Power Consumption
In our recent tests of Socket FM2
mainboards we discovered we couldn't measure its exact
power consumption at the default settings. The Linx utility that we use puts a
very high load on the CPU much higher than real-life applications do.
Meanwhile, AMD's processor Socket FM2 can be called over-overclocked as the
manufacturer specifies default settings for them. Such CPUs can’t work at their
default settings when the load is high, so they reduce the clock rate,
resulting in reduced power consumption and performance. Intel CPUs don't have
such issues, but the issue is whether we should use extremely high loads to
measure power consumption. The LinX utility is okay as a means to check out an
overclocked CPU for stability or to test a CPU cooler, but real-life
applications, such as what we used to benchmark performance, there seems to be
an option better for measuring power consumption. We can have some test modes:
idle, single-threaded and multi-threaded loads, gaming. Although we didn't
overclock our graphics, which is a rather advanced model, its power draw
contributes a lot to the overall power consumption. However, it turns out not
so easy to achieve repeated results. Everyday applications have a fluctuating
CPU load. In addition, the power consumption increases with temperature. It's
even worse with the game because the power draw depends not only on the
particular game but also on graphics quality settings and even on what is
happening in the game at the given moment.
There
are four PCIe x16 slots and three PCIe 1x slots
Our solution is simple. We don't perform
special tests. We measure the power draw of our configuration right when it’s going
through our performance benchmarks. Whether the numbers are fluctuate and
increase along with temperature. We just note the top values, disregarding
peak, uncharacteristic surges. Finally, we don't sit down to the computer in
just a few seconds. Many people even spend hours for gaming, so our results
will be as close as possible to the actual power consumption.
As a result, our new updated method looks
as follows. We performed our power consumption measurements using the same
Extech Power Analyzer 380803. This device is connected before the PSU and
measures power draw of the entire system (without the monitor), including power
losses occur in the PSU itself. In idle mode, we start the system and wait
until it stops accessing the hard drive. Power consumption in the case of
single-threaded CPU load is measured when running the Pi-digits performance
test, and in case of multi-threaded load when running Fritz Chess Benchmark
test. We also used the Hitman Absolution game to create complex loads.
Results on the chart are sorted out in ascending order.
The
mainboards from ASRock and ASUS are close in their power consumption
As expected, the mainboards from ASRock and
ASUS are close in their power consumption since both are equipped with a PLX
PEX 8747 chip. They are much different from the MSI motherboard without that
bridge chip. MSI is 30W more economical in each test mode, which is
approximately one third of the total consumption in low and zero load.
The
picture remains the same at overclocking.
The picture remains the same at
overclocking. The ASRock is slightly more economical than the ASRock U.S., but
both need more power than ordinary mainboards such as the MSI model.
Conclusion
The ASRock Z77 Extreme11 mainboard has
turned out to be an amazing and exceptionally feature-rich product. There are
not many mainboards with two USB 3.0 controllers that add eight more ports to
the four existing ones. And there are not too many motherboards with two
network controllers, both from Intel, which support teaming. The pre-installed
Mini-PCIe card offers Bluetooth 4.0 Class II and dual-band Wi-Fi at speeds up
to 300 Mbps. The three graphics sockets allow building multi-GPU configurations
up to NVidia Quad-SLI and AMD Quad CrossFireX (you can even use a fourth
graphics slot for CrossFireX). The mainboard also offers three PCI Express 2.0
x1 sockets, which supports FireWire and features a COM port. Above all that, it
has a digital power system with high quality parts, a large number of fan
connectors, Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, a POST indicator, a vertical
USB 2.0 header (type A), and thick copper interconnects in the PCB.
Extended features makes this model
special, but we’ve seen each of these features in other products. Thus, it's
the SAS2/SATA3 (6 Gbit/s) LSI SAS2308 PCIe 3.0 controller that makes it really
unique. The controller adds as many as 8 SATA 6 Gbit/s ports to the chipset’s
two SATA 6 Gbit/s and 4 SATA 3 Gbit/s ports. The ASRock Z77 Extreme11 is
currently the only available solution for users who need large arrays for
high-speed drives. On the other hand, hits high power consumption serves as a
warning that it isn't a product for everyone. It's not so clever to buy it
unless you really plan to use a lot of drives.
Turning
the corner we've got a massive line up of SATA connectors with eight SAS2
connectors on the left hand side which run off the LSI SAS2308 PCIe 3.0 8x
controller.
The long list of advantages also include a
user-friendly BIOS and excellent overclocking capabilities , high-quality
packaging and accessories, a cleverly designed back panel, and the
multifunctional ASRock Wi-SB Box which is installed into a 5.25-inch bay.
That being said, we are proud to honor
ASRock Z77 Extreme11 with the tittle of Ultimate Innovation:
As we all know, there's always room for
improvement with any product out there. The ASRock Z77 Extreme11 isn't an
exception. We believe that it would be better if ASRock replaced the small and
unhandy latches on the graphics card slots which are now used on almost all of
ASRock products. We also weren’t too thrilled that the power-saving
technologies did not work well in the nominal mode, though this could be easily
fixed by manually enabling them in the mainboard BIOS. But these are the little
things. The more serious concern was the failure with the BIOS update system
that we experienced during our test session, making us doubt the safety and
stability of the BIOS updating procedures on ASRock mainboard using the
built-in tools. Hopefully this problem will be fixed quickly and won’t become a
long-term issue.
