ASRock Z77 OC Formula Motherboard

Main Specifications

The main specifications for the ASRock Z77 OC Formula include:

• Socket: 1155
• Chipset: Intel Z77 Express 
• Super I/O: Nuvoton NCT6776D
• Parallel ATA: None
• Serial ATA: Four SATA-300 ports, two SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset (RAID 0, 1, 10, and 5), and four SATA-600 ports controlled by two Marvell 88SE9172 chips (RAID 0 and 1)
• External SATA: None
• USB 2.0: 10 USB 2.0 ports, four soldered on the motherboard rear panel and six available through three headers on the motherboard
• USB 3.0: Eight USB 3.0 ports, six soldered on the motherboard rear panel and two available through a header on the motherboard (four controlled by the chipset and four controlled by an EtronTech EJ188H chip) 
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): No
• On-board video: Yes, controlled by the CPU, HDMI connector
• On-board audio: Produced by the chipset together with a Realtek ALC898 codec (7.1+2 channels, 24-bit resolution, 192 kHz sampling rate, 110 dB SNR for the outputs, and 104 dB SNR for the inputs), on-board optical SPDIF output
• On-board LAN: One Gigabit Ethernet port controlled by a Broadcom BCM57781 chip
• Buzzer: No
• Infrared interface: Yes
• Power supply required: EPS12V + ATX12V
• Slots: Two PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (x16/x0 or x8/x8), one PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (working at x4, all supporting SLI and CrossFireX), and three PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots (PLX PEX8605 switch chip) 
• Memory: Four DDR3-DIMM sockets (up to DDR3-3000, 32 GB maximum)
• Fan connectors: One four-pin connector for the CPU cooler and five three-pin connectors for auxiliary fans
• Extra features: POST diagnostics display, legacy serial port, PCI Express on/off switches, support for liquid cooling
• Number of CDs/DVDs provided: One
• Programs included: Motherboard utilities
• More Information: https://www.asrock.com/
• Average Price in the U.S.*: USD 240.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this First Look article.