AsRock Extreme4

[Soundtripper009]

Hey guys what do you think of this brand of motherboard ? I was choosing between this Gigabyte,MSI gaming boards and Asus  for  the z87 chipset. My processor is i5 4670k anyway

 

need your opinion guys.

[SAV1OUR]

id dont like asrock that much but thats my opinion theres plenty of other good options for the same prices out there 

[Ciccioo]

i have it, and i had no big problem so far

 

the only thing that i could complain for is the lack of support for 3-pins fans, i had to use a seperate dedicated hw controller for them

i don't know if other brands support those

[slasher0161]

Assuming you are in america (default assumption unless stated otherwise). You have boards like the z87M plus for literally a buck more so no way in hell I would be getting an extreme 4 at that point. They used to be a great budget board but given how close some decent boards are for cost I wouldn't. Hell personally I would drop the extra few $$$ for a G1 sniper z5s but that is mostly because I like the colour scheme. 

[Nineshadow]

I have one and I like it.Best bang/buck I could find here,but I guess you're from the US so it's different

[Ryan Leech]

It is a great motherboard. Don't let the others tell you that ASRock is bad

[JamGorby]

I have a Deluxe 4 890fx. It's OK (I got it for $50 and at that price it's excellent). However, if I didn't get such a deal I doubt I would have gone with it. The bios is confusing in it's terminology and LLC gives you the choice of either starve or fry. I only have this board from which to judge, though. So, my analysis may not be fair. 

MSI are pretty popular for high VRM and cap failure rates. http://www.overclock.net/a/database-of-motherboard-vrm-failure-incidents

I've had a few Biostar boards and their quality has gotten really good over the past few years although, at times, their board layouts are rather lacking when it comes to cable management (I had an older AM3 board that had the 24pin right in the middle of the board. Worst place for it. I learned to pay attention to photos. Thanks Biostar. lol)  

P.S. PWM on my ASRock board doesn't work for the 3 chassis fan headers even though it's advertised and there's controls for it in the bios. 

[slasher0161]

It is a great motherboard. Don't let the others tell you that ASRock is bad

 

It isn't bad it is cheaply made and it is a bad choice if he is in the US given the other board options at the same price however.

[Ryan Leech]

It isn't bad it is cheaply made and it is a bad choice if he is in the US given the other board options at the same price however.

How is it cheaply made compared to other boards?

[yuh25]

Only issue I've had with mine is its a brown PCB, so nothing major.

[slasher0161]

How is it cheaply made compared to other boards?

 

LLC is average at best (asrock still haven't quite got that right).

The brown pcb really does my head in and with lighting in the case becomes very noticable.

My z77 had random spats when it came to booting requiring it to be reset (tested the hardware in another board and couldn't replicate).

 

Far and away though the thing for me was just the board lay out, it wasn't particularly well thought out.

 

I am by no means saying it won't do the job and is a bad board, I am just saying at the price point there is better options. The biggest reason the extreme 4 was such a wide spread board for z77 was it was capable of 4.6 - 4.8ghz and had the majority of features most people needed but was cheap and fit in nicely for the average end user. Now it could have changed from z77 to z87 but I have found asrock boards tend to have quirks about them and when there is other options without the quirks at the same price point I just can't see a reason for it this chipset.

[Ryan Leech]

LLC is average at best (asrock still haven't quite got that right).

The brown pcb really does my head in and with lighting in the case becomes very noticable.

My z77 had random spats when it came to booting requiring it to be reset (tested the hardware in another board and couldn't replicate).

 

Far and away though the thing for me was just the board lay out, it wasn't particularly well thought out.

 

I am by no means saying it won't do the job and is a bad board, I am just saying at the price point there is better options. The biggest reason the extreme 4 was such a wide spread board for z77 was it was capable of 4.6 - 4.8ghz and had the majority of features most people needed but was cheap and fit in nicely for the average end user. Now it could have changed from z77 to z87 but I have found asrock boards tend to have quirks about them and when there is other options without the quirks at the same price point I just can't see a reason for it this chipset.

I have built over a dozen systems with ASRock boards and I have never encountered a a problem or failure. Yes there have been some small quirks along the way, but nothing that really mattered. I  have found that nearly every issue can be solved with a BIOS update. I built a system for a friend with the same motherboard and same issue as you, and a BIOS update fixed all of that. I have also found that ASRock boards typically overclock better than ASUS, Gigabyte(recently), and MSI boards. I have seen a 3570K get to 4.8GHz on a Z75 Pro3 only to reach 4.5GHz on an ASUS Sabertooth Z77. The Extreme4 Z87 is an awesome board that has more features than most other Z87 boards within the $200 price point.

[slasher0161]

I have built over a dozen systems with ASRock boards and I have never encountered a a problem or failure. Yes there have been some small quirks along the way, but nothing that really mattered. I  have found that nearly every issue can be solved with a BIOS update. I built a system for a friend with the same motherboard and same issue as you, and a BIOS update fixed all of that. I have also found that ASRock boards typically overclock better than ASUS, Gigabyte(recently), and MSI boards. I have seen a 3570K get to 4.8GHz on a Z75 Pro3 only to reach 4.5GHz on an ASUS Sabertooth Z77. The Extreme4 Z87 is an awesome board that has more features than most other Z87 boards within the $200 price point.

 

 

Asus Maximus VI Gene

Gigabyte UD5H

MSI Mpower

Asus Maximus VI Hero

Gigabyte G1 Sniper M5

Gigabyte Z87X - OC

MSI GD65 gaming

 

All under the $200 mark so I think you need to revise that statement.

 

Boards within $5 of the Extreme 4 (after the MIR on the extreme 4)

gigabyte z87mx-d3h

MSI z87 g55

Gigabyte z87-d3hp  (lacks sli support)

 

If you can afford sli though you can afford to drop a few more dollars on a board in all honesty.

[Lord_Kitty]

How is it cheaply made compared to other boards?

 

 

I have the Z77 Extreme3. Well, its thinner that other motherboards. Its also narrower that standard ATX mobos. Its VRM are good but outdated by today's standard. Its actually not a true 8-phase design. Its just 8 VRMs with 4 drivers. Also, the onboard sound chip died the second day I got it.

 

Other than that, its a really good board for the price.