ASRock Z270 Extreme4 LGA1151 Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing 

Unfortunately, there’s been a complete lack of information regarding the Z270 motherboards and their retail prices. As a result, it’s impossible to conduct a fair comparison between numerous products and assess the value proposition. Rest assured, once the full Z270 range is available to purchase, I’ll be adding the appropriate links and revisiting the pricing analysis. According to my sources, it’s likely vendors will add approximately £10-£30 compared to the previous generation. However, this doesn’t help matters when a company unveils something completely new and the predecessor can’t be researched to gauge a pricing estimate. Honestly, I’d expect more details to emerge during CES when PR contacts return from the holiday break.

Overview

The ASRock Z270 Extreme4 is based on a stylish colour scheme and imposing PCB print. In particular, the cross pattern adds a more spectacular touch to the motherboard’s design and helps it to stand out from the crowd. Personally, I love how the cross detailing surrounds the CPU socket and blends into the PCH. This is a really neat effect and coincides with the motherboard’s jet black elements rather well. Even though the hefty I/O cover has a certain appeal, the Intel logo is an odd choice and detracts from the product’s individualism. Sadly, the Intel branding inhibits the sleek, uniform appearance and seems out of place.

On a more positive note, the motherboard supports RGB illumination through the PCH, audio isolation cover and I/O cover. The full gamut of colours allows you to modify the motherboard’s appearance and select from a decent number of transitional effects. Rather irritatingly, the customisation can only be done directly in the BIOS and there wasn’t any software included which performs a similar function in Windows. Thankfully, this is easily fixed and I wouldn’t be surprised if an RGB application emerges soon. It’s an important topic because the motherboard has an RGB header which allows you to control the strip’s illumination. The lighting itself is quite nice to look at but it’s a more subdued than Gigabyte and MSI’s systems. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a negative point because extremely vivid lighting might seem overpowering.

The motherboard opts for a 12-phase power delivery, powerful 45A power choke and premium Nichicon 12K black capacitors. Not only that, the ASRock Z270 Extreme4 utilises a glass fabric PCB which contends with heat variation more effectively. The XXL aluminium heatsinks ensure the power circuitry runs as intended and has excellent reliability. Also, the DIMM slots have 15u gold contacts to protect against EMI. ASRock included a dedicated water pump header supporting up to 1.5A and another four PWM headers offering full fan control. As you might expect for a Z270 product, the motherboard’s audio hardware is based on the Realtek ALC1220 codec and has a 120dB signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, the TI® NE5532 amplifier can power headphones with a rating up to 800 Ohms. During the testing phase, the audio performance was excellent, albeit with a slight room for improvement in some areas.

Other notable features include fortifying metal shielding for the top two PCI-E slots, dual M.2 connectivity and eight SATA ports. The motherboard has a slot to install an M.2 WiFi module and supports both forms of USB 3.1. One slight annoyance is the lack of a power button and diagnostic post LED. This means it’s difficult to ascertain the root cause of system instability.

ASRock’s BIOS is relatively easy to use and packed full of useful features. Granted, the interface isn’t as slick as ASUS’ world-renowned BIOS layout, but it’s perfectly functional and caters to users with contrasting technical experience. The clear text, thematic categories and handy thermal readings all contribute to making the BIOS a great asset. The System Browser helps you to identify different sections of the motherboard and determine a connected device’s running speed. While the fan software is a little basic, it’s decent to control PWM values and create a good balance between thermal dissipation and noise levels.

In terms of performance, the motherboard is fantastic and excels during networking tests. Additionally, the M.2 write rate was remarkable and defeated all the other Z270 launch offerings. Outside of these fields, the performance is solid and the motherboard selection doesn’t make a substantial difference. Nevertheless, the ASRock Extreme4 upholds great performance numbers and the only major downfall occurred during stock Cinebench R15 testing. Of course, the disappointing multi-threaded score could be the result of an outside application, early BIOS or other factors. Whatever the case, the motherboard works alongside the new i7-7700K rather well.

Pros

• Dual M.2 offers exceptional read/write rates
• Eye-catching aesthetic design
• Great audio performance
• Impressive 12-phase power delivery
• Innovative PCB pattern
• Marvellous networking
• Nichicon 12K black capacitors
• Primary and secondary PCI-E slots have EMI shielding
• Supports USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C
• Wonderful M.2 read speeds

Cons

• No onboard buttons or diagnostic tools
• RGB lighting can only be customised in the BIOS
• Software suite is very basic

“The ASRock Z270 Extreme4 has a gorgeous PCB design, impressive power circuitry and supports dual M.2 connectivity. Not only that, it’s able to maintain exceptionally high networking speeds and comes with a great audio solution.”

ASRock Z270 Extreme4 LGA1151 Motherboard Review

Thank you ASRock for providing us with this sample.