The Intel LGA1150 Haswell Owners Thread & Survey (H.O.T.S)

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Blobs on super shiny background...

 

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Waterproof?

Spot on!

1st time seeing such detailed effort from a manufacturer in going such great lengths to do so... blobs and even ponds too (definitely not flooding).

 

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Anyone wanna try guessing... ?


Incoming 2

What's this?

And this?

 

[MacClipper]

DDR3-3000 - tokong? Not!
Interesting article and arguments...

G.Skill TridentX 8GB DDR3-2933 Memory Kit Review | Overclockers

However, because it fails to do the one thing that higher-priced, higher-spec’ed memory should do – out-perform its cheaper-by-a-long-shot little brother – it doesn’t get to be Overclockers Approved either.

The Truth About Hynix MFR-based Memory Kits - hwbot.org

Since Computex many reviews of Hynix MFR based memory appeared online. I must say most of them are very disappointing, as most kits get awards for these horribly priced underwhelming performance memory kits. The performance of MFR-based memory is very low.
...
I realize I might not be making a lot of friends with this news post as it seems that most of the media, journalists and marketing teams would rather have people be quiet about the performance of MFR-based memory. However, right is right and wrong is wrong. Anyone can put Hynix MFR on a memory kit and get to DDR3-3400 with a slight voltage boost, the right timings, and a good CPU.

 

[betadyne]

I just bought 4670K and Arsock Z87 mini-itx board. Giving my AMD system to my parents (they using to play bejeweled though....lol).

Wanted the Asus board but not available so bo pian.

 

[MacClipper]

SMART Monitoring UEFI Option
Posted as requested, the way you want it...

HTH

 

[ChandlerBing]

SMART Monitoring UEFI Option
Posted as requested, the way you want it...

HTH

Thanks Mac! Yup it was the same under my previous ASUS board's BIOS too, but strangely (and sorely) missing from my new Gigabyte's BIOS. Very annoying.

I've sent an email to Giga's tech support. Not expecting much from them but let's see what they say. IF they reply, that is.

PS: Funny thing is, AIDA64's SMART section was able to display the SMART status of all my drives, but for some reason HDTune reads them as 'not available'. I wonder why.

 

[MacClipper]

Some more advanced level gems from the man...

Some basic info for Z87 oc formula & Z87M oc formula here

1.bclk oc : if u want to do run-time bclk overclocking in XP or win7&8 , u "must" install Intel ME driver .

without this driver , it is impossible to change bclk in OS level. here is the download link

[url]http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/IntelMEDriver1372.rar

2.cpu ratio : ME driver is not required , if u want a clean os without any driver , you still can do cpu ratio overclocking.


3.rapid OC software . This is tiny rapid oc software by Asrock . It can be operated by button on Z87 OCF , also hot key by keyboard.

http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z87OCFtool0612.rar






http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z87MOCF131A.rar Z87M OCF

http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z87OCF141A.rar Z87 OCF

[/url]

 

[MacClipper]

Asrock Z87 OC Formula

Asrock Z87 OC Formula

You really have to hand it to Nick Shih*... eversince this young overclocker was headhunted down by Asrock, he's been injecting a refreshing breath of great ideas into the staid hardware scene. And his latest masterpiece is the Z87 OC Formula which has already grabbed the attention of the o'cing crowd by the neck.
*NickShih @ HWBOT


Official Site
ASRock > Z87 OC Formula/ac

The second that you hold the Z87 OC Formula in your hands, you will know immediately that you are in for a totally different kind of hardware experience. This monster mobo looks so different from any other out there cos it gives new meaning to shiny new toy.

Yes, it simply gleams like the yellow supercar depicted on the mobo box packaging but no, this gleam is not from Carnauba waxing but from its unique factory applied Conformal coating. And it is a very generous coating indeed as can be seen from the plentiful blobs and pools of Conformal around potential shorting spots.

Conformal coating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- protection against moisture, dust, chemicals, and temperature extremes


Packaging

Unboxing
- care in packaging, securely tied down like King Kong

to be contd....

 

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reserved space

 

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Yes from his signature onboard, you will definitely know it is his creation, Nich Shih that is.


...

 

[MacClipper]

Mega-storage - 10 x SATA3!

Onboard Measuring Points & Feature Buttons

Dual 8 pin ATX12V Power Plugs

Purty Purity Sound
Latest ALC1150 audio

Onboard Dip Switches and Triple Front USB3 Connector/Headers!

Mini PCI-e Slot

Onboard OLED Display
Ole! Ole! No, you can't take that away from me... no chance of misplacing this one.

Conformal Coating
So they do call you Mr Slick for good reasons, huh... ?

...

 

[MacClipper]

En Garde!
Plastic protector layer - l'attenzione to details astounds...

Bling Bling!
Got your number?

Finally yes, manage to catch the elusive OC Formula splash screen!

Sample UEFI Screens

Super clock up, no cock up!
Higher and Higher Memory Clocks! Z87M OC Formula Breaks World Record Again with Memory Running at DDR3 4285.6MHz!
Another New World Record: Nick Shih Overclocked Intel i7-4770K CPU To 6.95GHz With ASRock Z87M OC Formula!

And it's the SMART option for ChandlerBing (sadly missing on his other brand mobo, now that's an unfortunate cockup!)

Galore of onboard sensors... gratuitous overkill!

...

 

[MacClipper]

Testing
Since so many of the extreme heavies are all going nuts, whacking their balls pots and rocking hard with this mobo and its lil mATX bro, I'll just let the facts speak for themselves... end of testing post. j/k

#1 Memory Clock World Record - NickShih`s 2145.2 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
CPU-Z Validator 3.1

And the team that did this... rightmost is Nich Shih himself.

Other testing links
Asrock Z87(M) OC formula series bios/tools trouble shotting - hwbot.org
ASROCK Z87M OC + AVEXIR DDR3000 Very tight Sub-timing - hwbot.org
Splave's How To OC Samsung IC with ASRock Z87 OCF - hwbot.org
Asrock Z87 OC Formula initial PSC testing - hwbot.org
Asrock Z87 OC Formula / G.Skill F3-2600C10D-8GTXD @ LN2 - hwbot.org
Some fun on Asrock OCF - hwbot.org
"66 = 55's" - hwbot.org
**[Official]]** ASRock z87 OC Formula + (M) Thread
Asrock Z87 OC Formula! Yeah!


As can be seen, it is currently a top weapon of choice in taking down world records for many of the LN2 addicts.


...

 

[MacClipper]

Some stuff which I have tried on the Z87 OC Formula so far... LoVo RAM UVOC tinkering!
Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3-2133C11@2400C10 Undervolted 1.55V


As well as running i5-4670K, 2 x 8 GB sticks@2400C10, undervolted to 1.55V too...


Cinebench

WinRAR

7 Zip

HyperPi 32M

AIDA64 Bench

LinX
Super short run just to glimpse at the GFlop score, (not stabilty)

xvid4PSP

HTH



PS: Let's see who can spot the one glaring discrepancy seen in 2 of the screenshots posted above, was initially holding back the screenshots till I could sort this out next week actually. Afterall, manufacturers don't reply to weekend emails...

 

[MacClipper]

Z87 OC Formula Highlights
1. longest factory warranty - 5 years
2. unique factory applied Conformal coating
3. unique onboard OLED display, no more deciphering cryptic debug codes
4. extreme memory overclock - squeezing the most out of your RAM, current world record holder of highest frequency reached by Nick Shih himself
5. extreme overclocking - spend more time o'cing and less with worrying about shorts from condensation
6. water cooling - spend more time o'cing and less with worrying about shorts from water leaks
7. yellow black Bumblebee colour theme rigs
8. Asrock famed ease of use and overclocking - straight to the point without overwhelming options
9. Nich Shih OC profiles within the UEFI - simply point and click guidance from the OC guru himself
10. SATA3 ports x 10 onboard - massive storage potential
11. 4 way SLI/CFX
...

HTH

 

[betadyne]

Testing
Since so many of the extreme heavies are all going nuts, whacking their balls pots and rocking hard with this mobo and its lil mATX bro, I'll just let the facts speak for themselves... end of testing post. j/k

#1 Memory Clock World Record - NickShih`s 2145.2 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
CPU-Z Validator 3.1

And the team that did this... rightmost is Nich Shih himself.

Other testing links
Asrock Z87(M) OC formula series bios/tools trouble shotting - hwbot.org
ASROCK Z87M OC + AVEXIR DDR3000 Very tight Sub-timing - hwbot.org
Splave's How To OC Samsung IC with ASRock Z87 OCF - hwbot.org
Asrock Z87 OC Formula initial PSC testing - hwbot.org
Asrock Z87 OC Formula / G.Skill F3-2600C10D-8GTXD @ LN2 - hwbot.org
Some fun on Asrock OCF - hwbot.org
"66 = 55's" - hwbot.org
**[Official]]** ASRock z87 OC Formula + (M) Thread
Asrock Z87 OC Formula! Yeah!


As can be seen, it is currently a top weapon of choice in taking down world records for many of the LN2 addicts.


...

No benchmarks..... I wonder if the comp is stable or simply running for screen shots?

Frankly speaking, I am not really having much interest in memory overclocking. I think we all know that Haswell don't benefit much from memory oc at all.

So far, I have never seen any reviews/reports that overclocking the memory massively results in any useful gains. Only winrar show gains from faster memory. Even I myself see no gains running memory at DDR3-2800 (other than maximising out the RAM for sake of it).

 

[MacClipper]

Freemake

 

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Handbrake

NB: Avg. CPU load is pulled down to ~97% over the 31+ mininute run mostly due to the dip during the changeover from 1st to 2nd pass.

 

[MacClipper]

Z87 mITX Pron
...looks like some lucky fella hit the jackpot, 2 at one go - wow!