ASRock Z170 OC Formula Review

How We Test, Results & Conclusion

How We Test

Test System Components

We’re using our standardized test system, minus its LGA 2011 motherboard, CPU and DDR4-2400, to measure the performance of every LGA 1151 test board. Replacements for those parts include today’s Z170 OC Formula motherboard, Intel’s Core i7-6700K, and G.Skill’s overclockable Ripjaws V DDR4-3600.

Drivers

Benchmark Suite

Comparison Motherboards

Test Results

Synthetics

Image 1 of 7

Because these are able to stress specific components harshly, synthetic benchmarks are a great way to search for performance problems within a system. The Z170 OC Formula for example returned slightly lower-than-average default memory bandwidth, which in turn increased the encoding/decoding turnaround time in Sandra Cryptography. Now let’s see if any real-world benchmarks are noticeably impacted.

Gaming

Image 1 of 4

Other than its fourth-place finish in our lowest Far Cry 3 test, the Z170 Formula finishes near the top throughout our gaming suite. That one “exception” to its own performance isn’t all that exceptional in the overall comparison though, since a different board took fifth place.

Applications

Image 1 of 4

The Z170 OC Formula also ties for last place in our Apple iTunes audio transcoding test — its one second difference usually comes down to a few milliseconds, plus rounding. The largest standout was the previous one second gain of the Z170A Gaming M7, since rounding usually occurs between 48 and 49 seconds in that app.

Power, Heat & Efficiency

ASRock’s Z170 OC Formula uses a little extra power at idle, but its full-load power is the best we’ve seen. That could be related to a slightly lower default CPU voltage or less “ripple,” as either of those things would correspond to its slightly lower full-load CPU temperature.

Image 1 of 4

With a performance rating 99.9% of the average for all eight Z170 boards tested (three more than the five shown), the Z170 OC Formula leverages its low full-load power consumption for a three percent above average efficiency rating.

Overclocking

The Z170 OC Formula gets its name from overclocking, and a great overclock is needed to justify a lofty price from a board that might otherwise be compared to a mainstream motherboard’s controller set.

I have to admit that this is fairly impressive. I was told by the makers of this memory that only a particular board could push it to DDR4-3600, and that particular competitor cheats on voltage to get there. Yet ASRock’s Z170 OC Formula pushed this RAM to DDR4-3672 even after dropping its DIMM voltage to an actual, fair and just 1.35 volts.

And a chart-topping BCLK is also a nice thing to have. The Z170 even pushed the CPU core to 4646 MHz for around 15 minutes, but the eventual crash dropped it into a three-way 4.6 GHz tie.

In spite of its slight loss at DDR4-2133 defaults, the ASRock Z170 OC Formula pushes high memory bandwidth when overclocking. That’s important, because several previously tested products had used extra-loose automatic timings to top overclocking charts.

Conclusion

There’s more to the Z170 OC Formula than overclocking, including a builder’s-choice of triple PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 connectors or triple SATA-E, yet those things are basic chipset functions that cost little to implement. Slot spacing for four-way CrossFireX coupled with slot-disabling switches is gimmicky given the board’s x8-x4-x4-x4 configuration, especially when one of those cards is sharing the Z170 PCH’s 32 Gbps DMI with all three of those M.2 slots. A mini PCIe interface without a network controller similarly adds configuration flexibility without adding any hardware that would improve the product’s features-to-price prospects, and the total hardware upgrades compared to a mainstream board appear to be a pair of inexpensive SATA controllers and a big voltage regulator. Yet some of those overclocking improvements were valuable even at our relatively conservative voltage levels and, lacking any other products in this price segment to ruin ASRock’s chances, that’s enough to get this somewhat expensive board our basic stamp of approval.

MORE: Best MotherboardsMORE:
How To Choose A Motherboard
MORE: All Motherboard Content

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware, covering Cases, Cooling, Memory and Motherboards. Follow him onTwitter.

Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.