In the office I am currently running through a series of smaller sized motherboards – both micro-ATX and mini-ITX.  Due to the size, there is plenty of scope to push towards something niche, something that works, or something that slips comically on a banana by missing the point entirely.  Today we have in the ASRock Z87E-ITX, a $150 $140 motherboard that flew under my radar until it landed on my test bed.

ASRock Z87E-ITX Overview: Motherboard Juxtaposition

The two main focal points for users looking at Haswell mini-ITX platforms are on the higher end: the Z87 Impacts and the Z87 Stinger, both of which will be the focus of future reviews.  For that sort of price (>$200), plenty of fully sized ATX motherboards come into the mix, whereas the ASRock Z87E-ITX is currently etailing at $150, and the reduction of the PCB space from a full sized board could offer potential on the functionality front.

On first glance, the Z87E-ITX does not strike any visual cues.  However, the big feature point for the ASRock Z87E-ITX, apart from the size, is squarely at the use of a Broadcom 2x2:2 802.11ac WiFi module.  As far as I can tell, this is the cheapest Intel motherboard on the market that uses an 802.11ac module (there is an AMD A88XN motherboard that is $110), and in our testing we saw a ~430 Mbps throughput at a distance of 6 feet from a DLink router.

Alongside the usual, this motherboard has six SATA 6 Gbps from the PCH (capable of RAID 5), a Realtek ALC1150 audio codec (performed well in our test), a TI NE5532 headset amplifier for 600 ohm support, six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear, two via a header) and an eSATA.  Perhaps a little on the downside, like most mini-ITX motherboards, we only have two fan headers, the CPU power connector is an awkward place and the SATA ports are all bunched together to make locked SATA cables a pain to remove.  The board is a six power phase design, and by virtue of the price we do not get the 60A chokes of more expensive models – nevertheless overclocking performance was overly positive.

I used the word ‘Juxtaposition’ in the title of this review, and it is often a word misunderstood.  It applies to the Z87E-ITX in several ways.  For CPU performance, the motherboard does not use MultiCore Turbo to pump the multiplier up in max load (there is an option in BIOS, but it is not enabled by default).  As a result, multithreaded CPU benchmarks are behind most regular Z87 motherboards: but chances are a mini-ITX motherboard is going to go into a cramped environment where extra turbo modes might be detrimental to overheating, so this is not fully a negative.  Despite this, and the lack of additional fan headers/USB 3.0 or SATA 6 Gbps controllers, the Z87E-ITX outperforms many of our other motherboards in our gaming tests, if only by small margins.  To cap it off, our overclock testing on the Z87E-ITX gave a solid 4.7 GHz under 90ºC during OCCT load, a feat not often seen in our Z87 testing.  The 802.11ac performance is quite nice as well.

On the software and BIOS side ASRock supply the Z87E-ITX with the usual array.  The BIOS is easy to use and well laid out, being one of the best aesthetically pleasing visualizations of a graphical interface this generation, and the software runs through A-Tuning, with XFast RAM, XFast LAN and XFast USB.  ASRock have improved fan control over previous generations, along with a push to move most of their apps under a single installation and interface.

Overall, users should understand that mini-ITX usually comes with a side of compromise, either in features, functionality or performance.  Perhaps all of the above.  There are a couple of more pertinent marks against the Z87E-ITX (8-pin CPU power placement, two fan headers) that other motherboards do better, but the Z87E-ITX takes more steps forward than back for a $150 mini-ITX motherboard with 802.11ac WiFi included and should suitably fit into most ITX builds.

Visual Inspection

As always, mini-ITX platforms are to be limited by specifications - the major one being size, where we get a 17cm by 17cm PCB.  This puts obvious pressure on the motherboard manufacturer to fit everything on board, including socket, power, DRAM, SATA ports and any manufacturer specific additional components.  One thing to notice when looking at the Z87E-ITX is that it is not the prettiest motherboard by any means.  Due to the manufacturing process, you will notice that each component has a white box around it to help the machines place components correctly.  Some manufacturers have tools that do not require this, or provide a coating on a motherboard to hide it – ASRock tend to leave those options for their high end products.

Around the socket area the first thing that draws my attention is the power delivery chokes.  Back when I reviewed the Z77E-ITX, the Ivy Bridge version of this board, I commented that they looked like the standard chokes on low end motherboards.  Back then, ASRock commented to me via email that these are Iron Ferrite chokes, ones used for server builds, and thus have the longevity, heat loss and power consumption figures suited for environments that mini-ITX boards might be put in.  One big adjustment on the Z87E-ITX over the Z77E-ITX is the socket placement, which has moved up the board nearer the top and out of the way of any large GPUs that might be used.

One feature I would like to push on mini-ITX motherboards is more fan headers.  ASRock have two on the Z87E-ITX, which is the most common number of fan headers on a board of this size.  Some ITX motherboards have more, and I would like more than two for sure.  The fan headers on the Z87E-ITX, both four pin, are located at the top of the motherboard – one on the left near the rear IO, and one on the right above the 24-pin ATX power connector.  Next to this latter one are the DRAM slots, which use the single sided latch mechanism in order to not interfere with GPUs with large backplates.  Make sure your memory is therefore pushed all the way in to be recognized.

Underneath the 24-pin ATX power connector is a USB 3.0 header, giving two USB 3.0 ports out of the board’s total of six.  Using our Flex IO mathematics (PCIe 2.0 lanes from chipset = 18 - native USB 3.0 - native SATA 6 Gbps), using six USB 3.0 and six SATA 6 Gbps leads to six PCIe 2.0 lanes for the PCH.  This is a fairly common arrangement for mini-ITX, given that no PCIe 2.0 x4 slots are required and thus the PCH lanes can be directed to controllers.  The Z87E-ITX also has a TPM header on the bottom right of the board.

As mentioned, the board has six SATA 6 Gbps ports all native to the PCH, which means that they are capable of RAID 5 for a nice 4/5 slot home storage system (+OS and/or ODD).  The downside with these ports is the arrangement – as shown above, it means that when using locking cables, in order to remove the bottom SATA device the others above it also have to be disconnected.

Next to the SATA ports is the 802.11ac mini-PCIe WiFi module.  This is the same Broadcom IP we have seen in the other ASRock motherboards that use 802.11ac, capable of dual band and BT4.0.  The card is connected via two wires to the back plate of the motherboard, where the bundled antenna can be attached.  This will annoy some users for sure: ideally the WiFi card should be on the rear IO to begin with as that usually suits everyone.

To the left of the chipset heatsink are a pair of USB 2.0 headers and our front panel audio header.  This audio header should be at the ‘front’ (near the DRAM) to make it easy to connect, but due to audio codec design we find it instead at the ‘rear’ (next to the rear IO).  The Z87E-ITX uses a Realtek ALC1150 audio codec with a TI NE5532 headset amplifier; although due to the board size we do not get any distinct electrical placement separation between digital and analog signals.  Above the chipset heatsink is the motherboard battery, sticking out of the motherboard, and above the USB 2.0 headers we have an oddly placed 4-pin CPU power connector.

When analyzing mini-ITX motherboards, the placement of the 8-pin CPU power connector is a surefire way to see if a manufacturer has quizzed end users on their preferred placement.  My preferred location for this power connector is on the other side of the DRAM slots, next to the 24-pin ATX power connector.  I do not want my CPU power cable reaching over the motherboard/DRAM/GPU in order to be connected.  Unfortunately, this is what we get here.  I can imagine that relocating this nearer the right hand side of the board requires a not-so-insignificant amount of electrical redesign, but I find it to be the preferred place for mini-ITX builds.

The rear IO features two USB 2.0 ports, a keyboard PS/2 port, two connectors for the bundled antenna, a DVI-D port, DisplayPort, HDMI, a Clear_CMOS button, an eSATA, four USB 3.0, an Intel I217V NIC and audio jacks from the ALC1150.

Also of note on the ASRock Z87E-ITX is the mSATA placement, which following on from the Z77E-ITX is on the rear of the motherboard.  When building my father’s mini-ITX system with the Z77E-ITX, I found this the preferred place for his OS drive, such that he would not be able to mess around with it and break it (like he did his previous boot drive SSD).

Board Features

ASRock Z87E-ITX
Price	Link
Size	Mini-ITX
CPU Interface	LGA-1150
Chipset	Intel Z87
Memory Slots	Two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB Up to Dual Channel, 1333-2933 MHz
Video Outputs	DVI-D HDMI DisplayPort
Onboard LAN	Intel I217V
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC1150
Expansion Slots	1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 1 x mPCIe
Onboard SATA/RAID	6 x SATA 6 Gbps (PCH), RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
USB 3.0	6 x USB 3.0 (PCH) [1 header, 4 back panel]
Flex IO x+y+z = 18	SATA 6 Gbps 6 USB 3.0 6 PCIe 2.0 6
Onboard	6 x SATA 6 Gbps 1 x USB 3.0 Headers 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 2 x Fan Headers 1 x mPCIe with dual band 802.11bgnac WiFi Front Panel Header Front Panel Audio Header TPM Header 1 x mSATA (rear)
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX Connector 1 x 8-pin CPU Connector
Fan Headers	1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CHA (4-pin)
IO Panel	1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port 2 x USB 2.0 4 x USB 3.0 1 x eSATA 2 x Antenna Ports DVI-D DisplayPort HDMI Clear_CMOS Button Intel I217V GbE NIC Audio Jacks
Warranty Period	3 Years
Product Page	Link

Plus points for the Z87E-ITX are the audio codec being better than almost everything at this price point, along with six SATA 6 Gbps that support RAID 5 and 802.11ac WiFi included.  That rear mSATA is nice as well.  Downsides start with only two fan headers, 8-pin CPU power connector placement, and a lack of power/reset buttons (two digit debug would have helped as well).  ASRock are keen to push their new A-Tuning philosophy, but the Z87E-ITX has missed features like HDMI-IN in exchange for DVI+VGA compatibility.

ASRock Z87E-ITX BIOS

ASRock does not vary their BIOS designs between market segments, and thus the analysis provided in our Z87 OC Formula/ac review, Z87M OC Formula review and Z87 Extreme6/ac reviews is still bang on the money in terms of features – the OC Formula models however will have additional settings related to extreme overclocking which are not suitable for a mini-ITX platform.  I will go over the important features here, but one thing worth mentioning first is the amount of BIOS updates the Z87E-ITX has had since launch.

Typically a motherboard from ASRock comes with BIOS 1.20, or a 1.13B beta version, and when I go to update it for a review, 1.30 or 1.40 might be available.  At the time of testing this Z87E-ITX, BIOS 2.10 was the most recent BIOS, with recent updates improving CPU overclocking performance, CPU fan behavior, memory overclocking and compatibility.  I would normally suggest that users update their BIOSes on a fresh build when starting (as long as you are comfortable with the procedure), but it seems more relevant here with the Z87E-ITX either due to bug fixes or compatibility improvements.

Aesthetically speaking, ASRock have one of the better BIOSes on the market.  A fair number of users (and reviewers) berated the starry background that in some versions twinkle and others actually causes a noise, but the BIOS uses a nice font and a deep contrast between background and text that makes it easy to navigate.  The icons are suitably high definition as well; there are still a number of BIOSes on the market that feel and look blocky.

The first page of the BIOS lists several important numbers of the motherboard – the name, the BIOS revision, the CPU installed, the memory installed, and all associated speeds.  This should be the staple entry screen in any BIOS, but ASRock are missing CPU temperatures, voltages and fan speeds.  Ideally I would like the motherboard name, CPU name and CPU temperature persistent across each BIOS menu, perhaps on the bottom bar where there is space in the ASRock BIOS.

ASRock offers an option on this page to select the default page of entry, which for overclockers or users adjusting fan controls may help.  There is also a UEFI Guide which runs a slow slideshow of all the BIOS features.

The OC Tweaker tab provides users with overclock options, with enough to keep most enthusiasts happy.  The Z87E-ITX has the MultiCore Enhancement option set to disabled to default, so any user who wants extra multi-threaded performance without overclocking in any serious fashion can enable this.  There are several automatic OC options from 4.0 GHz to 4.8 GHz in 200 MHz increments, each of which we have tested for the overclock section of this review.

The OC Tweaker gives control of the CPU voltages, load lines, cache voltages, multipliers, and control of the FIVR (Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator).  In the DRAM settings users can control all the major options as well as fine tuning options in the DRAM tweaker:

Aside from the usual CPU and controller configuration pages in the ‘Advanced’ tab, ASRock likes to put a lot of their extra features into the ‘Tool’ tab:

One feature I like especially is the System Browser that shows an image of the motherboard as well as all the detected components.  This is useful for when one stick of memory is not being detected or issues with USB/SATA devices:

Perhaps a small oddity in ASRock BIOSes is the OMG option, standing for ‘Online Management Guard’.  This is an hour-by-hour selection of when to disable the network ports, designed for users with small children.  However the options can be bypassed by loading up the BIOS and adjusting, or forcing a Clear_CMOS.

Something new for Z87 was the UEFI Tech Service option in the BIOS.  Users with an Ethernet network connection can send error reports direct to ASRock from within the BIOS (or using the included software).  I would assume that this also takes a snapshot of BIOS information such that ASRock can find certain issues that may not be obvious to the user.

The ‘Tool’ menu allows users to update the BIOS via the internet from within the BIOS itself, which is a feature we have seen from ASRock on previous platforms.  The final option to note in this menu is the return of the Dehumidifier function, which keeps the fans spinning after the motherboard is turned off in an effort to equalize the temperature within the case and the ambient temperature.  In climates with high humidity, this may help with condensation forming when the temperature outside the case drops, causing a rapid cooling inside the case and condensation to form (think condensation on the inside of a house when it is cold outside).

Despite there being only two fan headers on the motherboard, the hardware monitor tab gives users options to provide multi-point fan profiles for each header:

At this point in time I think MSI have the best graphical representation of fan controls in the BIOS, but ASRock have a good multi-point fan option.  Despite this, fan controls in the OS are where most manufacturers focus their efforts because that is what more people end up using.

ASRock Z87E-ITX Software

The principles of ASRock software took a small shift with Z87: ASRock placed most of their tools into one interface called A-Tuning.  This includes the overclocking options for the OS, fan controls (with fan tester), XFast RAM, System Browser and their Dehumidifier function.  The interface is clean and polished for the most part, as we examined in the Z87 Extreme6 review.  The automatic overclocking options are still ‘Power Saving’ mode (slow ramp over 8 seconds of sustained load to the multi-threaded turbo multiplier), ‘Standard’, ‘Performance Mode’ (highest turbo bin at any load) and automatic overclocking.

Other software such as XFast RAM and XFast LAN still have their own software utilities as they are licensed versions of retail software.

ASRock Z87E-ITX In The Box

It would be easy to predict that a $150 mini-ITX motherboard has the bare essentials included in the box – at a guess we would expect a couple of SATA cables as a minimum.  The Z87E-ITX goes a little further, giving:

Driver DVD
Rear IO Shield
Manuals
Four SATA Cables
WiFi Antenna
DVI to D-Sub Adapter

Some motherboards use a built in antenna, but ASRock offers their own version here, designed to hang from a high spot above the system.  Aside from the two extra SATA cables, it is a little surprising to see a DVI to D-Sub adapter included, but welcome nonetheless.

ASRock Z87E-ITX Overclocking

Experience with ASRock Z87E-ITX

ASRock have developed their overclocking methodology over the generations, now offering a good number of 24/7 automatic overclock options both in the BIOS and in the OS.  These auto options are aggressive with voltage in order to encapsulate as many CPUs as possible, but even with an H80i on the path to winter, some of the options near my CPUs limit were hitting temperature boundaries.

Nevertheless I was impressed that ASRock’s settings all worked on my CPU, albeit a little overloading at 4.8 GHz and 1.42 volts.  During the manual overclock testing I did not notice ASRock requiring less voltage than other Z87 motherboards tested, however it did eclipse 4.7 GHz with temperatures remaining under 90C and 4.8 GHz failing only due to high temperatures.  Whether this was due to ambient temperatures being slightly lower than in previous testing or not, it is still a good display of overclockability from a small form factor product on server level power delivery chokes.

Methodology:

Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows.  We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with PovRay and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads.  These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.

For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed.  The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+).  Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air. 

Automatic Overclock:

Options for automatic overclocks are available in both the OS and in the BIOS.  For OS overclocks, we have the front page of A-Tuning:

In Standard Mode, the system operates as per the normal settings.  We observed a load voltage of 1.021 volts, a PovRay score of 1531.55 and a peak temperature of 55ºC.

In Power Saving Mode, the system reduces down to 800 MHz for almost all operation.  Under sustained load (any number of cores), the system will raise the CPU speed slowly.  After eight seconds the system will be at full speed, offering full stock performance.  Due to this ramp up procedure, the PovRay score was lower at 1438.95, but load voltage was the same at 1.021 volts.  Peak temperature under load was 56ºC.

In Performance Mode, the system stays at the full-load turbo bin as set in the BIOS, rarely coming down to idle unless the system is absolutely idle.  In our system this meant a 3.7 GHz speed, giving a PovRay score of 1517.43 and load voltages of 1.021 volts.  Peak temperatures were at 56ºC.

This screen also offers Auto Tuning, which set the i7-4770K CPU at 3.0 GHz and stress tests the system, upping the multiplier over time to 4.3 GHz.  At 4.3 GHz the system stops as if complete.  At this setting the CPU voltage is set to 1.200 volts, giving a load CPU voltage of 1.202.  Unfortunately the system was only at 4.3 GHz for single thread loads, moving down to 3.5 GHz for multithread, giving an ultimate PovRay score of 1472.88.  Peak temperatures were 67ºC due to the higher voltage.

Overclocking via the BIOS is comparatively easy, with the ‘Optimized CPU OC Setting’ giving options from 4.0 GHz to 4.8 GHz in 200 MHz jumps.  The latter two options are in red, suggesting a better than average cooling system.

• At 4.0 GHz, the system applies an adaptive 1.000 volts on the CPU, giving 1.064 volts under load and a PovRay score of 1641.82.  Peak temperatures under load were 59ºC.
• At 4.2 GHz, the system applies an override 1.200 volts on the CPU, giving 1.202 volts under load and a PovRay score of 1740.26.  Peak temperatures under load were 71ºC.
• At 4.4 GHz, the system applies an override 1.300 volts on the CPU, giving 1.297 volts under load and a PovRay score of 1825.93.  Peak temperatures under load were 84ºC.
• At 4.6 GHz, the system applies an override 1.320 volts on the CPU as well as a Load Line Calibration level one and 1.9 volts on the FIVR, giving 1.321 volts under load and a PovRay score of 1897.05.  Peak temperatures under load were 88ºC.
• At 4.8 GHz, the system applies an override 1.420 volts on the CPU as well as a Load Line Calibration level one and 1.9 volts on the FIVR, giving 1.421 volts under load and a PovRay score of 1961.48.  Unfortunately temperatures during PovRay reached 99ºC, and our OCCT load test failed due to temperatures.

Manual Overclock:

For our manual overclock testing it was easy enough to follow the same principles of the CPU OC settings and extrapolate to find the lowest voltage needed for each CPU speed.  We adjusted the multiplier from 40x upwards, starting at 1.000 volts with 1.9 volts on the FIVR and a Load Line Calibration of level one.

The fact that the motherboard hit 4.7 GHz on my CPU (and kept OCCT under 90ºC) that commonly falls foul at 4.7 GHz is a pleasant surprise.  With any luck I will get my new water chiller loop system to help push systems beyond ambient limitations.

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:

Thank you to OCZ for providing us with 1250W Gold Power Supplies.
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory kits.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU, Corsair H80i CLC and 16GB 2400C10 memory.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with the AMD GPUs and some IO Testing kit.
Thank you to ECS for providing us with the NVIDIA GPUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with the 500W Platinum Power Supply for mITX testing, BlackHawk Ultra, and 1600W Hercules PSU for extreme dual CPU + quad GPU testing, and RK-9100 keyboards.
Thank you to ASRock for providing us with the 802.11ac wireless router for testing.

Test Setup

Processor	Intel Core i7-4770K Retail 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo)
Motherboards	ASRock Z87 Extreme6/AC ASRock Z87 OC Formula/AC ASRock Z87M OC Formula ASRock Z87E-ITX ASUS Z87-Pro Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H Gigabyte Z87X-OC MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming MSI Z87 XPower MSI Z87I
Cooling	Corsair H80i Thermalright TRUE Copper
Power Supply	OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU
Memory	GSkill TridentX 4x4 GB DDR3-2400 10-12-12 Kit Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x8 GB DDR3 2400 10-12-12 Kit
Memory Settings	XMP (2400 10-12-12)
Video Cards	ASUS HD7970 3GB ECS GTX 580 1536MB
Video Drivers	Catalyst 13.1 NVIDIA Drivers 310.90 WHQL
Hard Drive	OCZ Vertex 3 256GB
Optical Drive	LG GH22NS50
Case	Open Test Bed
Operating System	Windows 7 64-bit
USB 2/3 Testing	OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor
WiFi Testing	D-Link DIR-865L 802.11ac Dual Band Router

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply, while in a dual 7970 GPU configuration.  This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, which is suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading.  This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency.  These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers.  These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

The Z87E-ITX does well in our power consumption tests, being relatively low in idle scenarios, 16W lower than the MSI in gaming and under 130W during OCCT.

Windows 7 POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized.  A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized).  As part of our testing, we are now going to look at the POST Boot Time - this is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 7 starts loading.  (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.)  These results are subject to human error, so please allow +/- 1 second in these results.

The Z87E-ITX hits the nine second mark square on, providing a nice and quick boot time.

Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5

In part due to reader requests, we are pleased to include Rightmark Audio Analyzer results in our benchmark suite.  The premise behind Rightmark:AA is to test the input and output of the audio system to determine noise levels, range, harmonic distortion, stereo crosstalk and so forth.  Rightmark:AA should indicate how well the sound system is built and isolated from electrical interference (either internally or externally).  For this test we connect the Line Out to the Line In using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS speaker volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 192 kHz, 24-bit.  The OS is tuned to 192 kHz/24-bit input and output, and the Line-In volume is adjusted until we have the best RMAA value in the mini-pretest.  We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on board, as well as the Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise.

While the system uses an ALC1150, due to the routing on board I was not too hopeful about a good result as the digital/analog traces were not wholly separated.  As a result, while the dynamic range is low for an ALC1150, I was surprised to see the harmonic distortion is the best ALC1150 we have had in to test.

USB Backup

For this benchmark, we run CrystalDiskMark to determine the ideal sequential read and write speeds for the USB port using our 240 GB OCZ Vertex3 SSD with a SATA 6 Gbps to USB 3.0 converter.  Then we transfer a set size of files from the SSD to the USB drive using DiskBench, which monitors the time taken to transfer.  The files transferred are a 1.52 GB set of 2867 files across 320 folders – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are the videos used in the WinRAR test.  In an update to pre-Z87 testing, we also run MaxCPU to load up one of the threads during the test which improves general performance up to 15% by causing all the internal pathways to run at full speed.

XFast seems to boost peak read/write speeds, and it follows through into our copy tests for Windows 7.

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing.  In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority.  Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests, such as audio, will be further down the line.  So if the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.  If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time, resulting in an empty audio buffer – this leads to characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks.  Having a bigger buffer and correctly implemented system drivers obviously helps in this regard.  The DPC latency checker measures how much time is processing DPCs from driver invocation – the lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes.  Results are measured in microseconds and taken as the peak latency while cycling through a series of short HD videos - under 500 microseconds usually gets the green light, but the lower the better.

Both the Z87E-ITX and another 802.11ac mini-ITX motherboard I am currently testing have issues with DPC Latency: both hit peak values north of 200, and only when Bluetooth 4.0 is turned off.

WiFi Speeds (new testing)

With the advent of 802.11ac now part of the motherboard space, it made sense to bring in hardware to test the wireless capabilities of the packages we review.  Our test scenario is as follows – the router is located five feet away from the test bed and the signal has to travel around various electronics.  The router is in a small flat complex with a dozen access points easily available, mostly on 2.4 GHz.  We use a LAN Speed Test server on a Sandy Bridge-E i7 based system connected via Ethernet to the D-Link 802.11ac router and then the LAN Speed Test client on the host machine.  We set up a one hour continuous test using 25 simultaneous streams each sending then receiving 50 MB across the connection.  Results are then plotted as a histogram of the data.

As this is a new test (I moved apartments), we cannot compare the Z87E-ITX to our old data, but the histogram shows a nice 430 Mbps in both read and write.  Hopefully dual band, dual antenna 802.11ac will become the base for any system.  If it can be found on a $150 motherboard, there is no excuse to not have it on any WiFi enabled system that costs more.

Computational Benchmarks

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards.  This does several things – better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal), at the expense of heat and temperature, but also gives in essence an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants.  Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature.  It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, memory subtimings at JEDEC).  Processor speed change is part of that risk which is clearly visible, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the purchase.

For reference, on BIOS 2.10 as tested, the Z87E-ITX does NOT implement MultiCore Turbo by default, and thus follows Intel specifications.

Point Calculations - 3D Movement Algorithm Test

The algorithms in 3DPM employ both uniform random number generation or normal distribution random number generation, and vary in various amounts of trigonometric operations, conditional statements, generation and rejection, fused operations, etc.  The benchmark runs through six algorithms for a specified number of particles and steps, and calculates the speed of each algorithm, then sums them all for a final score.  This is an example of a real world situation that a computational scientist may find themselves in, rather than a pure synthetic benchmark.  The benchmark is also parallel between particles simulated, and we test the single thread performance as well as the multi-threaded performance.

In single core performance, where MCT does not matter, the Z87E-ITX does not set any records alight, even performing near the rear end of our Z87 testing in line with the Z87 OC Formula with a No MCT BIOS.

The lack of MCT should affect the multi-threaded test more, but the Z87E-ITX actually performs worse than expected, somewhere near a 3770K with MCT.

Compression - WinRAR 4.2

With 64-bit WinRAR, we compress the set of files used in the USB speed tests.  WinRAR x64 3.93 attempts to use multithreading when possible, and provides as a good test for when a system has variable threaded load.  WinRAR 4.2 does this a lot better!  If a system has multiple speeds to invoke at different loading, the switching between those speeds will determine how well the system will do.

Surprisingly the Z87E-ITX performs better than the Z87 Extreme6/AC, which did have MCT enabled.  It would seem that ASRock have optimized some of their turbo boosting routines from launch.

Image Manipulation - FastStone Image Viewer 4.2

FastStone Image Viewer is a free piece of software I have been using for quite a few years now.  It allows quick viewing of flat images, as well as resizing, changing color depth, adding simple text or simple filters.  It also has a bulk image conversion tool, which we use here.  The software currently operates only in single-thread mode, which should change in later versions of the software.  For this test, we convert a series of 170 files, of various resolutions, dimensions and types (of a total size of 163MB), all to the .gif format of 640x480 dimensions.

No surprises here – all motherboards taking 48-49 seconds in FastStone.

Video Conversion - Xilisoft Video Converter 7

With XVC, users can convert any type of normal video to any compatible format for smartphones, tablets and other devices.  By default, it uses all available threads on the system, and in the presence of appropriate graphics cards, can utilize CUDA for NVIDIA GPUs as well as AMD WinAPP for AMD GPUs.  For this test, we use a set of 33 HD videos, each lasting 30 seconds, and convert them from 1080p to an iPod H.264 video format using just the CPU.  The time taken to convert these videos gives us our result.

In the XVC test, the Z87E-ITX beats the OC Formula without MCT, and is actually on par with the MSI Z87I which did have MCT enabled.

Rendering – PovRay 3.7

The Persistence of Vision RayTracer, or PovRay, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing.  It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform.  We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed.  As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 2-3 minutes on high end platforms.

The Z87E-ITX joins the No MCT results from the OC Formula at the bottom of the Z87 testing for PovRay.

Video Conversion - x264 HD Benchmark

The x264 HD Benchmark uses a common HD encoding tool to process an HD MPEG2 source at 1280x720 at 3963 Kbps.  This test represents a standardized result which can be compared across other reviews, and is dependent on both CPU power and memory speed.  The benchmark performs a 2-pass encode, and the results shown are the average of each pass performed four times.

Grid Solvers - Explicit Finite Difference

For any grid of regular nodes, the simplest way to calculate the next time step is to use the values of those around it.  This makes for easy mathematics and parallel simulation, as each node calculated is only dependent on the previous time step, not the nodes around it on the current calculated time step.  By choosing a regular grid, we reduce the levels of memory access required for irregular grids.  We test both 2D and 3D explicit finite difference simulations with 2ⁿ nodes in each dimension, using OpenMP as the threading operator in single precision.  The grid is isotropic and the boundary conditions are sinks.  Values are floating point, with memory cache sizes and speeds playing a part in the overall score.

Explicit Finite Difference loves a bit of IPC, but due to the lack of MCT out of the box, the Z87E-ITX joins the other non-MCT results.

Grid Solvers - Implicit Finite Difference + Alternating Direction Implicit Method

The implicit method takes a different approach to the explicit method – instead of considering one unknown in the new time step to be calculated from known elements in the previous time step, we consider that an old point can influence several new points by way of simultaneous equations.  This adds to the complexity of the simulation – the grid of nodes is solved as a series of rows and columns rather than points, reducing the parallel nature of the simulation by a dimension and drastically increasing the memory requirements of each thread.  The upside, as noted above, is the less stringent stability rules related to time steps and grid spacing.  For this we simulate a 2D grid of 2ⁿ nodes in each dimension, using OpenMP in single precision.  Again our grid is isotropic with the boundaries acting as sinks.  Values are floating point, with memory cache sizes and speeds playing a part in the overall score.

Point Calculations - n-Body Simulation

When a series of heavy mass elements are in space, they interact with each other through the force of gravity.  Thus when a star cluster forms, the interaction of every large mass with every other large mass defines the speed at which these elements approach each other.  When dealing with millions and billions of stars on such a large scale, the movement of each of these stars can be simulated through the physical theorems that describe the interactions.  The benchmark detects whether the processor is SSE2 or SSE4 capable, and implements the relative code.  We run a simulation of 10240 particles of equal mass - the output for this code is in terms of GFLOPs, and the result recorded was the peak GFLOPs value.

Gaming Benchmarks

Metro2033

Our first analysis is with the perennial reviewers’ favorite, Metro2033.  It occurs in a lot of reviews for a couple of reasons – it has a very easy to use benchmark GUI that anyone can use, and it is often very GPU limited, at least in single GPU mode.  Metro2033 is a strenuous DX11 benchmark that can challenge most systems that try to run it at any high-end settings.  Developed by 4A Games and released in March 2010, we use the inbuilt DirectX 11 Frontline benchmark to test the hardware at 1440p with full graphical settings.  Results are given as the average frame rate from a second batch of 4 runs, as Metro has a tendency to inflate the scores for the first batch by up to 5%.

Dirt 3

Dirt 3 is a rallying video game and the third in the Dirt series of the Colin McRae Rally series, developed and published by Codemasters.  Dirt 3 also falls under the list of ‘games with a handy benchmark mode’.  In previous testing, Dirt 3 has always seemed to love cores, memory, GPUs, PCIe lane bandwidth, everything.  The small issue with Dirt 3 is that depending on the benchmark mode tested, the benchmark launcher is not indicative of game play per se, citing numbers higher than actually observed.  Despite this, the benchmark mode also includes an element of uncertainty, by actually driving a race, rather than a predetermined sequence of events such as Metro 2033.  This in essence should make the benchmark more variable, but we take repeated in order to smooth this out.  Using the benchmark mode, Dirt 3 is run at 1440p with Ultra graphical settings.  Results are reported as the average frame rate across four runs.

Civilization V

A game that has plagued my testing over the past twelve months is Civilization V.  Being on the older 12.3 Catalyst drivers were somewhat of a nightmare, giving no scaling, and as a result I dropped it from my test suite after only a couple of reviews.  With the later drivers used for this review, the situation has improved but only slightly, as you will see below.  Civilization V seems to run into a scaling bottleneck very early on, and any additional GPU allocation only causes worse performance.

Our Civilization V testing uses Ryan’s GPU benchmark test all wrapped up in a neat batch file.  We test at 1080p, and report the average frame rate of a 5 minute test.

Sleeping Dogs

While not necessarily a game on everybody’s lips, Sleeping Dogs is a strenuous game with a pretty hardcore benchmark that scales well with additional GPU power due to its SSAA implementation.  The team over at Adrenaline.com.br is supreme for making an easy to use benchmark GUI, allowing a numpty like me to charge ahead with a set of four 1440p runs with maximum graphical settings.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of MCT, the Z87E-ITX does hold its own in the gaming tests, more often than not coming in the top half (if not nearer the top) when compared to the other Z87 motherboards tested.

ASRock Z87E-ITX Conclusion

ASRock is definitely making progress on their product lines, in almost all areas: specifications, functionality, software and pricing.  ASRock are very aggressive when it comes to pricing, perhaps at the expense of a few aesthetics compared to some other boards.  The next step up for ASRock is going to be the creation of their own tools in terms of hardware – their competitors are looking to daughter boards for VRMs, for sound, and for extra features on the Rear IO.

At AnandTech we have previously reviewed the Z87I in the Z87 mini-ITX Haswell arena.  Compared to this review, the ASRock is $10 more, has two more SATA 6 Gbps ports, dual band 802.11ac rather than single band 802.11n, only one NIC rather than two but comes with an ALC1150 not an ALC892.  The ASRock has a more aesthetically pleasing BIOS than the MSI, they trade blows in software (ASRock has XFast, MSI has Live Update), ASRock has more in-the-box, overclocks further, fundamentally better USB speed but is a bit short on some CPU benchmarks.  If I had an extra $10, I would be going with ASRock in that battle.

$150 for a mini-ITX, 802.11ac enabled motherboard, giving good overclock performance but a little down on the CPU out-of-the-box unless you can change a single BIOS setting.  It still performs toe-to-toe in gaming benchmarks, with six SATA 6 Gbps, six USB 3.0 ports and a nice BIOS/software package that ASRock has been working on for several generations.

Users wanting a motherboard at $140-160 have a fair few choices as of 11/4:

$140 – MSI Z87I, ASUS Z87-C, MSI Z87-G43 Gaming, GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H
$145 – ASRock Z87 Extreme4, ASUS Z87-A
$150 – ASRock Z87E-ITX
$160 – ASUS Z87-PLUS, GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H, MSI Z87-G45 Gaming

And other Z87 mini-ITX are available:

$135 – GIGABYTE Z87N-WiFi
$190 – ASUS Z87I-Deluxe
$220 – EVGA Z87 Stinger
$225 – ASUS ROG Z87 Impact

Actually, since I started this review, the Z87E-ITX has a current price drop to $140, putting it right in the mix with the Z87N-WiFi.  I have the two ASUS ITX boards as well as the EVGA ITX motherboard in to test over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those reviews.

However overall I am pleased with the ASRock Z87E-ITX: it surpassed my high expectations in a few important areas (SATA ports, audio codec, overclock performance, 802.11ac) and is well deserving of a recommended award.  Another fan header or two, and perhaps an adjustment of that 8-pin CPU power connector might see it hit a full award.

Recommended: ASRock Z87E-ITX at $140