EDITOR’S CHOICE
AWARD
ASRock Z77
OC Formula
RRP: $239.99 | Website: www.asrock.com.tw
Test Machine
Intel Core i7 3770K
Corsair Dominator Platinum
2666C10
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD
GIGABYTE GV-N680OC-4GD
Cooler Master M2 Silent Pro
1500W PSU
Windows XP SP3/Windows 7
64-Bit SP1
I
t seems almost every vendor
who has a strong affiliation
with or has directly employed
an overclocker has a board or
component endeared as “X’s
baby!” If you’ve not come across
this thus far, well the Z77 OCFormula (OCF from here on
in) would be Nick Shih’s baby.
More so than any other board
to date actually, if only because
he is actually on the marketing
material in his full swag.
Regardless of how you feel
about it, cheesy or otherwise,
one has to admit that this
here is one attractive looking
board. Actually this is one
damn fine board in both
20 The OverClocker Issue 21 | 2012
aesthetics and performance.
At $239 it’s very well priced
especially given what it is you
get for that amount.. There’s no
multi-GPU foolery here, sadly
that would have sent the board
over the $300 mark, however for
lack of this, you receive a solidly
built board that is undersold by
its price tag and somewhat by the
history of the brand. All that may
change with the OCF and in fact
we’d dare say it has to change because whatever we may have
thought about ASRock before,
this here is a totally different
animal and he OCF stands with
the best of them. To be honest
with boards that do not have
plenty of multi-GPU options, this
is arguably the best of the lot.
Just the features alone make
this a compelling purchase.
That $239 buys you this much
overclocking proficiency is
staggering. It’s not just the
typical POST LED, V-measure
points, Clear CMOS, reset,
switchable BIOS and the like
we’ve come to expect from
an overclocking board. It’s
in how it all comes together
especially within the BIOS where
we have some of the most
comprehensive options we’ve
seen on a board. They are all
clearly labelled and relatively
well explained. It’s not to the
ASUS Maximus V levels, but it’s
ahead of what GIGABYTE offers
on their boards in advanced
mode. You have to appreciate
the time and effort ASRock has
put into the little things which all
culminate into making a grand
offering. Easily the best board
ASRock has ever produced.
We could spend the rest of
this review telling you about
the layout of the board, the
electrics and the like, but we
frankly couldn’t be bothered
with that and we know that you
our fellow readers couldn’t care
either so we’ll get to the fun bit
and let you know that this here
is a wonderful motherboard to
overclock on. Be it air cooling
or LN2 which is what the
OCF is actually made for. It’s
blissful to work with. We aren’t
fans of the Golden night sky