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Featuring the bright yellow and dark black colour scheme that made ASRock's OC Formula series of motherboards well-known on the Z77 platform, the Z87 version is an undoubtedly eye-catching product. Although we wouldn't say that the design is as attractive as that of MSI's Z87 XPower, or Asus' Maximus VI Extreme, the OC Formula's appearance is still very likeable.
Conforming to the Extended-ATX form factor, the ASRock Z87 OC Formula is designed for use on test benches (or the bundled OC stands) or large cases that can accommodate the board's wider dimensions, such as our NZXT Phantom 630.
Four alternating black and yellow, single-latch DIMM slots can house up to 32GB of DDR3 memory operating at frequencies of over 3000MHz. We will be putting the high-speed memory support claim to the test with a 3000MHz kit from Avexir.
An addition that we have seen become increasingly popular amongst many of ASRock's Z87 motherboards, the Z87 OC Formula is equipped with an internally-mounted USB port. Going one further than many of its alternative products, ASRock gives the port USB 3.0 functionality, rather than the slower, previous-generation interface that is found on many other motherboards.
A pair of outwards-facing internal USB 3.0 headers is found in the usual position that gives easy access for front panel chassis cables. We would typically criticise a board manufacturer for giving both headers the outwards-facing orientation, but given the likelihood that the Z87 OC Formula will be used on test bench, not a chassis, this isn't nearly as big of a complaint.
Neighbouring the USB 3.0 headers are three switches that operate the PCI-E x16 lane operation, LN2 mode, and slow boot. The lane switch is convenient for extreme cooling users as they can easily disable the function of a problematic graphics card rather than tear apart the entire cooling loop. LN2 and slow boot modes are designed specifically for high-frequency overclocking with extreme cooling.
Towards the top-right corner of the Z87 OC Formula, users will find the onboard overclocking tools. The system consists of plus, minus, and menu buttons, as well as two sets of voltage reading points (called V-Probe) and the CHiL controller. Overclocking frequency is adjusted by the plus and minus buttons, while the ‘Menu' version allows users to change what is displayed on the status OLED.
ASRock's Z87 OC Formula motherboard features an actively-cooled, hybrid VRM heatsink that is designed for air- or water-cooling systems. Called Twin-Power Cooling, the heatsink uses a small 3-pin fan to blow air over the structure. I usually frown upon use of a VRM heatsink fan when it isn't entirely necessary as they tend to be very loud. Thankfully, ASRock's implementation is acceptably quiet when operating in the standard speed mode; we couldn't hear it above the Corsair H100i's fans which were spinning at a low RPM.
At the time of writing, we are waiting for confirmation from ASRock as to the exact diameter of the watercooling barbs. A quick measurement indicates that the pipes' internal diameters are one-quarter inch (0.25″ or 1/4″), but we will update this article with verification from ASRock before confirming the compatibility.
Twelve power phases feed an LGA 1150 CPU installed in the Z87 OC Formula motherboard. ASRock's OC Formula power kit consists of Dual-stack MOSFETs, multiple filter caps (MFC), premium alloy chokes, and a digital controller. The CPU socket itself features 15 micron gold fingers.
Both of the Z87 OC Formula's Hi-Density 8-pin CPU power connectors are found in their typical location near the VRM heatsink. Two CPU fan headers, one 4-pin and one 3-pin, are found above the DIMM slots and upper edge of the MOSFET heatsink.
Four PCI-E x16-length slots give quad-VGA capabilities to the Z87 OC Formula. Due to the lack of a PLX PEX8747 (or equivalent) PCI-E 3.0 lane switch, the ASRock Z87 OC Formula is only able to support three cards at Gen 3 speeds. When a three-way graphics configuration is installed, sixteen PCI-E Gen 3 lanes from the processor will be split as x8/x4/x4.
Due to the fact that a maximum of two slots can operate at x8 bandwidth, the ASRock Z87 OC Formula only officially supports 2-way (two cards) or quad-SLI (two dual-GPU cards). The flexibility given by AMD's CrossFire support allows the board to support all configurations up to 4-way.
The bottom x16-length slot is limited to PCI-E 2.0 x4 bandwidth, hence 4-way CrossFire isn't really an unhampered possibility. Number crunching users, on the other hand, will very much appreciate the fourth x16-length slot. The lanes are shared out by a PLX PEX8605 switch, hence using the slot will force one of the internal USB 3.0 headers to operate at USB 2.0 bandwidth.
Two PCI-E x1 slots are also present on the Z87 OC Formula, as well as a mini PCI-E port that houses a WiFi card on the /AC variant. The lowest PCI-E x1 slot shares its bandwidth with the mini PCI-E connection.
Front panel connections are found in their usual locations. A downwards-facing molex connector is used to provide power to multi-VGA configurations and, due to its orientation, shouldn't affect cable management in a chassis environment.
A low-profile heatsink is used to cool the Z87 chipset. Power and reset buttons are positioned close to the pair of BIOS chips.
One of the Z87 OC Formula's key features is its status OLED. The screen can be used to display POST and boot information, as well as temperatures and voltages. Pressing the onboard ‘Menu' button located near the DIMM slots changes the information displayed on the screen.
The ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard features ten SATA 6Gb/s ports in a right-angled orientation. Six ports on the right operate from the Z87 chipset, while the four on the left operate from ASMedia ASM1061 controllers.
A small marking of some sort would have been useful in distinguishing between the native and add-on ports.
Beneath the ASRock Purity Sound casing is a Realtek ALC1150 audio chip. The isolated circuit also combines a pair of operational amplifiers – Texas Instruments’ NE5532 – which feature a 115 dB signal-to-noise ratio, making the Z87 OC Formula motherboard’s audio configuration excellent for use with high-quality analogue equipment.
The system is superior to that of Asus' Maximus VI Extreme, and similar to what MSI equips its Z87 XPower with.
Four of the rear USB 3.0 ports operate from the Z87 chipset, while the other quartet operates from Etron's EJ188H. Gigabit Ethernet is provided by an Intel I217V controller.
An HDMI input allows users to connect their games console or other devices to the ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard, which then outputs the signal to a single monitor. This eliminates the requirement of constant input switching for users whose monitor has a single HDMI port. The computer doesn't have to be powered on for the external HDMI device to function either; the Z87 OC Formula will act as a HDMI pass-through device.
Motherboard rear ports:
- – 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
- – 1 x HDMI-Out Port
- – 1 x HDMI-In Port
- – 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
- – 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
- – 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (Intel Z87)
- – 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (Etron EJ188H)
- – 1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
- – 1 x Clear CMOS Button
- – HD Audio Jack: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
ASRock does an excellent job in evenly distributing the eight fan headers around the Z87 OC Formula motherboard. Being extremely picky, I would have preferred the fan header above the SATA ports to be positioned further up the motherboard (making it easier to use with our Corsair H100), although I'm sure that an equal number of people will prefer its current location.
The MOSFET heatsink's fan is given its own 3-pin header that can be controlled from the BIOS thanks to the Nuvoton NCT6776D controller.
ASRock protects its Z87 OC Formula motherboard with the company's Conformal Coating. The coating protects the motherboard from being damaged by conductive liquids, dust, extreme temperatures, and corrosion.
Although very difficult to picture, the coating is more prominent in some areas of the motherboard than others. ASRock also covers many of the board's chips with the coating to prevent conductive liquids causing damage via that route.
I think that the Conformal Coating is a very good motherboard feature and one that has great potential amongst the extreme cooling crowd.
