The Board - A Closer Look

When it comes to ASRock's OC Formula boards, the hand of their maker is quite obvious by the signature that appears on all of them. This is one bit I personally appreciate a lot; it's not often you have an idea about who the people that are involved in such products are, and ASRock's bit of marketing here really has won me over.


The ASRock Z170 OC Formula's BIOS implementation is pretty straightforward; flip the switch to choose which BIOS chip you want to use and power it up, and should you be overclocking, you are easily able to pay attention to the POST code display right next to the BIOS chips. Should things fail and you need to clear the CMOS, you can use the switch at the back, or, if even that fails, and sometimes it does, no matter which board you have, you can find the board's CR2032 battery and the pin header above the board's PCIe slots to fully clear the BIOS. Their location means you won't have to remove any VGAs to do so.


There are also a set of four LEDs by the 24-pin connector that indicate which part of the booting the board is in, handy for a quick diagnosis of boot issues. You can also measure the main CPU voltages easily over a provided header in the upper-right corner.


Also in the upper-right corner of the ASRock Z170M OC Formula are a set of buttons for real-time changes to the system. There are also switches for XMP mode, Slow Mode, and LN2 Mode right above the SATA ports. There is a "Direct Key" just above those switches, and pressing it will take you directly into the Z170M OC Formula's UEFI BIOS when you turn on the system.


A big part of providing all those features is by the way of the Nuvoton Super I/O, pictured above. There is also an IDT BCLK chipset to allow for finer-granulated BCLK overclocking as well as a bit of added stability at higher BCLK speeds.


One important part to pushing the limits when overclocking is a good VRM section, and the ASRock Z170M OC Formula definitely has that covered. There are a total of 14 CPU power phases here so that the voltage you select is as stable as you need it to be.


The VRM's input drivers are on the back of the motherboard, shown above. With a total of 10 layers to the ASRock Z170M Formula's PCB, you can rest assured that unwanted electrical noise is minimized by as much as possible. Being able to get 4500 MHz memory clocks is no easy feat!


The board's VRM bits are International Rectifier parts, the main controller for the CPU VRM hanging out just to the right of the CPU VRM section above the socket. The DIMM VRM seems to have a different controller on its dual-channel VRM set-up, which isn't something you'd commonly see on a motherboard. Usually, all VRM bits are from the same brand. Be that as it may, we know Nick Shih made that design decision for a good reason, and that 4500 MHZ memory speed maximum once again probably played a role in that.


The audio portion of the ASRock Z170M Formula gets special treatment too. Under the shroud that covers the entire left side of the board, I located a Realtek ALC1150 CODEC along with other nice audio bits and bobs.


Part of keeping that audio nice and clear is to isolate it from the rest of the board at critical points, which the ASRock Z170M Formula does, and does well. Also, to appease the masses who are critical of LAN controllers, there is an Intel I219V controller. No KillerNic chips here!


I also found the Etrontech EJ179V on the back of the board, a USB Type-C Switch with integrated logic control. It makes using the reversible USB 3.1 Type-C port on the back panel possible. Power-wise, it can provide 3A at 5V to that port for various charging duties, or to perhaps power external drives. There is also an ASMedia USB controller on the front of the board, which I think controls the "standard" USB 3.0 ports on the rear. I couldn't make out the markings on the chip to see what it is actually for. It might also be for USB 3.1 support, and I think the Intel USB 3.0 controller handles the ports for the front panel.


Putting it all together really does make this board capable of amazing things in all areas, and ASRock and Nick Shih know it. So much so that it's proudly stamped right into the board itself in the form of a logo on the board's right edge. This logo is lit up by LEDs that shine through the back in white when you power it up, so you're sure not to miss that proclamation!