Review: Asrock H97 Performance
- Thread starter Jarrax
- Start date
With the release of the Haswell refresh and Devil Canyon processors from Intel, we have come to see a new batch of motherboards based on the 97 chipsets to complement these new processors.
Today, we are looking at a new offering from Asrock, the H97 Performance. The specification for this board is as follows:
ASRock > Fatal1ty H97 Performance
Prior to starting, let me express my sincere thanks to Avertek for letting me have the chance to tinker around with this awesome piece of hardware. As I’m not a prominent enough reviewer, I hope that my opinions would be able to bring out the best of this motherboard so as to not bore viewers of this review.
A variant of the enthuasist Z97 chipset, the H97 chipset from Intel is meant to be a mainstream chipset for the general user. A comparsion between Z97 and H97 has also been compiled both from Intel and prominent users and reviewers overseas.
Today, we are looking at a new offering from Asrock, the H97 Performance. The specification for this board is as follows:
ASRock > Fatal1ty H97 Performance
Prior to starting, let me express my sincere thanks to Avertek for letting me have the chance to tinker around with this awesome piece of hardware. As I’m not a prominent enough reviewer, I hope that my opinions would be able to bring out the best of this motherboard so as to not bore viewers of this review.
A variant of the enthuasist Z97 chipset, the H97 chipset from Intel is meant to be a mainstream chipset for the general user. A comparsion between Z97 and H97 has also been compiled both from Intel and prominent users and reviewers overseas.
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look nice and sexy
Motherboard (continued)
Dual BIOS is a nice addition to a H series board. The only gripe that I have with this is the use of jumpers instead of a switch. Also, the postioning of the BIOS is a bit awkward as presence of a discrete graphics card would block the BIOS from being easily accessible.
5 fan ports around the CPU socket area allows for more advanced cooling solutions with multiple fans to be installed onto the chip itself. A definate improvement from its predessor, the H87 Professional. The molex is to add additional power to the PCIe lanes.
Purity Sound 2 utilizes Realtek’s ALC1150, which is also used in the previous generation and the new Z97 series. Note the shielding on the board, which helps to purify the fluctations in the electrostatic signals. It is also worthwhile to note that the shielding is incomplete, which may/may not affect performance to a certain extent.
8 power phases allows for stable voltage supply to the processor. Another 2 phases are allocated to the RAM slots. It is nice to note that the same type of power phase and chokes are also used in the Z97 boards, which goes to show the commitment that Asrock has to provide quality components across their whole range of products.
Connectivity options include 6x SATA ports, 2x USB 2.0 headers (the USB 3.0 header is next to the ATX power header), COM1 port, 1x 3-pin fan port and front panel port.
Dual BIOS is a nice addition to a H series board. The only gripe that I have with this is the use of jumpers instead of a switch. Also, the postioning of the BIOS is a bit awkward as presence of a discrete graphics card would block the BIOS from being easily accessible.
5 fan ports around the CPU socket area allows for more advanced cooling solutions with multiple fans to be installed onto the chip itself. A definate improvement from its predessor, the H87 Professional. The molex is to add additional power to the PCIe lanes.
Purity Sound 2 utilizes Realtek’s ALC1150, which is also used in the previous generation and the new Z97 series. Note the shielding on the board, which helps to purify the fluctations in the electrostatic signals. It is also worthwhile to note that the shielding is incomplete, which may/may not affect performance to a certain extent.
8 power phases allows for stable voltage supply to the processor. Another 2 phases are allocated to the RAM slots. It is nice to note that the same type of power phase and chokes are also used in the Z97 boards, which goes to show the commitment that Asrock has to provide quality components across their whole range of products.
Connectivity options include 6x SATA ports, 2x USB 2.0 headers (the USB 3.0 header is next to the ATX power header), COM1 port, 1x 3-pin fan port and front panel port.
BIOS
The new colour scheme looks pretty pleasing to the eyes and matches their color scheme of the board.
If any of you remember, Asrock was the 1st motherboard manufacturer to allow restricted overclocking of Haswell K chips on a non Z87 series board. Intel did actively respond stating that non Z series overclocking is not officially supported and will be blocked (Intel Actively Blocking Haswell Non-Z OC For K-Series Processors on H87/B75 Motherboards), but this trend has spread and persisted to the other board manufacturers.
With the release of the H97 series, it looks like the (officially not supported) overclocking is available again, as shown in the images below. It is just not as detailed and complete as compared to the Z series motherboards, where you can change multipliers and even bus speeds.
they have even included an OC setting for the GPU. However, it's use at your own risk of burning your own card. You have been forewarned.
However, it seems that RAM overclocking is not allowed. It is also worthwhile to note that dividers are also missing in the H97 series, while it should be present in the Z97, similarly to the Z87 boards.
Vcore voltage can also be actively adjusted accordingly to individual specifications, in steps of 0.005 V.
Instant Flash is one of the 3 method to flash the BIOS on this board (the others being using DOS or inside Windows).
Asrock is also the 1st manufacturer to implement a dehumidifer function on their motherboard. It is meant to protect the motherboard from high humidity that may accumulate in an enclosed casing.
The new colour scheme looks pretty pleasing to the eyes and matches their color scheme of the board.
If any of you remember, Asrock was the 1st motherboard manufacturer to allow restricted overclocking of Haswell K chips on a non Z87 series board. Intel did actively respond stating that non Z series overclocking is not officially supported and will be blocked (Intel Actively Blocking Haswell Non-Z OC For K-Series Processors on H87/B75 Motherboards), but this trend has spread and persisted to the other board manufacturers.
With the release of the H97 series, it looks like the (officially not supported) overclocking is available again, as shown in the images below. It is just not as detailed and complete as compared to the Z series motherboards, where you can change multipliers and even bus speeds.
they have even included an OC setting for the GPU. However, it's use at your own risk of burning your own card. You have been forewarned.
However, it seems that RAM overclocking is not allowed. It is also worthwhile to note that dividers are also missing in the H97 series, while it should be present in the Z97, similarly to the Z87 boards.
Vcore voltage can also be actively adjusted accordingly to individual specifications, in steps of 0.005 V.
Instant Flash is one of the 3 method to flash the BIOS on this board (the others being using DOS or inside Windows).
Asrock is also the 1st manufacturer to implement a dehumidifer function on their motherboard. It is meant to protect the motherboard from high humidity that may accumulate in an enclosed casing.
To be fair to the Fata1ty H97 Performance, we would not be expecting it’s overclocking performance to be at the level of the Z97 boards. However, we would still expect a decent performance out of the available hardware.
Clocking the 4770K at 4.5 GHz / 1.325 V seems to be pretty decent. IMHO, the high voltage used seems to be due to a degraded chip instead of the board’s incapability to overclock it properly, thus leading to the high temperatures. However, YMMV depending on the luck of draw on the silicon and your cooling setup.
Possible updates to be followed: putting the Devil Canyon’s 4790K and the Pentium 20th Anniversary K edition chip G3258 to the test with the Fata1ty H97 Performance!
With the release of the 9 series chipset from Intel, Asrock has introduced a range of different boards that caters to different groups of consumers. From the enthusiast grade Z97 Extreme 9 to the mainstream level H97 Pro4 (ASRock > Motherboard Series), there is definitely a board that would be able to handle your requirements. The release of the Fata1ty H97 Performance has also introduced a product that is mainstream in terms of features, high classed in performance but yet reasonably low in pricing. To most consumers who are looking for a new board for their new CPU, do look at this board as your next possible selection!
Clocking the 4770K at 4.5 GHz / 1.325 V seems to be pretty decent. IMHO, the high voltage used seems to be due to a degraded chip instead of the board’s incapability to overclock it properly, thus leading to the high temperatures. However, YMMV depending on the luck of draw on the silicon and your cooling setup.
Possible updates to be followed: putting the Devil Canyon’s 4790K and the Pentium 20th Anniversary K edition chip G3258 to the test with the Fata1ty H97 Performance!
With the release of the 9 series chipset from Intel, Asrock has introduced a range of different boards that caters to different groups of consumers. From the enthusiast grade Z97 Extreme 9 to the mainstream level H97 Pro4 (ASRock > Motherboard Series), there is definitely a board that would be able to handle your requirements. The release of the Fata1ty H97 Performance has also introduced a product that is mainstream in terms of features, high classed in performance but yet reasonably low in pricing. To most consumers who are looking for a new board for their new CPU, do look at this board as your next possible selection!
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