Intel Z97 Express: Five Enthusiast Motherboards, $120 To $160

Z97-Machine Firmware

Trouble figuring out what all of those icons do? Clicking the Advanced icon at the top of the firmware’s opening screen brings up a traditional menu set.

With our old and factory-unlocked Core i7-4770K installed, 4.6 GHz is within easy reach.

Our DDR3-2800 kit also reached its full rated settings on the Z97-Machine, but we did need to find a couple of workarounds for menu limits. Enabling XMP disables manual frequency selection, but selecting XMP first and then switching to manual mode causes the board to keep XMP timings when entering manual mode.

But why would we want to use anything other than the stock XMP multiplier? To begin with, the board only runs in XMP mode with two modules installed, and we wanted to see how far the board could push four modules at the same timings. But then we found another workaround: setting BCLK to 98 MHz and sneaking up to 100 MHz allowed the board to finally boot with all four modules at their rated speed.

Basically, the Z97-Machine acts like a timid human when it gets surprised by a major change in settings, and I spent over half an hour in two-minute intervals waiting for the system to discharge while using the CLR_CMOS jumper. Conversely, small steps got us eventually to huge gains, without those lock-ups.

The Z97-Machine can even save up to eight overclocking profiles, just in case you’re afraid of screwing up your good settings when trying new settings.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • onover
    The table detailing the motherboard features on page 1 ... Is it just me, or is the text a bit small?
    Reply
  • makishima
    The table detailing the motherboard features on page 1 ... Is it just me, or is the text a bit small?
    I find it small
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    I'd like to see a review on the significance of the 'killer' NICs... I highly doubt they have any difference besides branding.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    so intel it seems doesn't have much faith in their own thunderbolt considering there is no thunderbolt ports on this new chipset!
    Reply
  • H4X3R
    The Asrock one is better. Not everyone will be using XSplit, and as tradesman1 (a moderator on this site) said "I myself won't touch MSI mobos due to the poor QC".
    Reply
  • Crashman
    13285086 said:
    so intel it seems doesn't have much faith in their own thunderbolt considering there is no thunderbolt ports on this new chipset!
    READ PAGE ONE to find out why this chipset has the same features as the previous chipset.

    Reply
  • H4X3R
    Good review :) I am looking forward to the best price:features motherboard review though (extreme6). I have a quick question crashman: Do asrock still use Capxxon caps (or just crappy caps in general). I would like to know the company of the caps if possible, once again, thank you :)
    Reply
  • Crashman
    13285142 said:
    Good review :) I am looking forward to the best price:features motherboard review though (extreme6). I have a quick question crashman: Do asrock still use Capxxon caps (or just crappy caps in general). I would like to know the company of the caps if possible, once again, thank you :)
    I wish I knew. It appears that they get their caps custom-wrapped to get the gold color, and that the custom wrapping only has specifications (no branding).

    Reply
  • tarkhein
    I'd like to see a review on the significance of the 'killer' NICs... I highly doubt they have any difference besides branding.

    Not exactly the most comprehensive review, but here is Asus' take on NICs: http://rog.asus.com/312772014/labels/guides/tried-and-tested-why-intel-ethernet-is-still-better-for-gaming/
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    Of course, they're testing throughput, and latency is what is generally considered to matter.
    Reply