ASRock Z370M Pro4 Review: A Z370 Value?
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How We Test
As the cheapest Z370 board we've tested, the Z370M Pro4 has a natural pricing advantage against the second, third and fourth cheapest boards we've tested (we're excluding Mini-ITX size motherboards in that statement.)
Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
Graphics Driver | GeForce 382.53 |
Back during the Intel X299 launch, we upgraded our test bed to handle the tremendous heat produced by the Intel Core i9-7900X. The award-winning Fractal Design S24 liquid cooler system serves the same purpose for the newer, lower-heat Core i7-8700K. Cooler Master’s HAF-XB provides an optimal layout to blow the S24’s fans sufficiently over each motherboard’s voltage regulator.
Comparison Products
All four competing boards have a broader range of overclocking settings than any production hardware can realistically use, which should lead us into a highly competitive overclocking race!
Benchmark Settings
Synthetic Benchmarks & Settings | |
PCMark 8 | Version 2.7.613Home, Creative, Work, Storage, Applications (Adobe & Microsoft) |
3DMark 13 | Version 4.47.597.0Skydiver, Firestrike, Firestrike Extreme Default Presets |
SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2016.03.22.21CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth |
DiskSPD | 4K Random Read, 4K Random Write128K Sequential Read, 128K Sequential Write |
Cinebench R15 | Build RC83328DEMOOpenGL Benchmark |
CompuBench | Version 1.5.8Face Detection, Optical Flow, Ocean Surface, Ray Tracing |
Application Tests & Settings | |
LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s) |
HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x265 mp4 |
Blender | Version 2.68aBMW 27 CPU Render Benchmark, BMW 27 GPU Render Benchmark |
7-Zip | Version 16.02THG-Workload (7.6GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=9" |
Adobe After Effects CC | Release 2015.3.0, Version 13.8.0.144PCMark-driven routine |
Adobe Photoshop CC | Release 2015.5.0, 20160603.r.88 x64PCMark-driven routine (light and heavy) |
Adobe InDesign CC | Release 2015.4, Build 11.4.0.90 x64PCMark-driven routine |
Adobe Illustrator | Release 2015.3.0, Version 20.0.0 (64-bit)PCMark-driven routine |
Game Tests & Settings | |
Ashes of the Singularity | Version 1.31.21360High Preset - 1,920x1,080, Mid Shadow Quality, 1x MSAACrazy Preset - 1,920x1,080, High Shadow Quality, 2x MSAA |
F1 2015 | 2015 Season, Abu Dhabi Track, RainMedium Preset, No AFUltra High Preset, 16x AF |
Metro Last Light Redux | Version 3.00 x64High Quality, 1920x1080, High Tesselation, 16x AFVery High Quality, 1920x1080, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF |
The Talos Principle | Version 267252Medium Preset, High Quality, High Tesselation, 4x AFUltra Preset, Very High Quality, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF |
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Lutfij Is it possible that the lack of a thermal solution atop the top row of power phases as well as ample heatsink height on the power delivery between the socket and the rear I/O is the reason for thermal throttling or is it due to the lack of good quality VRM's?Reply -
Crashman
It appears to be a problem of an inadequate cooling solution. Perhaps the engineers thought everyone would use a downdraft cooler or a lower-model processor...21289531 said:Is it possible that the lack of a thermal solution atop the top row of power phases as well as ample heatsink height on the power delivery between the socket and the rear I/O is the reason for thermal throttling or is it due to the lack of good quality VRM's?
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Co BIY Would this board be able to power the i5-8400 or the i5-8600k without throttling ?Reply
Does the H370 version of this board have the same power delivery hardware? Does that limit it's ability to run the i7 or i5s at stock clocks?
I think TH neglects the i5-8600k despite it appearing to be the enthusiasts performance/value sweet spot (on the intel side at least). -
Crashman
I only have the 8700k and 8350k21290644 said:Would this board be able to power the i5-8400 or the i5-8600k without throttling ?
Does the H370 version of this board have the same power delivery hardware? Does that limit it's ability to run the i7 or i5s at stock clocks?
I think TH neglects the i5-8600k despite it appearing to be the enthusiasts performance/value sweet spot (on the intel side at least).