1. Introduction
ASRock Inc. is established in 2002, specialized in the field of motherboards. ASRock strives to build up its own brand. With the 3C design concept, “Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness”, the company explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time, developing products with the consideration of eco-friendly concept.
Official product link:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/E3V5%20WS/
2. Packaging and accessories
The motherboard is packaged in a box with a black background with white & silver accents.
On the front side of the box there is printed the model of the motherboard next to the name of the components used in its construction, “Super Alloy”. On the upper part there are printed both the name & logo of the manufacturer and a few features of the product.
On the sides of the box we find printed both the name and logo of the manufacturer and the name of the product with a few of its features.
The back of the box presents in detail the product and enumerates the specifications & features of the motherboard.
Accessories
The product comes with the following accessories:
– 1x Manual
– 1x Driver CD
– 2x SATA cables
– 1x I/O Shield
3. Specifications
SOCKET: LGA 1151
CHIPSET: Intel® C232
POWER DESIGN: 5 Power Phase
FORM FACTOR: ATX Form Factor (30.5 cm x 19.1 cm)
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS: No
MEMORY: 4x DIMM, Max. 64 GB, Supports DDR4 2133 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
BIOS: 128Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS
Expansion Slots:
– 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2: x16 mode; PCIE4: x4 mode)*
– 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slots (Flexible PCIe)
HDD CONNECTVIITY:
– 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors
– support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology enterprise).
NETWORKING: Giga PHY Intel® I219LM / Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
PORTS:
– 1x PS/2 Mouse Port
– 1x PS/2 Keyboard Port
– 2x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
– 4x USB 3.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
– 1x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1x HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
AUDIO: Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection
FAN HEADERS: 3x 4-Pin
Features:
– Supports Intel® Xeon Series CPUs: This motherboard offers the best flexibility with support for Intel® Xeon E3-1200 v5 and 6th generation Intel® Core i3, Pentium and Celeron processors.
– Supports DDR4 ECC Memory Modules: Capable of supporting ECC memory modules with Intel Xeon E3, Core i3, Pentium and Celeron processors.
– Supports NVIDIA® Quadro and AMD FirePro Workstation Graphics Cards: Two PCIe Gen3 x16 slots that not only support ordinary graphics cards, but are also fully compatible with professional NVIDIA® Quadro and AMD FirePro workstation graphics solutions.
– Server Grade Intel® I219LM Gigabit LAN: A low power gigabit network controller that can be used for server or workstation system con gurations.
– UEFI EZ Mode: EZ mode is a dashboard which contains multiple readings of the system’s current status. You can check the most crucial information of your system, such as CPU speed, DRAM frequency, SATA information, fan speed, etc.
– 15μ Gold Contact in DIMM & VGA PCIe Slot: Unlike other motherboards come with only 3-4µ gold contact, this motherboard is coated with 15µ gold contact in the DRAM slots and PCIe x16 slot, thus providing better anti-oxidation protection than usual.
4. Visual inspection
Also the motherboard measures 305mm in height and has a width of 191mm.
The I/O panel is as follows (from left to right):
– 1x PS/2 Keyboard Port
– 4x USB 3.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
– 2x USB 2.0 Ports (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection))
– 1x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
– 1x HD Audio Jacks: Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Bios
5. Testing
– CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 @ 3.8GHz
– RAM: Patriot Viper 4 8GB DDR4 2400MHz
– GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Gaming
– HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
– SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
– PSU: Antec Edge 550W / In Win Green ME 750W
– CPU Cooler: Silverstone Tundra TD02 + Noiseblocker eLoop
– Display: AOC i2769VM
– Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White
– OS: Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1
The RAM memory was used at its default frequency.
– 3D Mark – FireStrike, CloudGate, IceStorm.
– CineBench r11.5
– SuperPi mod 1.5
– wPrime v1.55
– Grand Theft Auto V
– The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
– Tomb Raider 2013
3D Mark
Fire Strike
Cloud Gate
Ice Storm
CineBench r15
SuperPi mod 1.5
wPrime v1.55
Grand Theft Auto V
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Tomb Raider 2013
6. Final thoughts
The ASRock E3V5 WS is meant for the industrial segment, for servers, being equipped with Intel’s C232 chipset dedicated to Xeon processors. Also the motherboard offers support for ECC memory and Windows Server.
The Bios has an intuitive interface and the use of a detachable bios chip is a welcomed feature when a Dual-Bios configuration is not being used.
The motherboard uses quality components in its build, being included in the Supper Alloy category of boards. This is highlighted by the use of Elna capacitors in the audio system.
In conclusion, the E3V5 WS model addresses the industrial segment, using quality components and offering all the necessary options for running and configuring a server, being also compatible with the latest Intel Skylake Xeon processors.
The performance of the motherboard when paired with a Xeon processor is very good, the Xeon E3-1230 v5 model at its turbo frequency of 3.8GHz being faster in some cases than a Intel i5 6600K at 4.5GHz.
Also the price is more than reasonable considering the offered features of this model, in comparison with the prices of other motherboards in the industrial segment.
In the future, this motherboard can be improved by adding a M.2 slot and a few USB 3.1 Type-C ports.
