Few ?'s about the Asrock Z77 boards

[Interitus]

Trying to figure out which of the Asrock boards I want. Current setup is red themed, so Asrock is looking like the only neutral or red option here (yeah I know, but I love my red). I'm really open to either the Extreme 6, Extreme 4, or Fatality Professional.

Looking for input on a few key points here..

1) Anybody have issues with GSKILL f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl kits? It's not on the support list, but I've seen a random user here or there report no issues. I will be using 2 kits for 16GB.

2) Anyone using a Thermalright Venomous-X on any of these boards? Any RAM clearance or board sink issues? Wasn't entirely sure if my GSKILL would fit under the Venomous-X.

3) I plan to mildly OC to 4.4 or 4.5ghz. Any of those boards better or worse for that?

Thanks ahead of time for any help! I've read a few reviews here and there, but just looking for some personal insight from the AT crowd before I purchase

 

[greenhawk]

no idea on the first two, but a heads up, 4.4 / 4.5 Ghz might be mild for Sandybridge, it is far from it for Ivy Bridge (it is lower).

 

[Interitus]

Yeah, probably a poor choice of wording there. I have water as an option if I need it to get there, but would prefer to go back to air if possible.

Current loop is dual MCP350's with EK top and a Koolance CPU-370 and two Swiftech MCR320 rads, so I'm good for cooling.

I'm at least hoping it can get there with less heat output than my i7-920 @ 4ghz, lol.

My 920 is a strange beast, it puts out a ton of heat even at idle, but only barely creeps up at full tilt. I noticed that even with the Venomous-X before going to a custom loop, so I doubt it has anything to do with the loop setup. Even if the Ivy chip has to stay around 4.0'ish, I won't be picky. Just want to get what I can out of the 1155 setup, be it on air or water.

 

[moriz]

i've just finished building a system with the Z77 extreme4. board recognized 2x8 DDR3-1600 crucial ballistix sport ram with no issues, and the build experience is completely painless.

i have an i5-3570K at 4.5 GHz on that board with no issues, using a scythe mugen-3 cooler. i set the voltage offset to +0.077V, which generally results in a load voltage of 1.168V to 1.174V. temperatures top off at 70C.

just keep in mind though, unlike the previous generation extreme4, this board does not ship with a USB 3 front panel caddy, though it does have four USB 3 ports in the back and an internal header. there's also only two USB 2 ports on the IO panel.

 

[Interitus]

Thanks for sharing your experience moriz.

Any gripes on the board at all other than the USB 3.0 up front? It won't bother me much, I'll just be using it for an external backup that will stay plugged in with its power switch off when not in use.

This would be my first Asrock board. Really sad EVGA isn't producing anything other than the $300+ FTW model.

 

[moriz]

The board is slightly narrower than a standard atx... And the fan controls are very rudimentary. Other than those two, it's pretty straightforward.

 

[DigitalWolf]

1) Anybody have issues with GSKILL f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl kits? It's not on the support list, but I've seen a random user here or there report no issues. I will be using 2 kits for 16GB.

2) Anyone using a Thermalright Venomous-X on any of these boards? Any RAM clearance or board sink issues? Wasn't entirely sure if my GSKILL would fit under the Venomous-X.

3) I plan to mildly OC to 4.4 or 4.5ghz. Any of those boards better or worse for that?

1) I have one of those kits on my ASRock Extreme 6 with a 2500K. I have had no issues at all but this is with one kit. If you are worried.. you are likely better off looking for an actual 16GB kit. Simply because if it doesn't work.. then at least G. Skill Customer Service will work with you. If you buy two kits they will simply point that fact out and say you should have bought a 16GB kit.

2) Haven't used that cooler. It does fit under my Phanteks PH-TC14PE. I'm not sure what the clearance is on a Venomous-X in comparison.


3) I can't really answer that as this Extreme 6 is the only ASRock board I've ever owned. I think the only reason I bought the Extreme 6 over the Extreme 4 was that I liked the looks better. I haven't had any issues with my 2500k overclocked in that range.


As someone else pointed out the fan control on these (at least the extreme boards) is pretty basic. To the point I finally broke down and bought a fan controller to get things where I wanted them. Which ended up being interesting as I'd never used one. Ended up getting a 3.5" bay controller and put it in one of the internal bays of my 550D. So you can't see it from outside and once I had speeds where I wanted them.. was no reason to mess with it.


I really do like the board... with better fan control it would be perfect imho.


The only other Z77 board I have for personal comparison is my "red theme" gaming build with an Asus Maximus V Gene. So my "hands on" with Z77 boards is limited to those.

 

[Interitus]

Appreciate the input

I do use a fan controller as well, so the fan control wouldn't bother me either. I just run a rotation lock signal wire back to the board header in case the CPU fan ever chokes up.

I would have just bought a 16GB kit, but these 2 kits were meant to go in builds for other people that just never happened or they changed their minds. They're just sitting here collecting dust, so I figure I might as well use them if possible. In all honesty I'd probably be fine with 8GB anyways if necessary, as I've been using 6GB still on X58.

Does using 4 DIMMs have implications on overclocking for Ivy setups?

 

[moriz]

The fan controls for the CPU fan is a simple ramp up target speed and temperature, and just a target speed for case fans. It gets the job done as far as I'm concerned.