we can monitor the current CPU clock, Ratio, BCLK frequency or GT Frequency; further down we can find the fan speeds for the installed fans, along with the voltages for different components:
In the Fan Control tab, we can customize the fan speeds:
The Overclocking tab lets us adjust the BCLK, CPU Ratio, GT Frequency; also here we can increase or decrease voltages for the CPU, DRAM, PCH, VTT and so on:
In the OC DNA tab, we can find the same 3 save slots as we have mentioned earlier in the UEFI presentation, except here we can also save them as separate files on storage media:
The last tab is in charge of IES (Intelligent Energy Saver); in this tab we can also see the current number of active phases; for being able to use IES, we must leave the CPU at stock clocks:
ASRock XFast LAN is another application on the installation disk, that helps optimize the Internet connection. After the application has been installed, we will see on the desktop the Real-Time Analysis status window, with which we can easily recognize which data streams we are currently transferring:
By using the advanced settings of the software, we can configure the priorities of the currently installed Internet applications, or add new ones to the list:
The Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 board comes bundled with THX TruStudio (the lite version of the Pro) application for audio signal enhancement; the Pro version is also available on the installation disk, but upon the setup launch, we are warned that “no compatible hardware is found”:
The Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard does also come with the Instant Boot application, which boosts considerably the computer boot time:
The ASRock XFast USB is used for boosting the transfer rates of the storage devices plugged on the USB ports; it functions really well as we could see from the previously reviewed boards featuring the exact same technology; as we can see from the GUI, we can choose for each storage device if we want to run in Normal or Turbo mode, by clicking on the respective icons:
The Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 comes with the Lucid VIRTU solution which was designed for Intel Sandy Bridge platform with Intel Processor Graphics enabled. VIRTU has two operating modes:
-i-Mode → saves power by using the Integrated GPU, we benefit from the Intel's advanced media feature on Sandy Bridge, and switches to the 3D discrete GPU only when needed; for using this mode, we have to plug the monitor in any of the motherboards' video outputs, and the Primary Display Adapter has to be selected “Onboard” inside the UEFI; a small performance drop can be seen when running 3D applications;
-d-Mode → does not save power, we continue to benefit from the Intel's advanced media feature on Sandy Bridge, and we get full 3D performance from the discrete GPU.
The main tab of the VIRTU application gives us the possibility to enable/disable the feature, choose where to put the VIRTU logo when an application is ran, or to adjust the slider regarding performance optimization:
Depending on the chosen mode, the middle tab inside the VIRTU GUI will change to “Applications” or “Games”; in the presented case, we are in d-Mode and the application lets us add our productivity applications that use Sandy Bridge advanced media features, like video media encoders:
The last tab informs us regarding the current version of the installed application:
The motherboard comes also bundled with the ASRock MAGIX Multimedia Suite, which is composed from different applications for being able to edit multimedia content:
AIDA64 CPU Queen
AIDA64 PhotoWorxx
AIDA64 Zlib
AIDA64 AES
AIDA64 CPU Hash
AIDA64 FPU VP8
AIDA64 FPU Julia
AIDA64 FPU Mandel
AIDA64 FPU SinJulia
Cinebench R10
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Score
CrystalMark
PCMark05 System Suite
PCMark Vantage Suite
3DMark 2001 Default Run
3DMark 2003 CPU Score
3DMark 2005 CPU Score
3DMark 2006 CPU Score
3DMark Vantage CPU Score
3DMark11 Performance Score
PerformanceTest 7 CPU Mark
SuperPI 1.5 XS 2MB
wPrime 32M
Crysis Very High DX10 1920x1200
Street Fighter 4 1920x1200
Far Cry 2 Ultra DX10 1920x1200
VIRTU i-Mode provides the user with Intel Sandy Bridge special features and power saving options when no 3D gaming is used. For using Lucid VIRTU solution in i-Mode, the display must be always connected to Sandy Bridge motherboard video output.
VIRTU d-mode is provided for demanding 3D gamers to achieve uncompromised 3D performance of the discrete GPU installed in the system. In this mode, VIRTU also allows the user to utilize Intel's new platform special features such as transcoding, while the display is connected to the discrete GPU.
Here we will compare the 3D performance in both modes to see how much the performance drops in different games.
The new Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard from ASRock comes with plenty of features and bundled applications, to make our experience with the latest Intel platform as pleasant as possible, without investing a lot of money.
From the main product highlights, we can enumerate:
-XFast LAN, which is a software application in charge of traffic prioritization or traffic shaping; -XFast USB which boosts the speed of our connected external storage devices;
-ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility, which helps with monitoring current temperatures, fan speeds, voltages or with overclocking; the same application allows us to save profiles on HDD and for load them later on;
-THX TruStudio for audio quality enhancement;
-MAGIX Multimedia suite for editing different types of content;
-Lucid VIRTU, which dynamically assigns tasks in real time to the best suitable graphics resource;
-Intel Smart Response Technology, for boosting the HDD performance when including a small SSD to act as cache;
-Digital PWM for offering more stable voltages when overclocking;
-Premium Gold Caps for longer life and stable performance.
Compared to the Z68 Extreme4 model, this one also offers next generation PCI-E 3.0 support, for the next generation of GPUs; this feature offers a higher bit rate, higher bandwidth per lane, higher efficiency and full backwards compatibility with the previous PCI-E 2.0 or 1.0 standard. However, to be able to use this feature, we must also have installed an Ivy Bridge CPU; till then, the PCI-E 3.0 slots will function only at 2.0 speeds.
The Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 also features an all black design for the connectors and slots, giving it a more professional look.
When overclocking the CPU at 4.8GHz, we could obtain stability at about the same voltage as we did with the previous generation Extreme4 board.
The ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 can be found in online shops for prices between 145 and 150 Euros.
I would like to thank again to ASRock for making this review possible!