ASRock Z87M Extreme4 (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

ASRock’s Z87M Extreme4 motherboard is currently selling for $122.99 in the USA. In the UK it can be had for £113.99 and £98.24 at two of our preferred retailers.

Overview

ASRock’s Z87M Extreme4 motherboard is a compact motherboard that manages to offer you all the functionality you’re going to need in a high-end system, but at a highly competitive price. There are quite a lot of rival solutions out there in the micro-ATX Z87 segment but for the price none of them can provide the extensive connectivity, impressive PCIe configuration and high quality audio of the ASRock Z87M Extreme4. Our results show us that the Z87M Extreme4 is a competent performer in most areas of the system, though the memory did yield some strange results, and the SATA/USB disk read performance was also a bit lower than the competition. Nonetheless we are not talking significant differences and certainly not enough to make a noticeable difference to the end user experience. Certainly in my opinion the minor drops are not enough to make me want to spend more on an equivalent motherboard from another brand.

Connectivity is a strong point of ASRock’s Z87M Extreme4 as it offers abundant USB and SATA connectivity, so there can be no complaints here even for the user with a tonne of USB and SATA devices. That connectivity doesn’t just stop at USB or SATA because there’s also abundant audio connectivity and a very good performing audio codec to compliment that – ASRock have what is easily one of the strongest implementations of the Realtek ALC 1150 codec – surprising given how affordable this motherboard is. ASRock also offer you abundant video outputs should you choose to use the integrated graphics on your Haswell CPU. If you decide to use discrete graphics then ASRock also give you a lot more than some other motherboards at the price point. For example they offer you dual PCIe 3.0 16X slots whereas some motherboard vendors only offer one and substitute the other for an additional PCIe 2.0 1X or 16X lane.

As a complete package the ASRock Z87M Extreme 4 is a brilliant offering. I would hazard a guess to say that this motherboard would be ideal for about 80% of prospective Z87 buyers and when you compare its price to that of the competition it is easy to see why so many consumers will, and have already, chosen it. Consumers looking for the absolute highest performance and prestige in a Z87 micro-ATX motherboard might be slightly unimpressed by the Extreme4, it isn’t really an elaborate or “ultimate” type motherboard, but everyone else should have few complaints at all.

Pros

• Attractive price
• Great connectivity for its size
• Ideal PCIe configuration
• Great quality audio

Cons

• Slightly below par SATA/USB and memory performance
• Brown PCB may not be to everyone’s taste
• Cannot use two PWM fans on the CPU fan headers due to space constraints

“If it is possible for a motherboard to find a “sweet spot” in the same way a graphics card or a CPU does, then the ASRock Z87M Extreme4 does exactly that. If you’re on a relatively tight budget and don’t mind dropping down to a micro-ATX sized motherboard then the Z87M Extreme4 is an ideal solution. It boasts all the high performance connectivity options and functionality of a larger motherboard, but with a more optimal amount of everything so you aren’t paying for unused ports or features. Micro-ATX has never looked so sensible or attractive.”

Thanks to ASRock  for providing this review sample.