Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 Owners Thread

[ghostyroasty]

I have a3770k processor, just trying to find a good motherboard for it. I'll be putting it in a fractal design define xl Case. Would this be a good fit? Going to be my media server and main pc in basement office. Need ram to pair with it too. Any suggestions would be great!

 

[TestKing123]

I have an ASRock Extreme 4 motherboard and an OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD. These are part of a new computer build that I recently completed from Black Friday deals. Also running Windows 8 Pro and 8GB 2133Mhz Ram.

Ever since day 1 of the install, I noticed my PC never boots up properly from a cold boot. I either get a message from the BIOS startup to choose a proper boot device, or Windows 8 will start to load and then freeze.

I have to reboot the PC (reset button) at least 2 or 3 times before Windows 8 will load properly all the way. Always from a cold boot. I notice if the computer is already on for a while, it reboots fine if I need to.

What in McCain's glass garden is going on here? Something in my BIOS? Bad SSD? Its set to ACHPI and TRIM is verified on in Windows 8. Anybody else experience this issue? Solutions?

 

[jonjonjon]

I have an ASRock Extreme 4 motherboard and an OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD. These are part of a new computer build that I recently completed from Black Friday deals. Also running Windows 8 Pro and 8GB 2133Mhz Ram.

Ever since day 1 of the install, I noticed my PC never boots up properly from a cold boot. I either get a message from the BIOS startup to choose a proper boot device, or Windows 8 will start to load and then freeze.

I have to reboot the PC (reset button) at least 2 or 3 times before Windows 8 will load properly all the way. Always from a cold boot. I notice if the computer is already on for a while, it reboots fine if I need to.

What in McCain's glass garden is going on here? Something in my BIOS? Bad SSD? Its set to ACHPI and TRIM is verified on in Windows 8. Anybody else experience this issue? Solutions?

with the ram running at 2133 i would download memtest86+ and let it run a couple passes to see if there are any errors.

in the bios i would set the ssd as the first boot device even over the dvd drive if you have one. you can always hit F11 during the POST screen if you want to boot off the dvd or usb drive.

also make sure your ssd is plugged into the intel sata3 port and not the asmedia ports. look on the previous page someone had that question and posted a picture.

 

[Redmenace]

I think I know what the answer is but is anyone running dual slot vid cards in SLI or crossfire AND using the pci slot adjacent to the upper card? Looks like this would be trouble for cooling on the upper card but looking for any actual experience.

 

[alachua]

I'm very frustrated that I still haven't found what is stoping my computer to wake from sleep.

If I send him to sleep and wake him minutes later, he manages to wake fine.
But if I do it one hour later, or a longer time than that, it never wakes up, I hear everything starting but I never get video, and my GPU fans keep spinning at max RPM.

How do I check what is failing to wake up from sleep? It must be something, maybe even the soundcard since Creative still haven't made final Windows 8 drivers.

I was experiencing the same issue. I resolved this by disabling:
"Deep Sleep" in Advanced -> south bridge configuration.

It has not failed to wake since I changed this setting, but coincidentally, I also changed it after upgrading to the most recent bios. See below for my issues with that.

Hey guys. JUST got my board in. I ordered it in october...............the first board came DOA. The replacment board (took a month to get here) came with a bunch of bent pins and pieces of plastic in the socket, it looks like whatever put the plastic cover over the socket scraped it. Needless to say newegg wasnt going to accept another RMA due to "physical damage" even if it isnt my fault. So I brought my board into work today and went over to one of our engineers (who designs motherboards from the first layer of PCB to the 26th and SMD) and I had her fix my pins for me...if I didnt work at dell I would be screwed. Anywho I have my board installed and all my RAMz in, but the Dr. Debug display says D7. I dont have ANYTHING connected to the board besides the RAM, 24pin and 8 pin. And obviously the CPU and cooler. I assume the D7 means no keyboard (the booklet says no console input device found) but I just want to verify. Thanks.

Since upgrading to the most recent bios I run into issues whenever I have extended power down time. I initially encountered it when I disconnected the system to replace a noisy case fan, then again today while installing my Antec Kuhler 920. On the first occasion I made it work by moving the DVI cable from my 7970 to the onboard DVI slot then rebooting. Video came through my secondary monitor on the 7970. Today I had to remove the 7970, plug a video line into the MB and reset the cmos multiple times to make it boot. Note, once it finally boots, it does not have the problem with short power down cycles or sleep mode. The tech at ASRock suggested downgrading to the previous BIOS version to avoid future issues. I plan on doing that soon.

 

[TestKing123]

with the ram running at 2133 i would download memtest86+ and let it run a couple passes to see if there are any errors.

in the bios i would set the ssd as the first boot device even over the dvd drive if you have one. you can always hit F11 during the POST screen if you want to boot off the dvd or usb drive.

also make sure your ssd is plugged into the intel sata3 port and not the asmedia ports. look on the previous page someone had that question and posted a picture.

I did the SATA port relocation (it was connected to the ASMedia port, not Intel's), and also disabled "SATA Aggressive Link Power Management" in BIOS, and now my SSD cold boots fine into Windows 8.

SSD's sure are finicky.

 

[Arkanius]

I was experiencing the same issue. I resolved this by disabling:
"Deep Sleep" in Advanced -> south bridge configuration.

It has not failed to wake since I changed this setting, but coincidentally, I also changed it after upgrading to the most recent bios. See below for my issues with that.




Since upgrading to the most recent bios I run into issues whenever I have extended power down time. I initially encountered it when I disconnected the system to replace a noisy case fan, then again today while installing my Antec Kuhler 920. On the first occasion I made it work by moving the DVI cable from my 7970 to the onboard DVI slot then rebooting. Video came through my secondary monitor on the 7970. Today I had to remove the 7970, plug a video line into the MB and reset the cmos multiple times to make it boot. Note, once it finally boots, it does not have the problem with short power down cycles or sleep mode. The tech at ASRock suggested downgrading to the previous BIOS version to avoid future issues. I plan on doing that soon.

I have updated my BIOS to 2.70 and I still get the same problem.
Even with Deep Sleep disabled.

Alas, the last time I tried it had the same symptoms but it turned off automatically.
Then when I cold booted into Windows I had a error report.

Could there be also a Windows problem?

EDIT:

Never ever wondered if it was my SSD.
It probably is after searching for problems related to my OCZ Agility 3.
Sandforce controllers do not like sleep mode. Oh well

 

[MrHT]

lol

 

[MrHT]

:|

 

[brettakins]

I just built a new rig

new components I installed:
Evga GeForce GTX 660
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB
Intel Core i5-3570K

when installing my two previous hard drives, both have Windows Vista installed, windows will not boot. It begins to then I get a quick blue screen and then it goes to the windows recovery tool. I attempted to do a repair and a system restore, and neither worked. Am I required to reinstall windows? I'm prepared to do so but I would really like to avoid doing so if possible

 

[AsusGuy]

I just built a new rig

new components I installed:
Evga GeForce GTX 660
ASRock Z77 Extreme4
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB
Intel Core i5-3570K

when installing my two previous hard drives, both have Windows Vista installed, windows will not boot. It begins to then I get a quick blue screen and then it goes to the windows recovery tool. I attempted to do a repair and a system restore, and neither worked. Am I required to reinstall windows? I'm prepared to do so but I would really like to avoid doing so if possible

If your old hard drives have an OS installed from a previous computer (Or old hardware) It would be advisable to re-install the OS. However you can try booting the PC in safe mode and going into device manager and un-installing all drivers and re-booting the system. This may allow you to boot into Windows and re-install all drivers.

 

[R_N_W]

Hey everyone, I've recently purchased an Asrock extreme4 and can't wait to get it in my new build. Specs are:
i5 3570k CPU
Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x8Gb 1600 MGhz Ram
EVGA GTX 660 o.c. GPU
WD Caviar Black 1.5T Hdd
Intel 520 120Gb SSD
Corsair H70 CPU Watercooler
Corsair ax850W PCU
Windows 7

Yes, I'm a corsair fan. lol

This will be my second built pc, but the first that I'm hoping to accomplish a Raid setup with. I have a few issues regarding the mobo that I'm hoping to get resolved and any help will be greatly appreciated!

To keep it short, my questions are:

1: Is it better to keep the stock bios, or flash it immediately out of the box?
2: When doing the flash, do I only need the most recent version of the bios, being 2.7 on my usb drive?
3: Apart from using the proper SATA ports, what are the proper steps to setup the new system with the SSD and HDD in Raid? From what I've read, once I install the OS on my ssd, I should hook up my HDD, and then change my SATA controller to Raid. It seems too simple, am I missing something or will this work?

 

[Vectronic]

My Config:
Case: Fractal Design R4 Black /w window
CPU : i5 3570K @ 4.2GHz /w Zalman CNPS9900Max Blue ***
RAM : 8GB Patriot Viper 3 1600 @ 1800 9/9/9/24/1, 1.475v **
PSU : XFX PRO 750W XXX Edition
GPU : XFX Radeon 7750 Single Slot
SSD : OCZ Vertex 3 64GB for boot + various SATA2/3 mechanicals for storage.
Pics (haven't taken any of it built)

*** I can get 4.5 stable, but it's "uncomfortably" hot (around 75+C), 4.7 is the highest I went for but it would get to 90C under load, way too hot... 4.2 seems perfect @ -0.165 offset which is about 1.1v under load, stays under 65C (22C ambient) under any test.

** It'll run @ 8/8/8/20/1 but it really doesn't make any performance difference, neither does 2000MHz which actually runs much slower.

It's actually my second Z77 Ext4 since I fried my first... accidentally shorted out Cha Fan 1 which fried a trace next to the lowest PCI-E 1x slot... in an attempt to fix it, I shorted that trace with one of the PCI-E leads which as well as no longer booting (powered on, no lights, some fans worked)... it became suicidal and the Southbridge would become well over 100C (guesstimate, untouchably hot) within about 15 seconds.

Got the new board, everything ran fine again... so, I at least have a few swappable parts in case anything goes wrong with my second one...

...I see on this board that I don't know about.

THX - Whatever you use to play music/videos probably has equal features built in. It's just sound settings.

AXTU is for lazy people... just reboot and set things in the BIOS/UEFI.

XFast Lan/RAM/USB... nope... XFast RAM (Part of AXTU) can/could be useful but only for setting up a RAM drive which can be done better by more competent software.

UEFI, yup, that ASUS board has it too.

"OMG" might be useful if you have kids, or are setting up the computer in a cafe... all it does is enable/disable the network based on a schedule, something that can be done in any OS.

Lucid Virtu... could be useful, isn't yet.

1, 2, 3...

1. Keep the stock BIOS unless you have problems, get it all configured and stable... then upgrade if you want to.

2. All you need is the BIOS you want to flash... though I would suggest keeping a copy of your current one as well. I actually find v2.5 slightly better than 2.7 (I can get stable clocks with about 0.01 to 0.015 less voltage than with 2.7, on both boards)

3. No advice, some people prefer enabling/setting RAID first, others after.

...

I have a question though, on my first board the optical S/PDIF would turn off, on my second... it won't... the only difference between the two, is the first came with BIOS 2.2, the second with 2.5... both ending up with 2.7... gone through every settings possible, it's just always on... not that it' a huge issue, just an annoying red shape projected on the wall...lol

Bit of a haphazard graph (2 LibreOffice Calc graphs, merged into one)... but, so far these are my "stable" (didn't want to push 4.6 through a full test) under/overclocks:

Ambient is about 22 to 23C, didn't bother tracking wattage much... I'll probably do a thorough test from 1.6 to 4.6 at 200MHz steps at some point.

 

[R_N_W]

Thanks Vectronic,
I also found this page which I will be following closely in order to get everything setup properly. Everything there seems pretty legit and, thankfully, easy to follow with video instruction. Anybody that has any issue with setting up SSD and HDD, I highly recommend visiting the site.

Motherboard should be in the mail today!!! Can't wait to slap the thing in my Corsair 600t SE case!!!

Regards

 

[HexiumVII]

I've since built computers with an Asus P8Z77-V premium (yeah the super expensive one) and the Asrock Z77 Ex9 (yeah expensive too) and haven't found too many things to justify the most than double cost of the higher end boards. As for Asus vs Asrock you can't go wrong with either. Asus has much more polished UEFI and software, but longer POST times if that matters. As for the Asus-LK it has 2 less SATA ports but adds a Display port if you need that for the 2560 rez monitors.

guys I am considering this motherboard I have looked it a lot. I got my 3570k over 2 weeks ago but I am waiting for motherboard to deal to finalize.

it is between asus p8z77-v lk or asrock extreme 4. No one recommended good gigabyte board in same price range and msi apparently sucks so it's down to these 2.

there are some things I see on this board that I don't know about. my friend has it.

thx studio - I saw this on his computer and all I noticed is louder sound. seems like a gimmick.

uefi - dont all motherboards have this since sandy bridge?

axtu - is this actually good software or bloatware?

asrock omg - ?

xfast lan - faster internet? tried it at my house with my friends comp and we have same ping on games.

virtual lucid mvp - ?

 

[ILv2Xlr8]

Please help with my new Extreme4 i5-3570K build.

I keep getting BSOD with page errors in non paging area or memory manager. The last crash killed Windows 7 and is unrecoverable, so now I'm back to square one :'(

I finally got win 7 64bit Home premium to install on a Samsung 64GB SSD, and I'm using 16GB (4x4) Patriot PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHZ memory (PVI316G160C9QK). The memory is not on the ASrock list as there is none listed above 8GB?

I was using the default memory settings the bios detected and matched the specs from patriot. Memory tests found no issues.

I did notice that drive space footprint after installing hundreds of updates, Norton, and office left less than 16gb free on the SSD drive.

Any advice from the smart folks here?

Should I try from a clean install again and change from default memory settings? or is there any recommended 16GB memory if the consensus is mine is deemed incompatible? or is it simply my drive is too small for this space hogging OS?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Vectronic]

I don't think it's the RAM itself (brand/make/specs, etc), since as far as I can tell it's the same as mine (DDR3, Patriot, 1600, 9/9/9/24, 1.5v, same spreaders, etc)... but it may not be.

You have 4 sticks though, try installing 2... in the A2, and B2 slots... if it' still errors, install the other two sticks in those slots.

[CPU] [A1][A2][B1][B2]

If you get errors with both, chances are it's something else, but might be worth trying one stick at a time in B2 (I think? maybe A2)... see if you still get errors with any of them.

If none of this sounds like fun... skip it, and instead go into your BIOS, and set the clock to 1333, see if you still get the errors, optionally, if you are using "Auto" for the RAM settings, try using XMP 1.3 it will still be 1600 9/9/9/24, but it also changes some of the more advanced settings.

The amount of free space shouldn't have an effect (well, unless you are really low, 16GB free is plenty)

If you've gone through all of that, and you still get errors, you could try over-volting, set your RAM to 1.525, still errors, try 1.55 (stop there though, probably safe to as high as 1.7, but if 1.55 doesn't do anything, higher won't either and you nudge closer to damage)... also make sure PLL isn't really low or high... the general consensus is 1.7 to 1.8v (at default/auto mine is 1.83-ish, but I dropped it to 1.603)... also make sure VTT, and PCH are around 1.05v (more than 1, less than 1.1)... VCCSA should be 0.925v... if those all check out, keep them on auto.

And finally, make sure your BIOS is fairly recent.

None of these are really in order, take your pick...lol

Also keep in mind that although memory is *most* likely the cause, it can also be caused by software. Did it crash *while* installing Win7? or after?

 

[GullyFoyle]

I just ordered this motherboard and a 3570K processor.

I have 8 GB of Super Talent DDR3-1333 4GB/256x8 Value Memory I bought a long time ago, that has sat in my desk since then.

There is no Super Talent memory on this motherboards compatibility list. Does anyone have experience with this memory on this motherboard? Should I expect any issues?

Also, I am hoping to use my Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B for CPU cooling. Is it going to fit?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheUSMale2]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Intel Core i5 2500K
Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64-bit SP1 (Build 7601)
CPU Arch : 1 CPU - 4 Cores - 4 Threads
CPU PSN : Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
CPU EXT : MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3, 3S, 4.1, 4.2), EM64T, VT-x, AES, AVX
CPUID : 6.A.7 / Extended : 6.2A
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 32 / 4 x 32 KB - L2 : 4 x 256 KB
CPU Cache : L3 : 6144 KB
Core : Sandy Bridge (32 nm) / Stepping : D2
Freq : 4989.27 MHz (99.79 * 50)

why bother with an upgrade?

 

[Vectronic]

Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B ... Is it going to fit?

it will fit the board easily... depending on what fan you have for "push" might block the first RAM slot, but since you only have 2 sticks, you should be using A2/B2 anyways... regarding the rest, I don't know but good chance your RAM will work, *might* not.

 

[gothuevos]

Just finished a build with this board and an i5 3570k.

Noticed that even with speedstep on, the CPU never idles, CPU-Z reads it at 3.4 and now at 4.4 with my OC. I don't particularly mind it running at full speed all the time, just wondering if there's something wrong or another setting that needs to be tinkered with?

 

[Vectronic]

I think SpeedStep and Turbo are tied together in the BIOS (for any of the 3 BIOSs i've used) but try enabling Turbo if for some reason it isn't.

Otherwise, it's probably not the board/CPU but rather your OS... check your Power Profile, and make sure Minimum Processor State (if you're using Win) isn't set to 100% (should be 0%)

I've never had mine do that, so I'm not sure what the problem might be... if those two suggestions fail, maybe write down your BIOS setting (if you have a USB stick plugged in that's Fat32, you can also screenshot the BIOS and it will save it to the USB)

If for some reason it's using "Per Core" multiplier settings, double check it's not 40/40/40/40 (default is 38/38/37/36 for stock I believe)... it/you should be using "All Core" though.

Should go without saying, maybe update your BIOS, especially if it's older than 2.20 (2.70 is current).

For curiosity/explanation sake... Per Core works like this: first number is max multiplier when only one core is "active", second when 2 cores are active, etc... seems really really useful, but other than "stock" I haven't been able to make use of it...lol (would love to have something like 45/44/43/42 work and be stable)

 

[gothuevos]

I think SpeedStep and Turbo are tied together in the BIOS (for any of the 3 BIOSs i've used) but try enabling Turbo if for some reason it isn't.

Otherwise, it's probably not the board/CPU but rather your OS... check your Power Profile, and make sure Minimum Processor State (if you're using Win) isn't set to 100% (should be 0%)

I've never had mine do that, so I'm not sure what the problem might be... if those two suggestions fail, maybe write down your BIOS setting (if you have a USB stick plugged in that's Fat32, you can also screenshot the BIOS and it will save it to the USB)

If for some reason it's using "Per Core" multiplier settings, double check it's not 40/40/40/40 (default is 38/38/37/36 for stock I believe)... it/you should be using "All Core" though.

Should go without saying, maybe update your BIOS, especially if it's older than 2.20 (2.70 is current).

For curiosity/explanation sake... Per Core works like this: first number is max multiplier when only one core is "active", second when 2 cores are active, etc... seems really really useful, but other than "stock" I haven't been able to make use of it...lol (would love to have something like 45/44/43/42 work and be stable)

Thanks for the reply....yeah you nailed it, it was the power management stuff in Windows that had it running full bore.

 

[Vectronic]

Has anyone found a solution to fan controls yet? I'm not sure if it's the BIOS (2.70) or the board... but the only useful header is CPU 2 (3pin).

They all work yes, but it's pretty much on or off, I've got 5 fans, 4 of which are capable of 300RPM... my CPU fan (Zalman9900Max) doesn't like the 4pin CPU header but I think that's just the fan itself so I run it off the 3pin which will allow it to idle down to 300RPM (62 of 255), instead of 1000+ RPM (yes I'm aware of the resistor it comes with - useless)

3 of my other fans are all the same, Fractal Design R2 140mm, plugging any of them into CPU2 they idle down, any other header they run at 1000+RPM regardless of 1-9 settings, so I'm currently using the 5/7/12v switch on my case (FD R4) to run all of them.

1 120mm fan from centuries past, 2 wire, so I don't expect anything from it, stuck in Cha1.

I've only found one thread of one guy who was doing BIOS mods, seems idle/dead now, stopped at BIOS v2.21 beta

 

[cmf21]

I built a computer with this motherboard about a month or so ago. I shipped it off to my brother. I'm visiting him right now and discovered a problem. When you try waking the computer from sleep after 30 minutes or so the computer reboots and says restoring windows and then turns itself off and back on and displays a message that the computer failed to boot 2 times or whatever and starts windows back up. When this happens, it takes an extremly long time.

I know this isn't right and it shouldn't be rebooting. Any ideas?