Asrock Z97 Extreme 4 Motherboard Review: Bang-for-Buck Beast

Final Thoughts about the Asrock Z97 Extreme 4

Offering a lot more features for the same price or as their competitors seems to be ASRock’s style, and it certainly has served them well and in turn, the consumers get more value. It is not just in a manner of tactile extras such as on-board buttons, debug LED and switchable dual-BIOS, but also in quality of component selection using Japanese Nichicon 12K caps for the entire board as well as Nichicon Fine Gold caps for the audio subsection when competitors in the same price range are content with Taiwanese capacitors.

VRM requirements for LGA1150 CPUs are not steep so most use the 4-phase design but the Extreme 4 takes it a step further with a 6-phase hybrid digital controller and synchronous rectified single-package MOSFET circuit. In terms of UEFI, ASRock kept it simple utilizing the same layout as their initial UEFI design found on their previous boards including on the AM3+ 990FX Fatal1ty. Overclocking was all in one page (under OC Tweaker) and the P2.10 update actually improved it quite a bit from the P1.80 bundled out of the box. Not only does this update add Broadwell CPU support, it also adds Crystalwell IGP overclocking support as well as better auto-rules function overall.

The wealth of features and keeping the price at $149 makes one wonder where the compromises have been made to keep it that affordable. Many manufacturers have chosen to forego additional SATA, USB 3.0, M.2 and SATA Express options in this price range but ASRock has provided it all. Even the audio subsystem uses the popular Realtek ALC1150 and the Gigabit Ethernet is from Intel. The most obvious cut-back would be in the IO shield with its plain metallic, non-padded surface but that hardly factors in at all as that can easily be painted and modded. I will take a plain metal IO plate anyday if it means more features I could use onboard. The PCB is noticeably thinner compared to other boards but these new glass fabric PCBs are able to surprisingly maintain integrity even with a heavier Noctua NH-D15 heatsink weight load used. It does not even buck when mounted on a floating test bed, staying level and flat. For those looking for USB 3.1 support, a newer version of the Extreme 4 that costs $15 more is available and for $15 more as well sits the fiercest competitor around the same price range which is the Z97 Extreme 6 which adds significantly impressive features such as Ultra M.2 tied to PCI-E 3.0 x4 on the CPU, an ASRock exclusive feature. The Z97 Extreme 6 also gets dual-LAN, additional SATA ports, Thunderbolt AIC and eSATA support. If the ASRock Extreme 6 was the Z97 mainboard on the test-bed instead of the ASRock Extreme 4, an Editor’s Choice award would have been easily earned (barring any major fault found) but the ASRock Extreme 4 deserves notice on its own merit and enough to earn the Modders-Inc “Must Have” award.