ASRock Z77 OC Formula Motherboard Review

Specifications

General
CPU – Supports 3rd and 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 in LGA1155 Package
– 12 + 4 Power Phase Design
– Supports Intel® Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology
– Supports Intel® K-Series unlocked CPU
– Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
Chipset – Intel® Z77
– Supports Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect Technology

*Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect Technology are only supported under Windows® 7 OS or later versions.

Memory – Dual Channel DDR3 memory technology
– 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots
– Supports DDR3 3000+(OC) / 2800(OC) / 2666(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

*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 GUI support (1 x Main BIOS and 1 x Recovery Backup BIOS)
– Supports “Plug and Play”
– ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
– SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
– CPU Core, IGPU, DRAM, 1.8V PLL, VTT, VCCSA Voltage Multi-adjustment
Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics – Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video 2.0, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® Insider™, Intel® HD Graphics 2500/4000 with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU
– Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® HD Graphics 2000/3000, Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU
– Pixel Shader 5.0, DirectX 11 with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU. Pixel Shader 4.1, DirectX 10.1 with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU
– Max. shared memory 1760MB with Intel® Ivy Bridge CPU. Max. shared memory 1759MB with Intel® Sandy Bridge CPU
– Supports HDMI 1.4a Technology with max. resolution up to 1920×1200 @ 60Hz
– Supports Auto Lip Sync, Deep Color (12bpc), xvYCC and HBR (High Bit Rate Audio) with HDMI (Compliant HDMI monitor is required)
– Supports HDCP function with HDMI port
– Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback with HDMI port

*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® Vista™ and Windows® 7.

***Intel® InTru™ 3D is only supported under Windows® 7 and Windows® 7 x64.

Audio – 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC898 Audio Codec)
– Premium Blu-ray audio support
– Supports THX TruStudio™
LAN – PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
– Broadcom BCM57781
– Supports Wake-On-LAN
– Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
– Supports PXE
Expansion / Connectivity
Slots – 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2/PCIE4: single at x16 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4) or dual at x8/x8 mode)
– 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE5: x4 mode)
– 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots
– Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™, 3-Way CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
– Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™ and SLI™

*PCIe Gen3 is supported on 3rd Generation of Intel® Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 CPUs.

SATA3 – 2 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Intel® Z77, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions
– 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors by Marvell SE9172, support RAID (RAID 0 and RAID 1), NCQ, AHCI and “Hot Plug” functions
USB 3.0 – 2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Intel® Z77, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s
– 4 x Rear USB 3.0 ports by Etron EJ188H, support USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s
– 1 x Front USB 3.0 header by Intel® Z77 (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports), supports USB 1.0/2.0/3.0 up to 5Gb/s
Connector – 4 x SATA2 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
– 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connectors
– 1 x IR header
– 1 x CIR header
– 1 x COM port header
– 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
– 1 x Power LED header
– V-Probe™: 2 x 7-set of onboard voltage measurement points laid
– 2 x CPU Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 1 x 3-pin)
– 4 x Chassis Fan connectors (1 x 4-pin, 3 x 3-pin)
– 1 x Power Fan connector (3-pin)
– 1 x MOS Fan connector (3-pin)
– 24 pin ATX power connector
– 8 pin 12V power connector
– 4 pin 12V power connector
– SLI/XFire power connector
– Front panel audio connector
– 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 6 USB 2.0 ports)
– 1 x USB 3.0 header (supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)
– 1 x Dr. Debug with LED
– 1 x Power Switch with LED
– 1 x Reset Switch with LED
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
– Rapid OC Button: +/- buttons to adjust OC frequency
– 1 x PCIe ON/OFF Switch
– 1 x Post Status Checker (PSC)
Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel
– 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
– 1 x HDMI Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
– 4 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
– 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 3.0 Ports
– 1 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1 x Clear CMOS Switch with LED
– HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Other Features / Miscellaneous
OC Formula Kit OC Formula Power Kit
– Digi Power
– Dual-Stack MOSFET (DSM)
– Multiple Filter Cap (MFC) (Filter different noise by 3 different capacitors: DIP solid cap, POSCAP and MLCC)
– Premium Alloy Choke (Reduce 70% core loss compare to iron powder choke)
OC Formula Connector Kit
– Hi-Density Power Connector
– 15μGold Finger (CPU and memory sockets)
OC Formula Cooling Kit
– Twin-Power Cooling (Combine active air cooling and water cooling)
– 8 Layer PCB, 4 x 2oz copper
– GELID Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound
Unique Feature – Formula Drive
– ASRock Instant Boot
– 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 Dehumidifier Function
– ASRock Interactive UEFI
– NickShih’s OC Profile
– Fine-Tuning V-Controller
– Timing Configurator
– Lucid Virtu Universal MVP
Hybrid Booster:
– ASRock U-COP
– Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
– Combo Cooler Option (C.C.O.)
– Good Night LED

*Lucid Virtu Universal MVP can be supported only with processors which are GPU integrated.

**LucidLogix Virtu MVP only supports Windows® 7 OS or later versions.

Support CD – Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version), CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, ASRock MAGIX Multimedia Suite – OEM
Accessories – 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_2S Card
– Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
– 6 x SATA Data Cables
– 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables
– 1 x Front USB 3.0 Panel
– 4 x HDD Screws
– 6 x Chassis Screws
– 1 x Rear USB 3.0 Bracket
– 10 x OC Stands
– GELID GC-Extreme Thermal Compound
Hardware Monitor – CPU/Chassis/Power/MOS Temperature Sensing
– CPU/Chassis/Power/MOS Fan Tachometer
– CPU/Chassis/MOS Quiet Fan (Allows Chassis Fan Speed Auto-Adjust by CPU Temperature)
– CPU/Chassis/MOS Fan Multi-Speed Control
– Multi Thermal Sensor
– Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore
Form Factor – CEB Form Factor: 12.0-in x 10.5-in, 30.5 cm x 26.7 cm
– Premium Gold Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)
OS – Microsoft® Windows® 7 / 7 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit / XP / XP 64-bit compliant
Certifications – FCC, CE, WHQL
– ErP/EuP Ready (ErP/EuP ready power supply is required)