ASRock Z97 Extreme6 Preview
Category : Z97
Published by Hiwa Pouri on 06.05.14
With the Extreme 6, ASRock usually has a well equipped motherboard in its portfolio, which comes with a plethora of features. In case of the Z97 version the manufacturer seems to make no exception and especially the variety of connectors for storage media is interesting. With this motherboard ASRock introduces an Ultra M.2 slots that offers no less than 32 Gigabit of bandwidth.
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The Z97 Extreme6 from ASRock has always been a feature packed motherboard with great looks. It looks like ASRock didn't change the formula in case of the Z97 model.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z97 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3 Technology, 4 x DDR3 DIMM Slots, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 3200 (O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
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| Slots |
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| Sound | Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec
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| Storage |
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| Network |
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| Internal Connectors |
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| Extrenal Connectors |
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| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (2 x 64 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card
- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
- 4 x SATA Data Cables
- 1 x HDD Saver Cable
- 2 x Screws for M.2 Sockets
- 1 x Screw for mini-PCIe Slot
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Features
Super Alloy 9 Series Motherboard |
Since quite some time ASRock has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. This time the company is rather proud, that they're using their so called "Super Alloy" chokes, which help reducing operating temperature and therefore increase lifespan. |
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ASRock APP Shop |
ASRock has made their own small App Shop. Users can download applications to optimize their system to individual needs. |  |
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M.2 Support |
Featuring an M.2 slot this board can be equipped with SSDs in M.2 format. M.2 is wired directly to the Z97 PCH via two PCI Express lanes, therefore offering x2 bandwidth. In other words up to 10 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost doubling performance of SATA-III. |  |
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ASRock Cloud |
For it's cloud storage service ASRock partnered up with Kloudian, offering customers a free three year subscription to the service. ASRock Cloud helps you synchronizing data you have on your smartphone as well as PC. |  |
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Purity SoundTM 2 |
ASRocks Purity 2 audio solution is based on a Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, that features 115dB SNR. other than that there is EMI shielding for the main chip as well as onboard isolation.In order to improve signal quality there are excellent Nichicon capacitors onboard. |  |
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SATA Express Connector |
SATA Express is a new port for storage devices that basically combines two SATA connectors and bundles them. Each SATA Express port has been wired using two PCI Express Gen2 lanes offering a total of 10 Gbps bandwidth. Compared to SATA-III with 6 Gbps bandwidth this is quite an improvement. |  |
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| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
At a first glance the ASRock Z97 Extreme6 looks very good with its harmonic design. In this case ASRock is using a black PCB, two blue DIMM slots as well as blue heatsinks and the overall color scheme makes for a beautiful product. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are angled SATA connectors, which have been moved alongside the northbridge allow for easy installation of oversized graphics cards. |
  
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ASRock equips the Extreme6 with a twelve phase digital power phases regarding the CPU. Furthermore there are ASRocks so called "Super Alloy 9 chokes" on this motherboard, which, as the mane indicates, are made from a special alloy. This alloy should help reducing operating temperature. Also ripple and DCR are lower than with the chokes used on previous generation motherobards. Apart from that, saturation current is higher (38A instead of 20A). A closer look at the voltage regulation chip, visible below, we find an ISL6379 taking care of the twelve phases regarding CPU VRM. Apart from that each phase is driven by dual stack MOSFETs with a "low-side" and a "high-side".
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Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Z97 Extreme6. Officially supported are DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz. There is enough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3.
On the Z97 Extreme6 the southbridge is being cooled by a passive cooling block. A closer look at the VRM area shows that there are two additional heatsinks. Most manufacturers decide to connect the two VRM heatsinks on their higher end motherboards using a heatpipe. ASRock on the other hand simply uses aluminium heatsinks. All block have been milled from aluminium and they certainly add to a quality feel.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
Totally ASRock equipped the Z97 Extreme6 with ten angled SATA ports. All ports offer 6Gbps bandwidth and six out of ten SATA III ports are natively wired to the Z97 PCH. The four additional SATA 6Gbps ports are wired to an ASMedia ASM1061 chip. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons in the bottom right corner of the board and a debug display also isn't missing. What's really interesting to see is ASRock's choice of M.2 conenctors. In fact, there are three of them. We find an Ultra M.2 slot which has been wired to the PCH using four PCI Express Gen 3.0 lanes and offering up to 32 Gigbit bandwidth. Other than that there is an M.2 slot that has been wired to the PCH via two PCI Express Gen 2.0 lanes and last but not least there is a third M.2 slot offering SATA-III 6 Gigabit per second transfer speeds.
Totally you'll find six fan header on the Z97 Extreme6 which is enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as spread over the motherboard.
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Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASRock equipped the Z97 Extreme6 with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, six USB 3.0/2.0 ports, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, two gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector, a DisplayPort, a DVI port and an optical out as well as an analogue audio panel. Furtheremore you'll also find a clear CMOS button.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| The Z97 Extreme6 from ASRock is definitely an interesting board. Next to an attractive design in black and blue all the different connectors for storage media are interesting. Therefore it doesn't matter whether you want to connect standard SATA drives, drives with SATA Express connector or even M.2 SSDs. In case of the M.2 slots there is even an Ultra M.2 port offering up to 32 Gigabit per second of bandwidth (4 Gigabyte per second). On such a motherboard it's then almost standard there is a capable power design. The 12+2 phases with high-side and low-side on each driver MOSFET will guarantee stable power supply for the CPU as well as to the memory. On another note we one more like the audio solution. What you get is a Realtek ALC1150 with EMI shield and alongside the chip there are high-quality Nichicon capacitors and there is also a headphone pre-amp, which allows for connecting headphones with up to 600 Ohm impedance. | -
Design |
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| Layout | + | - | |
| Basically the ASRock Z97 Extreme6's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Also the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. Between the first and the second PCI Express x16 slot there are two free slots which means that the first card in a SLI/CrossFire setup gets plenty of fresh air. Another detail we liked is the position of the first PCI-Express x1 slot, that has been located right above the first PCI-Express x16 Gen 3.0 slot. This ensures, that you always have a free x1 slot that can be equipped. | - Angled SATA connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Luca Rocchi l.rocchi@ocaholic.ch