[mllrkllr88]

Even though it's not in retail stores yet, I wanted to get the thread started for the new ASRock Z590 OC Formula board!! This is the first mainstream 'OC Formula' board since the legendary Z170M OC Formula, so I figured we need a place to talk about it and share information. I also wanted to open up the thread to other ASRock Z590 boards because some of the information will translate to other models.

Please check out the thread here: L I N K


Interesting Features












Overclocking
Air Settings
The board comes with some memory profiles baked in. These might be a little bit loose by modern benching standards, but they are intended for compatibility. The board can handle tighter memory profiles than the ones in the bios, so keep that in mind. 100:100MHz base DRAM Ratios are significantly worse than 100:133MHz base DRAM Ratios. Gear 1 shows increased performance in a few benches such as SuperPi, but it's limited to about 4000 MHz and requires substantially higher IO_Memory than Gear 2 does.

In terms of acceptable voltage levels it all comes down to the cooling solution and also your comfort level. Here are a few tips to get you started for CPU temps:

1. Core Voltage = 1.45v is certainly safe on AIO with temperatures in the range of 75c for light loads like Geekbench
2. DRAM Voltage = Upper limit is around 2.1v but it really just depends on the memory
3. VCCSA = 1.40v to 1.65v (I personally need about 1.40v 4800c14 on air)
4. VCCIO_Memory = 1.40v to 1.65v (I personally need about 1.50v 4800c14 on air)
5. VTTDDR = Auto for almost all situations, but lower than auto may help with SuperPi

'Extreme Overclocking' Memory Timing Example

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 4800 14-14-14 (All Ambient)

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 5033 15-15-15 (All Ambient)

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 5172 15-15-15 from bios (All Ambient)

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 5033 15-15-15 32M waza (All Ambient)

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die Dual Rank Gear 1 3733 12-11-11 32M waza (All Ambient)

Spoiler: Micron 5300 19-28-28

working on it

Spoiler: Hynix D-Die 5600 24-32-32 (All Ambient)

***This is an old screen, it can now run much tighter timings at this freq

Spoiler: Hynix D-Die 5866 23-32-32 Super Loose (All Ambient)

'Daily' Memory Timing Example

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 4000 14-15-15

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 4600 16-16-16

working on it

Spoiler: Samsung B-Die 4800 17-17-17

working on it

Smart Switches
The motherboard has fifteen smart switches: Power Button, Reset Button, Retry Button, Safe Boot Button, Clear CMOS Button, Rapid OC Buttons, NickShih’s OC Profile Buttons, PCIe ON/OFF Switch, Slow Mode Switch, LN2 Mode Switch, BIOS Selection Switch and BIOS Flashback Button.



OLED Firmware Update

1. Run CMD as administrator​

2. Change active directory to the OLED software package folder​

3. Type 'UpdateFW' and hit enter, wait for all 3 stages to finish before closing the command prompt window​

OC Button Functionality
The OC profile buttons (buttons 1, 2, 3) allow you to save any profile you want. The profiles can be setup in the boos, or on the fly with the Formula Drive software. Within the software, profile 1 from the drop down menu corresponds to button 1. This relationship cannot be changed, but it's very straightforward. The user profile buttons are useful because it allows you to change all settings at once, not just BCLK for instance.



LN2
There are many ways to go about benching LN2, but here is a method that works for me:

1. With CPU temp around -80c, train air 5G CPU with desired memory profile (such as air profile above), then save and go back into bios
2. Set cold volts as follows
   1. VCC PLL = 1.40v to 2.3v (My finding suggests 1.80v is ideal for most CPUs with no scaling past that)
   2. Standby 1 = 1.50v to 1.8v (I set 1.60v myself and forget it. Testing different voltages for CPU scaling as yield no gain/loss)
   3. Standby 2 = Auto (If you have idle CB stability issues, you may need a value of around 1.15v)
   4. Standby 3 = Auto (If you have idle CB stability issues, you may need a value of around 1.15v)
3. Boot OS with cold volts applied and CPU still around -80c
4. Once in OS the CPU will take fullpot temps and you can start benching

Bios Flashback
The bios flashback feature is one of the most useful for extreme overclocking. If the bios becomes corrupt, or you have difficulties with the motherboard, a good first diagnostic step is to use the bios flashback feature because it completely wipes all portions of the bios.


Windows XP Support
Rejoice as XP works! The only thing you need to do is enable one bios option (see screenshot below). There is no native USB support so you may need a PCIe USB card or at the very least PS/2 mouse and keyboard.



NVMe Comparison
Check out proper reviews for more details on NVMe speeds, but I ran a few comparisons because some to satisfy a curiosity. I used a basic Phison E16 drive for the comparison (Team Group T-FORCE CARDEA Ceramic C440 M.2 2280 1TB)


Tools & Software
Updated: (4/19/21)
**If links are not working, copy/paste in browser directly
Bios: http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Z590OCF_L123.zip
Formula Drive: http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/ASRock Motherboard Utility(v3.0.412).rar
Formula Drive (Portable for XP): http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/Formula Drive_3.0.407.4(portable lite).rar
OLED Firmware: http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/OLED_FW_BBU_210330_1.rar
Timing Configurator http://picx.xfastest.com/nickshih/asrock/AsrTCSetup(v4.0.9).rar
ASMedia USB Drivers for Windows 7: Download Link
ACPI for Windows XP: Download Link


That's all for now, more to come as we do deeper into this board![/SPOILER]

 

[shar00750]

Excellent work David👍 that board looking amazing 🤩

 

[chispy]

Nice guide and write up Dave. This board is built like a tank and it looks like it can maxed out any cpu and memory you throw at it , beautiful and awesome piece of hardware + Asrock support = Win !

Welcome back Asrock OCF Nick Shih

 

[YoungChris]

Thank you! Looking forward to new screens

 

[Noxinite]

Gotta love the OCF boards.

 

[Johnny Rocco]

Gotta love that Borg green... resistance is not futile!

 

[cstkl1]

damn. think finally apex gonna be challenged. based on the timings.
but hmm theres alot of stuff shamino did though on bandwidth/latency..

 

[mllrkllr88]

Added some screens to the OP with all the voltage information to pass Geek3: 4800c14, 5600c24, 4000c14 Daily ...others are in progress still

 

[GtiJason]

Very nice David ! Excited to see what the community can do with this farewell to DDR4 board
oh I also noticed the link to ASRock OC Formula home page is just link instead of https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z590%20OC%20Formula/index.html

 

[mllrkllr88]

Nick Shih Just posted 6G DDR4 memtest on facebook

 

[cstkl1]

Nick Shih Just posted 6G DDR4 memtest on facebook
View attachment 2485886

should be 25-26k aida... lol...
why even bother running hci

 

[0451]

The dual bios switch on the rear IO is a nice feature. I haven’t seen that before.

 

[mllrkllr88]

5066 CL15-15-15 is pretty easy! I can loop Geek3 all day

Here is a quick screen, I am working on timing optimization currently.

 

[chispy]

Regarding memory , wish ones are best for good scores in 2d and 3d ? i have available some good kits of Sammies B-die A2 and some Micron-E die , no hynix over here . Shall we bin again the good memory kits to find the best ones for high clocks or low timings or both ?
i have been too lazy with memory on am4 x570 lol , 3800 cas 14-13 tight and thats it .

 

[mllrkllr88]

Regarding memory , wish ones are best for good scores in 2d and 3d ?

It's all about Samsung B-Die, A2 PCB! If you want to bench memory frequency validation then Hynix DRJ is the preferred memory option, otherwise everything is done on Samsung.

 

[chispy]

Awesome , great to hear that. i'm good to go then.

 

[marc0053]

The board looks great! great write-up David!

 

[bl4ckdot]

Thanks for your guide. Do you know how well the OCF is able to do on bdie DR with CML ? Or is the focus of that motherboard RKL only ?

 

[mllrkllr88]

Thanks for your guide. Do you know how well the OCF is able to do on bdie DR with CML ? Or is the focus of that motherboard RKL only ?

Very good question! Comet Lake has a different IMC for sure so the memory OC results will be less if using RKL CPU. While the biggest difference is with high frequency overclocking, Samsung B-Die appears to be about 150 MHz better with the same timings comparing RKL vs CML (rough estimate). As for dual rank, it's still in the tweaking stage so we don't have many results at this point.

 

[2500k_2]

Very good question! Comet Lake has a different IMC for sure so the memory OC results will be less if using RKL CPU. While the biggest difference is with high frequency overclocking, Samsung B-Die appears to be about 150 MHz better with the same timings comparing RKL vs CML (rough estimate). As for dual rank, it's still in the tweaking stage so we don't have many results at this point.

But most comet lake users wonder if the z590 can do better overclocking than the z490. Is it possible on z590 asrock formula 4800 dual rank bdie or higher?