Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

soundesciple · 15 Dec 2011 at 22:04

I just put a temp sensor off my fan controller on my sticks of ram and the temps never went above 35 so it looks like its to do with cpu mem controller.

gareth170 · 15 Dec 2011 at 22:36

soundesciple said:
I just put a temp sensor off my fan controller on my sticks of ram and the temps never went above 35 so it looks like its to do with cpu mem controller.

yeah as i said it looks like it's inside the cpu because it's under the intel cpu 0

tbh at stock cpu clock it goes to around 75c under load but when the cpu is overclocked it goes shy high under load, same with the VR 1 reading

Wingz · 15 Dec 2011 at 22:48

the USB 3 ports don't seem to be working, I've installed the driver but I don't have any USB 3 External Drives but I assume its backward compatible?

Edit: can someone link the drivers in case I install the wrong ones

gareth170 · 16 Dec 2011 at 00:41

Wingz said:
the USB 3 ports don't seem to be working, I've installed the driver but I don't have any USB 3 External Drives but I assume its backward compatible?

Edit: can someone link the drivers in case I install the wrong ones

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4 Gen3&o=Win764

Etron USB 3.0 driver ver:0.96_WHQL

or try Etron USB 3.0 driver ver:0.5.394.1 beta
http://www.asrock.com/mb/beta.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

btw i've found some usb2 devices doesn't work in a usb3 port

Wingz · 16 Dec 2011 at 01:28

USB Driver installs fine but the Access Bus Controller won't install for some reason.

EDIT: Problem Fixed.

zoomee · 16 Dec 2011 at 21:55

did we ever find an answer to whether the onboard graphics could be disabled or not fellas? ta

btw - theres a new L1.15 Beta BIOS out now too

gareth170 · 17 Dec 2011 at 00:38

zoomee said:
did we ever find an answer to whether the onboard graphics could be disabled or not fellas? ta

btw - theres a new L1.15 Beta BIOS out now too

yes it can. disable something multimonitor.. can't remember the full name without looking in the bios

whats new in L1.15 Beta BIOS?

Kipper67 · 17 Dec 2011 at 05:12

It says in the manual something along the lines of if you leave the setting for the amount of memory to allocate for the onboard vga set to auto then if you use a separate vga card it will disable onboard vga, at least thats the way i'm reading it on page 29 .

gareth170 · 17 Dec 2011 at 09:45

Kipper67 said:
It says in the manual something along the lines of if you leave the setting for the amount of memory to allocate for the onboard vga set to auto then if you use a separate vga card it will disable onboard vga, at least thats the way i'm reading it on page 29 .

nope that doesn't disable it.

u have to disable IGO multi-monitor in the bios to disable the onboard graphics.

Skidder · 17 Dec 2011 at 10:16

Can you use on board graphics to run a third monitor with this board (assuming 2 running from discrete GPU)?

& are people finding they are able to achieve good clocks with 2500k with this? ta!

Surveyor · 17 Dec 2011 at 13:07

Skidder said:
Can you use on board graphics to run a third monitor with this board (assuming 2 running from discrete GPU)?

Answered in your thread here.

Buckster · 17 Dec 2011 at 14:45

mmmm tempted with a new 2500k/2600k build

Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 -or for a bit more a P67 Asus ROG ?

zoomee · 18 Dec 2011 at 18:23

Why get an older generation board, thats not going to work with PCI-E 3.0 and Ivybridge? - Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 for sure.

kmetek · 18 Dec 2011 at 18:23

What do you do when you have a case with USB 3.0 + this mobo? You can't use both on USB 3.0 HEADER right?

gareth170 · 18 Dec 2011 at 19:01

the USB 3.0 HEADER support 2 USB 3.0 ports on one cable.

Skidder · 22 Dec 2011 at 18:52

I installed this board today and so far very happy with it. Running prime now on the auto 4.6 overclock with a 2500k. Didn't post on the 4.8 setting

Anyone have any suggested settings to try and take it beyond 4.6? this generation of hardware is all new to me (coming from a q6600 at 3.6 watercooled)

Cooling on this is a silver arrow. Under load in prime at the mo seems to be topping out about 64 (and ranging 61-64)

Any suggestions?

Sorts of takes the fun out of it when hardware is this good

Davefran · 22 Dec 2011 at 20:07

To get 4.8GHz and above you'll have to Enable Internal PLL Overvoltage.
Turbo Power Boost Limits to Manual, up Power Limits to 200.
Core Current Limit to 200.
Disable Spread Spectrum.
Set XMP profile for Ram.
CPU Load-Line Calibration to lvl1 or 2.
Use manual voltage till you get your lowest stable vcore, then switch to offset (Offset = Lowest manual vcore - VID).

Skidder · 22 Dec 2011 at 23:04

Thanks for the advice, will give that a whirl

mayebaza · 27 Dec 2011 at 23:52

Davefran said:
To get 4.8GHz and above you'll have to Enable Internal PLL Overvoltage.
Turbo Power Boost Limits to Manual, up Power Limits to 200.
Core Current Limit to 200.
Disable Spread Spectrum.
Set XMP profile for Ram.
CPU Load-Line Calibration to lvl1 or 2.
Use manual voltage till you get your lowest stable vcore, then switch to offset (Offset = Lowest manual vcore - VID).

My disappointments with Bulldozer lead me away to Intel from AMD, after 15 years. I think I know what I doing in terms of overclocking, but this AsRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 is something else. Just did my first 8 hour stress test at 4.8 after putting this thing together on Christmas Eve while cooking the turkey. Thanks to the Noctua, it passed with no problems, VCore was at 1.37-1.41volts, temps at peaked at 74 degrees. Now I have to work on reducing Vcore and temps. Having never overclocked an Intel before: is it this easy, or am I just lucky with my purchases?

On the negative side, I have to say the layout of the board's components stinks, there all bunched together in a most unattractive way, blocking access to the on-board LED display and buttons and the Noctua is only 8 millimetres away from the side panel fan, displaying those ugly brown fans to full effect, anybody want to swap Noctua fans for some blue Phanteks?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
AsRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3, 2500K @ 4.8GHz , G. Skill RipsawsX 8GB 1600,
ATI 5850 1GB(Crossfire), CM90 II Advanced, Crucial M4 256GB, 4 HDDs,
Noctua-NH-D14, XFX 850W BE, Asus Xonar Essence STX, BlackGold HD DVB-T2.

zoomee · 28 Dec 2011 at 07:44

mayebaza said:
My disappointments with Bulldozer lead me away to Intel from AMD, after 15 years. I think I know what I doing in terms of overclocking, but this AsRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 is something else. Just did my first 8 hour stress test at 4.8 after putting this thing together on Christmas Eve while cooking the turkey. Thanks to the Noctua, it passed with no problems, VCore was at 1.37-1.41volts, temps at peaked at 74 degrees. Now I have to work on reducing Vcore and temps. Having never overclocked an Intel before: is it this easy, or am I just lucky with my purchases?

On the negative side, I have to say the layout of the board's components stinks, there all bunched together in a most unattractive way, blocking access to the on-board LED display and buttons and the Noctua is only 8 millimetres away from the side panel fan, displaying those ugly brown fans to full effect.

Should be able to lower the vcore slightly. And yes - it is that easy!! SB just aint as much fun to OC lol.

Whilst the board layout maybe pants - I do like the layout of the slots. Its perfect for crossfire and to be able to slot a soundcard between the graphics cards for example.