ASRock Z170M OC Formula (Intel Z170) Motherboard Review

Overclocking Results

CPU Overclocking

I have decided to reduce the CPU VCore to 1.4v applied (I will measure real VCore at the output capacitors), and see how high I can validate. On most boards it's 5.0.

I wasn't surprised when the Z170M OC Formula hit 5GHz; it's an overclocking motherboard, so 5GHz is to be expected.

Stability testing worked well, but it's obvious that the LLC is very aggressive as the VCore is slightly higher than what I chose in the UEFI and it almost throttled on a few cores.

Compatible Memory Overclocking Kits

Test 1: 2x8GB (16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666MHz C16

As expected, this 2666MHz kit worked well.

Test 2: 2x4GB (8GB) Corsair Dominator Platinum 3200MHz C16

The Dominator Platinum worked without a hitch.

Test 3: 2x4GB (8GB) G.Skill TridentZ 3733MHz C17

The TridentZ worked well, even at their high speed of 3.733GHz.

Test 4: 2x4GB (8GB) Corsair Vengeance 4000MHz C19

The Corsair Vengeance 4GHz kit is the fastest kit I have on hand, and most Z170 motherboards fail to boot with this kit at XMP. However, the Z170M OC Formula handled this kit like a champ; training was extremely minimal. I expect this kit to work well, as many memory vendors have told me their 4.33GHz kits and faster kits work flawlessly with this motherboard.