Asrock Extreme 6 Z77, installation and setup help

[abarth_1200]

Hello guys, will be getting my Asrock mobo in the next few days, along with a 3570K and a few sticks ddr3 undecided, possibly corsair vengeance.

So before I start i have done this before but not with the new spec motherboards, 1155 sockets and sata 3 solid state drives.

Really just looking for a basic guide on building my system the right way, then setting it up through bios etc. Ill be back bugging you for OC advice after I get it all running

One thing im concerned about is with the Ivy Bridge processor and my motherboard, will the BIOS its shipped with work with the IB straight out the box? I have heard stuff about you need to update it using an older processor before putting the IB in.

Onto my next question, I have W7 on a SSD, will I be able to just hook it up and install new drivers (delete current mobo drivers before taking out) for this mobo and hope for the best, or will it plain not work. Im hoping microsoft will reset the license or what ever as it is and oem version(which I bought not long ago)

Is there any special bios setting I need to know to get the ssd set up right, along with my other HDD's

Hope all that makes sense and again, im not a complete noob, just dont want to spend all day on this and mess it up on these expensive parts, thanks guys

 

[Operant]

Yours will definitely have the bios update to support IB. Just make sure your drives are setup in AHCI mode and they will work fine. As for transferring the OS, I'm pretty sure it will complain that it got transferred to a new motherboard and such. You'll probably have to contact microsoft to set it straight for your new motherboard. Just explain that you had to upgrade your system and you should be fine.

 

[abarth_1200]

Wow your OC sounds amazing on your i7.

Yep I thought I might be making a phone call to microsoft, ill just make it out as though my motherboard died and couldnt replace with one of the same spec as it is now outdated.

AHCI, got it, thought there was something like this, any programs to run to remove a heap of old drivers while keeping the OS intact?

Thanks for the help

 

[Bobnova]

Z77 should support IB out of the box. If it doesn't ASRock is doing it seriously wrong.
Driver wise I wouldn't worry about it. Win7 is very good with mobo switching in my experience.
If it does cause problems they're generally terminal though.

 

[av8tor]

Onto my next question, I have W7 on a SSD, will I be able to just hook it up and install new drivers (delete current mobo drivers before taking out) for this mobo and hope for the best, or will it plain not work. Im hoping microsoft will reset the license or what ever as it is and oem version(which I bought not long ago)


This will help with the transfer.......it worked for me. I went from a Gigabyte to an Asrock board using the same HDD with no problems....

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

 

[abarth_1200]

ok guys, I got my Z77 and 3570K all set up nicely, windows asked for reactivation and it did it itself, got a nice 4.5Ghz overclock hitting about 75 degrees under prime testing.

However, come to run a few benchmarks I tried out Unigine Heaven DX11 v3.0 and I have hardly improved my fps over my Q6600 OC'ed to 3.6Ghz.

Q6600 got me 51.4 Fps

3570K at stock got me 51.9 Fps, just re run the benchmark and got 52 Fps.

Note GPU was at max usage and CPU was barely breaking a sweat.

Also when I got everything installed earlier my GTX560Ti wasnt picked up by the motherboard, I had to switch pcie to GEN 1, reboot and reinstall new geforce drivers, then undid BIOS settings back to default.

Currently have both monitors plugged into my GPU card outputs, after sorting it out using the onboard graphics out.

Is the reason for my unchanged fps because of the GTX560Ti bottlenecking the CPU

 

[Operant]

Heaven is primarily a GPU test and thus if your GPU hasn't changed, then your FPS will not change.

 

[abarth_1200]

Huh, never even thought about that.

So does this highlight that my GPU is due an upgrade?

Also while we are here, is it best to keep my monitors plugged into my discrete card or can I plug one into the motherboard and have the CPU run its graphics? while gaming I like to watch temps, run other windows etc

 

[dejo]

I have the z77 ex6 board and like it. check your bios when you get it and see what revision it is. seen one yesterday that had 1.4 on it and asrock is up to 2.4 for that board, and the bios is nice and friendly in every way that I have noticed.

 

[abarth_1200]

OK my bios version is 1.5, ill have to update that. Internet flash isnt working though, anyone done it this way before.

Also, does anyone know why my clock speed doesnt slow down from 4.4Ghz when idleing.

Oh btw I didnt like the 1.32V when at 45 multi so down at 44 using auto vcore and hitting 1.26V, also noticed when I dropped cpu pll down to 1.791 I dropped a few .0 volts off vcore, how low can I go with this setting, motherboard did say it was at 1.89 before I changed it.

 

[dejo]

OK my bios version is 1.5, ill have to update that. Internet flash isnt working though, anyone done it this way before.

Also, does anyone know why my clock speed doesnt slow down from 4.4Ghz when idleing.

Oh btw I didnt like the 1.32V when at 45 multi so down at 44 using auto vcore and hitting 1.26V, also noticed when I dropped cpu pll down to 1.791 I dropped a few .0 volts off vcore, how low can I go with this setting, motherboard did say it was at 1.89 before I changed it.

if you are using cpuz 1.62 to monitor speed, use the older 1.60 version and it will show it dropping and idling.
bios 1.5 isnt bad and works very well. I have recently updated to 2.4 and like the way it boots better and all else is basically the same as far as meets the eye. clocks ability is equal on either of those 2. many in between are all over the place for me. as far as updating I just get the windows installer bios from asrock and they have been fine and no issues at all. and I am a flash monkey.

 

[abarth_1200]

Hey I had a quick google and it appears if you have a high performance power setting in Windows it will keep the CPU running at max clock speed, I just had a quick look and I had it on high performance, changed it over to balanced and hit apply, now my CPU is sitting at 1.6Ghz and only 12 degrees delta.

Ill have to plug in my OC settings after the BIOS update wont I, ill reset to default first then flash, looks pretty straight forward.

Oh BTW i boot into windows in about 15 seconds, Bios post screen hardly makes an appearance, these mobos are far better than previous generations.

 

[dejo]

the extreme4 is even faster than the 6 and both are untouchable for boot times. my last boot was 12 seconds on a full blown patched and everyday win7-64.
the board will clock my 2600k to 55x and just about takes anything I can throw at it. rather pleased with the value of the board. although I do so want the oc formula