ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac

Does anyone know what is the minimum fan speed is for a pwm CPU fan on this board? Is it 60% like on the Asus board?

I'm using this board with Scythe Kabuto 2 CPU cooler. I can set it to work with 18% fan power with ~300 rpm lowest.
 
I'm using this board with Scythe Kabuto 2 CPU cooler. I can set it to work with 18% fan power with ~300 rpm lowest.

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. :) (assuming we mean the pwm control in the bios, and not some windows software)
 
Yes, using BIOS and Asrock fan tuning software in Windows (modifies bios values)
 
Yes, using BIOS and Asrock fan tuning software in Windows (modifies bios values)

That actually made me unsure again. :p You mean you can set the fan to work at 18% only by combining BIOS and software? I am personally only interested in how low you can set fan in BIOS only.
 
Ok, let me try to explain it again. You can set the fan curve through the BIOS or through the Asrock Fan tastic tuning software -funny name btw-

You can set fan power levels (max 5 levels IIRC) for a custom CPU temperature point, from 1% to 100%.

My Kabuto 2 cooler starts with minimum 18% fan power, begins spinning with 300rpm at that level.

Is it clear now? Sorry for my bad English.
 
Ok, let me try to explain it again. You can set the fan curve through the BIOS or through the Asrock Fan tastic tuning software -funny name btw-

You can set fan power levels (max 5 levels IIRC) for a custom CPU temperature point, from 1% to 100%.

My Kabuto 2 cooler starts with minimum 18% fan power, begins spinning with 300rpm at that level.

Is it clear now? Sorry for my bad English.

It's clear. Thanks!
 
Relevant to the M.2 slot: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8543/upgrading-the-ssd-in-a-chromebook

As far as the MyDigitalSSD Super Boot Drive goes, performance is on the low end of the spectrum. That comes from the constraints discussed above (i.e. the M.2 2242 form factor). It's still substantially faster than a typical hard drive, and the power characteristics are good as well, but there aren't many use cases for M.2 2242 right now – most laptops support the larger M.2 2260 and 2280 form factors, which can offer higher performance among other benefits, not to mention 2.5" drives. The MyDigitalSSD Super Boot Drive and Transcend MTS400 are pretty much it if you need a 2242 size SSD, but they're not price competitive with larger 2.5" SSDs so there are better options for most users.
 

Can't find the two he mentions in the article (I'm located in Sweden) But there is also the Adata Premier Pro SP900 2242 256 GB, that he didn't find, but that is available in Sweden. However, it's hard to get confirmation if this drive is bootable. Some say it's only bootable in legacy (IDE mode, and not AHCI), and so forth... sigh.

Asrock does mention compatibility with a smaller 16 GB drive on their website, but that's about it. This whole M.2 thing is rather messy at the moment.
 
Are you sure Legacy doesn't mean the non-SecureBoot stuff, like booting Windows 7 ?
 
When I was looking for an updated driver for the Z87E-ITX, I was looking for the "Broadcom BCM4352" driver on google and found Dell and Lenovo also use these. I was able to extract the latest 5100-release drivers from those. Maybe try the same ? I'm not sure it's the same chipset but I believe it is.

Its the same, however I couldn't find a driver newer than the 4/8 date. A lot of what Dell/etc has is from last Sept.

That being said I have to use the N900 based router from centurylink for IPTV, well I don't have it, but pointless to buy a AC based router.

That being said is anyone getting anything over 100 mb/s with the built in wireless. I am hitting like 32 mb, but things like range and the 2.4 band plays into it. I guess the range isn't terrible.
 
Ok, let me try to explain it again. You can set the fan curve through the BIOS or through the Asrock Fan tastic tuning software -funny name btw-

You can set fan power levels (max 5 levels IIRC) for a custom CPU temperature point, from 1% to 100%.

My Kabuto 2 cooler starts with minimum 18% fan power, begins spinning with 300rpm at that level.

Is it clear now? Sorry for my bad English.

I am running a CoolerMaster Sleeve bearing fan similar to this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103052

I am not sure if it is the exact same model as what comes with the Elite 130. I would have to look it up, but I couldn't get anything less than 50 percent. I don't know if it is a bug in the BIOS since I read it from a newegg review, but anything below 50 percent on the fan header has pretty much no effect. I just disabled it and basically hooked it into a zalman fanmate 2 and set it manually.
 
Ok, let me try to explain it again. You can set the fan curve through the BIOS or through the Asrock Fan tastic tuning software -funny name btw-

You can set fan power levels (max 5 levels IIRC) for a custom CPU temperature point, from 1% to 100%.

My Kabuto 2 cooler starts with minimum 18% fan power, begins spinning with 300rpm at that level.

Is it clear now? Sorry for my bad English.

Do you have a picture of the BIOS screen where you can set this fan curve? I only see this: http://content.hwigroup.net/images/products/xl/219228-27.jpg
 
Can't find the two he mentions in the article (I'm located in Sweden) But there is also the Adata Premier Pro SP900 2242 256 GB, that he didn't find, but that is available in Sweden. However, it's hard to get confirmation if this drive is bootable. Some say it's only bootable in legacy (IDE mode, and not AHCI), and so forth... sigh.

Asrock does mention compatibility with a smaller 16 GB drive on their website, but that's about it. This whole M.2 thing is rather messy at the moment.

I use this exact same M.2 on this exact board and have since I bought them together months ago. It boots beautifully and feels no slower in practicality than my 840 pro. Have been very happy with it to date. Hopes this helps.
 
About the custom fan curve again: Some motherboards allow 1-100% for the CPU, but only allow 50-100% for chassis fans. What about this board?
 
Anyone sucessfully controlling 3 pin fans with this board? Mine seems to ignore all profiles, custom, silent, etc.

Edit: CPU fan header wont do it, Chassis header will.
 
Last edited:
I got mine this weekend, its pretty sweet. Alot of OC options im gonna have to look up a guide on how to OC cause i have no idea what half the stuff is, i haven't had an board with so many advance options. Any way i have a 4690k on it cooled with a Corsair H105 and at stock speed and volts it is 26-30C depending on which core it is and i dont uder stand why on core is slightly higher maybe cause my thermal paste hasn't cured yet? Also a question should i just use the built in OC preset or play around?
 
Had to throw away this worthless H60 due to its buzzing noise. So... what kind of aircooling tower heatsink are you guys are using? That stupid 8pin connector is in the way for a Macho Zero!
 
I think I've discovered that the Chassis fan (CHA_FAN 1) has a PWM minimum duty of something like 70%.

I recently bought a lovely 3000RPM noctua industrial to complement my final build, and plugging it into the chassis fan header has it on about 2150rpm minimum. No amount of fiddling with speed fan can get it to go lower.

Conversely, using it on the CPU fan header instead, I was able to get the fan to reliably spin up at 7%, or 215 rpm. I've tried several fans on the Chassis header and they all do the same thing if they're PWM, however I can fully control any 3 pin fan i plug into it. Currently I've got a very generic 3 pin corsair fan in there, which can be controlled with speed fan from about 25% to 100% rpm, or 450 > 1600ish.

I've been back and forth with asrock in an emails, and they're saying that no, they shouldn't have a minimum duty, and that i should contact my local retailer for an RMA. But a few things I've read here and there suggest that this is indeed the case across all models, and the chassis fan has a minimum cycle duty.
 
Ugh, reading this, tempted to build another M1 build, but my original Z87/GTX670 still going strong lol...
 
I think I've discovered that the Chassis fan (CHA_FAN 1) has a PWM minimum duty of something like 70%.

I recently bought a lovely 3000RPM noctua industrial to complement my final build, and plugging it into the chassis fan header has it on about 2150rpm minimum. No amount of fiddling with speed fan can get it to go lower.

Conversely, using it on the CPU fan header instead, I was able to get the fan to reliably spin up at 7%, or 215 rpm. I've tried several fans on the Chassis header and they all do the same thing if they're PWM, however I can fully control any 3 pin fan i plug into it. Currently I've got a very generic 3 pin corsair fan in there, which can be controlled with speed fan from about 25% to 100% rpm, or 450 > 1600ish.

I've been back and forth with asrock in an emails, and they're saying that no, they shouldn't have a minimum duty, and that i should contact my local retailer for an RMA. But a few things I've read here and there suggest that this is indeed the case across all models, and the chassis fan has a minimum cycle duty.

I know you PMed me and i think you solved this mystery. I wouldn't RMA for it at least I am not. If anything i am in the camp to just find a min. speed that works all the time vs a temp controlled setting. Unless you are on something like stock cooling you should have plenty of head room. Still can be an issue for really small cases without a front or rear case fan.
 
I got mine this weekend, its pretty sweet. Alot of OC options im gonna have to look up a guide on how to OC cause i have no idea what half the stuff is, i haven't had an board with so many advance options. Any way i have a 4690k on it cooled with a Corsair H105 and at stock speed and volts it is 26-30C depending on which core it is and i dont uder stand why on core is slightly higher maybe cause my thermal paste hasn't cured yet? Also a question should i just use the built in OC preset or play around?

If you are asking why one core reports a higher temp than others its probably due to multicore turbo. There is a multicore turbo option in the BIOS, I have it set to enabled basically the default turbo option only will boost 2 cores, the multicore enhancement is what it is called tries to boost all cores, but I think anandtech did a review awhile back as part of the round up and found that the mulitcore enchancement doesnt work or doesnt boost all 4 cores.

Either way for the boost of 2 cores to 4.0 ghz its not a huge deal anyways. Probably better off to just shoot for 4.3 ghz on the core and not to worry about the boost.

But this should answer why one/two cores can show as higher temp because they essentially are turboed to 4.0 ghz under load.
 
Update to the fan testing. Looks like i was overestimating quite a bit on the minimum fan duty. It seems to be set at 40% for PWM. When testing the PWM noctua fan with a 3 pin adapter, it wouldnt start spinning until i hit 40%. Testing the generic corsair 3 pin again, it works at 25%.

Either way, that's just the Chassis fan, with a range of 40-100% PWM. Not ideal, considering when my machine is idle it's literally only using 12w total power, and i'd like the silence.

Just need to find a better 3 pin for the case.
 
3-pin doesn't work with PWM. It's the 4th pin that sends the PWM signal...

So if you have a fan connected by 3-pin wire on the CPU fan header that is able to change speed, the motherboard is regulating that by voltage. The chassis fan(s) are only able to regulate by voltage, and there will be a minimum voltage before the fan starts, this is true for any fan.
 
Is this mobo any good for a gaming budget build?
I need one that has decent oc support and wireless ethernet. Tho this one is pretty expensive but all of the mini itx board tend to be a little expensive..
 
I am hoping that someone here that owns this board can answer a question for me.

Does the HDMI OUT on this motherboard pass out bitstream? looking to build a new HTPC and seriously looking at this board, but I have to be able to pass bitstream audio to my receiver
 
Is this mobo any good for a gaming budget build?
I need one that has decent oc support and wireless ethernet. Tho this one is pretty expensive but all of the mini itx board tend to be a little expensive..
If you're only gaming, stick with Z97 as that'll do just fine for a much lower price.
 
Who's using the onboard sound and is it good? Rightmark seems to suggest so.
1150 with Nichicon fine gold caps plus a TI amp appears to help.

3682-albums456-picture30702.jpg


Though it's a mini it would have been nice for more fan headers, I mean just one chassis is weak.
Pictures suggest a few could have been put up on top there is some space.
 
Last edited:
I have an Asus VII Impact with the same sound chip and a TI amp too, I find it miles better than the other onboard crap we had to endure. The headphone amp really helps produce a clear sound without much (any?) background noise.
 
Does anyone know if level 1 or 5 is the highest LLC ? I'm looking at the LLC that I believe is for the VVCIO. VVCIO voltage dips at idle with level 1 but no voltage changes on level 5, idle to load.

Btw this board is working great with my 5675C. Using beta BIOS P2.00
 
If anyone was wondering. This board does "support" the 950pro NVME drive, however there aren't any screws to secure it. Also, it's not really worth doing, because the speed is limited (819/759 100k IOPS) - attached screenshot.
 

Attachments

  • 950pro.png
    950pro.png
    147.3 KB · Views: 35
If anyone was wondering. This board does "support" the 950pro NVME drive, however there aren't any screws to secure it. Also, it's not really worth doing, because the speed is limited (819/759 100k IOPS) - attached screenshot.
How did you fit it in? I thought the 950 Pro is too long?

I believe you need BIOS 1.80 to support it. Maybe the Beta 2.00.

2.00
1.Update Intel CPU Microcode 13
2.Improve M.2 compatibility

1.80
1.Update 5th Generation Intel Core Processors microcode.
2.Add NVME support
3.Update ME and VBIOS.
 
How did you fit it in? I thought the 950 Pro is too long?

I believe you need BIOS 1.80 to support it. Maybe the Beta 2.00.

2.00
1.Update Intel CPU Microcode 13
2.Improve M.2 compatibility

1.80
1.Update 5th Generation Intel Core Processors microcode.
2.Add NVME support
3.Update ME and VBIOS.

I have the newest bios. It goes past the start of the CPU mounting bracket (I have a liquid cooled). It works even at a 45deg angle and I put a rubber stopper on my case where it would have touched... though I'm not keeping it because of the lacking performance (which I expected). I was just mainly curious if it would work or not.
 
I have the newest bios. It goes past the start of the CPU mounting bracket (I have a liquid cooled). It works even at a 45deg angle and I put a rubber stopper on my case where it would have touched... though I'm not keeping it because of the lacking performance (which I expected). I was just mainly curious if it would work or not.
Do you have any pictures? That sounds like a good solution.
 
Back
Top