ASRock X99M Extreme4 And Fatal1ty X99M Killer Review
ASRock is ready to take on EVGA in the battle for enthusiast-oriented microATX motherboards. Can the company best known for value conquer its gaming-centric competitor in overclocking and features, or will this be a pure pricing play?
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Power, Heat, Efficiency And Overclocking
Does a network controller pull more energy than a USB 3.0 controller? These are the major differences between ASRock’s and EVGA’s hardware configurations, and both ASRock boards require slightly more power.
A look at the voltage regulator temperatures might be revealing, as the more power-hungry ASRock X99M-series runs a little warmer than the X99 Micro. Whatever the cause for added hunger, the X99M Extreme4 and Fatal1ty X99M Killer end up around 2% below average in efficiency.
Note that all averages are for all X99 motherboards reviewed to-date. It’s a running tally that will cause class-average power consumption to go up as we address boards with better feature sets.
Overclocking
BIOS Frequency and Voltage settings (for overclocking) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Row 0 - Cell 0 | ASRock X99M Extreme4 | ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer | EVGA X99 Micro (131-HE-E995-KR) |
BIOS Version | P1.50 (09/04/2014) | P1.60 (09/04/2014) | 5.6.5 (09/19/2014) |
Base Clock | 90-300MHz (0.1MHz) | 90-300MHz (0.1MHz) | 80-250MHz (0.05MHz) |
CPU Multiplier | 12-120x (1x) | 12-120x (1x) | 12-80x (1x) |
DRAM Data Rates | 800-2666 (200/266.6MHz) | 800-2666 (200/266.6MHz) | 1200-2666 (200/266.6MHz) |
CPU Vcore | 0.80-2.00V (1mV) | 0.80-2.00V (1mV) | 0.80-2.00V (5mV) |
VCCIN | 1.20-2.30V (10mV) | 1.20-2.30V (10mV) | 1.50-3.05V (1mV) |
PCH Voltage | 0.90-1.50V (5mV) | 0.90-1.50V (5mV) | 0.90-1.60V (1mV) |
DRAM Voltage | 1.00-1.80V (10mV) | 1.00-1.80V (10mV) | 0.80-2.00V (1mV) |
CAS Latency | 4-31 Cycles | 4-31 Cycles | 5-31 Cycles |
tRCD | 5-31 Cycles | 5-31 Cycles | 5-31 Cycles |
tRP | 5-31 Cycles | 5-31 Cycles | 5-31 Cycles |
tRAS | 10-63 Cycles | 10-63 Cycles | 10-63 Cycles |
Based on the same circuit board, the X99M Extreme4 and Fatal1ty X99M Killer have the same overclocking options and ranges in firmware. Like the EVGA X99 Micro, these boards are able to hit 4.4GHz at 44 x 101MHz BCLK and 1.28V core, but aren't stable at 45 x 100MHz BCLK even with a 1.30V core. Because of this, I’ve settled with a 1.28V core as the new reference setting.
EVGA stood out as the best memory overclocker in its review, and retains that position here. The Fatal1ty X99M Killer surprises with a slightly higher BCLK at the processor’s 1.25x internal core/uncore strap ratio, and the biggest cause for surprise is that it outpaces its nearly-identical sibling.
The ASRock boards have better memory bandwidth at DDR4-2666, just as they had better bandwidth at default SPD setting (DDR4-2133). EVGA might be getting its DRAM overclocking advantage through looser timings.
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Crashman 14730663 said:Just a quick error,
Chipset for all X99 boards is listed as Z97
Fixed, thanks. In case you're wondering, that type of error occurs from continuously recycling tables. -
HideOut To bad the killer model seems to suffer a high markup at amazon according to the green link.Reply -
Lutfij Nice work Thomas! Guess you were sitting on this board in your lab for some time now huh ? :D :)Reply
Anyways, good writeup and keep em coming. Now to find someone crazy enough to shell out on a X99 platform inside an N200 ... hmmm. -
Crashman 14733470 said:Nice work Thomas! Guess you were sitting on this board in your lab for some time now huh ? :D :)
Anyways, good writeup and keep em coming. Now to find someone crazy enough to shell out on a X99 platform inside an N200 ... hmmm.
It takes a couple weeks to get stuff published, unless there's an NDA and everyone puts everything else to the side. These would be among the stuff put to the side though :(
At least you knew it was coming :) -
Mac266 14730952 said:
Fixed, thanks. In case you're wondering, that type of error occurs from continuously recycling tables.
Onya Crash. Nice review as well. -
m32 The ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer LGA 2011-v3 is selling for $250 ($230 AMIR) on Newegg. Amazon currently isn't selling it on Amazon, and 3rd parties are known to over mark products.Reply -
RedJaron Tom, what would it take to get ASRock to start putting more 4-pin fan headers on their boards? I love their products, been using a Z68 Ex4 Gen3 for three years and just built a friend's machine on an H97M Pro4. But I love quiet PCs. Having PWM signalling for all the chassis fans, and not just the CPU coolers, means it runs as quiet as possible during web surfing and other downtime.Reply