Which Motherboard to use?

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

Hello Everyone,

I have an i7-3770k CPU and I plan to overclock. Which of these motherboards should I use for best results? Please explain your reasoning.

ASrock Extreme4-M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Biostar TZ77A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

juanjostorreshernndez · Dec 31, 2013

ASrock Extreme4-M is for sure the best option, with great features and quality, highly recommended mobo.
I will not say Biostar in general is crap(as many people do), however has lower quality in general. and that board does not have the best reviews either:
I would never recommend Biostar mobos over AsRock to none(at least for now).

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

juanjostorreshernndez :

Well ASrock is a bigger name than Biostar, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is better. To assume it is better by default because it has more reviews or comes from a bigger company is little better than picking one at random off a table.

I would like suggestions based solely on the components. As far as companies go I already have two ASrock boards and know their customer support might as well be non-existent. It is absolutely terrible. The majority of their features advertised features are either lies or software that almost all companies have, and all of their features are questionable at best.

Now as we all know every motherboard maker has really good boards and really bad ones. So only look at components.

so far I have compared these:
AUDIO:
ASrock- Realtek ALC898
Biostar- Realtek ALC892 + Clear Tone 2 (Few extra capacitors on audio channels)
Winner=So similar that its not important.

Power Phase:
ASrock- Lies. Claims to be Digital design. 6 visible VRMs around CPU socket. Possible configurations: 6+2, 6+1, 4+4, 4+2, 3+4.
Biostar- Advertises 8-Phase CPU on the motherboard. Simply states 8-Phase power design other places. Possible configuratons: 8+2, 8+1, 6+4, 6+2
Winner: Biostar

Chipset and RAM = Same

SATA:
ASrock- 4 SATA3, 4 SATA 2
Biostar- 2 SATA3, 4 SATA 2
Winner: ASrock

PCI/PCIE:
ASrock- 2 PCI-E x16 3.0, 1 PCI-E x16 2.0, 1 PCI-E x1
Biostar- 1 PCI-E x16 3.0, 1 PCI-E x16 2.0, 2 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI
Winner: Biostar. From what I have heard PCI-E x16 3.0 is really not used to its full potential and there is no real advantage over 2.0. I don't plan to upgrade my graphics ever for this build, so the 3.0 loses its advantages. More ports win.

Please help decide based on this information and other information on the products found else where, not simple by names.

todd1780 · Dec 31, 2013

It looks like you have already done a thorough comparison of features. What is stopping you from deciding based on that?
I've used both Biostar and ASRock motherboards and I certainly have my own preference. You have already looked at the features and price. Other metrics could include warranty and/or quality of their customer support.
From my experience I've been much happier with my ASRock motherboards than with Biostar. Higher quality components and more efficient use of resources (engineering) being the most important to me.

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

todd1780 :

I have looked over as much as I can, I think, and I am pretty sure the Biostar board will overclock better without really suffering any features, except SATA ports but with the added PCIE slots I can add a simple controller card to more than make up for it. I also actually already own both boards. The Biostar was bought as a replacement for a board with bent pins, but I repaired it.

I have two ASrock boards, including the one I repaired. None have been dead yet, and normally I would just stick with my ASrock board. My reason for considering to switch is more based on wanting to overclock. I haven't tested the Biostar board yet, but I was thinking cause of the higher number of phases it might overclock better. If it does, I think that would possibly offset the features it lacks when compared to the ASrock board. I am just not sure since I have never owned one.

The main reason I haven't decided yet is mostly I want a second set of eyes to help me look over things. I might be overlooking something big, or small things that add up to one being better. I am also completely unsure of the exact phase design of the systems and I am hoping that others looking over it will point out anything I have missed.

todd1780 · Dec 31, 2013

It looks like both boards have heatsinks on the VRMs so deciding by how many power phases each board has might not be a bad idea. They both look like good quality boards.

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

todd1780 :

Yea. That is more what I was thinking, but I'm not the best when it comes to power phases. I can't accurately tell. Everyone keeps saying CPU VRMs are only on the left of the CPU socket, but that would mean the ASrock board has 3 and the Biostar has 4 for the CPU, and they have an equal number for the rest of the system. It seems most of the time the board makers try to give more to the CPU so this seems inaccurate. Also there are 4 other places on both boards with cubed components which look exactly like the VRMs but a little smaller. They are by the CPU power connector and by the RAM slots. I keep wanting to think two of those 4 are for the MOSFETs, one is a smaller VRM for the RAM, and the other for the hypertransporter but its really not clear.

If you are any good at telling them apart would you mind having a look on the boards and tell me what you think? I appreciate your help comparing these parts.

todd1780 · Dec 31, 2013

From what I can tell the Biostar uses 6+1 power phase and the ASRock uses 7+1. From what I can tell the ASRock board uses digital VRMs and the Biostar uses some kind of analog mosfets that I'm not familiar with.

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

todd1780 :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138353&Tpk=Tz77a

Sorry, I just realized that my links earlier may not be working, cause I clicked to ensure that the links I had were correct.

The two boards are Biostar TZ77A and Asrock Extreme4-M. I'm not really good at counting them and the Asrock board might have 7+1, but the Biostar has at least 8 going somewhere. It might be a 6+2.c

Yea the ASrock reports a digital VRM, but I have heard several sources show this to be wrong. ASrock lies about it and tries to get away with it. One source showed the actually chip on the board and showed to it be analog. One person said it was hybrid like MSI, and another guy said that ASrock with older boards attempted digital and switched back to analog. So it is either hybrid now or analog, not completely certain which.

Biostar is pretty straight forward and it uses analog VRMs. This is all another part of the confusion why I wasn't sure, because I think hybrid would be better, but since they lie and say its digital you cannot be sure what you are getting.

juanjostorreshernndez · Dec 31, 2013

my first post is based on my modest experience with mobos.(13 years of suffering with mine and client PCs)

1-the CPU voltage regulator circuit of the AsRock Extreme4-M has four phases for the CPUmain voltage(Vcc A.k.a Vcore), one for the CPU VSA voltage(memory controler), and one for the CPU VTT voltage (PCI express and DMI interfaces). Therefore, it uses a "4+1+1" configuration, which is incorrectly advertised by the manufacturer as "4+2".

2-The voltage regulator is controlled by an L6718 integrated circuit, using a digital design, which is superior to the hybrid desing usually seen on motherboards from AsRock.

however, power phases design is not the only thing to consider when doing overclocking activities, even every tiny bios option configuration plays an important role when doing this.(this particular AsRock OC bios conf is just flawless, been on this range of mobos )

About Biostar, its build quality on mid and lowest end boards is just terrible. However, as everything in life, hardware is a matter of luck also, whatever branded.
Happy new year.

IInuyasha74 · Dec 31, 2013

juanjostorreshernndez :

That's usually the best thing to base it on when it comes to buying, because for most with the right chipset it only matters the best manufacturer.

Thank you for this information, its exactly the kind of thing I am looking for and extremely helpful. So the ASrock Extreme 4-M board has a 4+1+1 configuration. Not 100% sure the difference between 4+1+1 and 4+2, but I understand enough of it.

As for the voltage regulator, I will take a closer look to double check the numbers on this chip to see if it does have a digital design.

I know it isn't the only thing I should consider, just using it to help with the decision. If the ASrock is a digital 4+1+1 and assuming the Biostar is at worst a 6+2, without considering any other factors which of the two power systems would you think is better?

I have toyed with the ASrock bios, and it might just be me but I have a little trouble with it. For a lot of the power options related to the CPU it wants to use either "Auto" or + or - some amount. It doesn't let me simply set them to a constant 0 and gives me worries it is re-arranging itself without my knowing. I keep having to rest my RAM power also, because every time I change my system in any way it wants to boost the RAM from 1.5 to 1.585.

This is one of their $120 boards so hopefully the quality is a little better.

Thanks again for your help. Happy new year

IInuyasha74 · Jan 1, 2014

So I dug into my system and inspected the PWM chip and found it to be an L6718, which is just an analog 4+1 chip. It looks to be 6 VRMs around the CPU slot, but either the company doesn't count one of the phases in the documentation for some reason, or somehow ASrock has extended it slightly.
http://sinhardware.com/index.php/vrm-articles/113-digital-vs-analog-pwms/74-analog-vs-digital-pwms

Regardless it is not digital or hybrid. Kind of wish I had got the ASrock Extreme4 full ATX board forever ago, but didn't really have room for it then. Owell.

So the Biostar certainly has more phases.

IInuyasha74 · Jan 4, 2014

I now have both boards in my possession and it turns out that Biostar is a much better board this time. There is a trade off between more PCI ports instead of more SATA ports on the ASrock board, but thats more because I went from an mATX to full ATX.

However the Biostar board has a much better PWM chip and design. The PWM chip is a 6+1 HYBRID design. Granted they advertised an 8 phase CPU design which means they lied. Thats printed right on the motherboard. It does have 8 chokes so I think they might of slipped in a small chip under the heat spreaders so its not clear what they did. Regardless, be it 6 or 8 phases to the CPU, its more than the ASrock board and a better chip so it is clearly superior.

I am having a few minor issues with my overclock, but I think they are related to the OS. So far it is stable at 4.3Ghz using less power and producing less heat than the ASrock board though, while the ASrock board had stability issues at 4.2Ghz.

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