Layout, Design and Features …
The black cardboard box of the ASRock E3V5 WS shows, that this board is from the ASRock Super Alloy series, which is providing special features we will present you later on.
The back of the package is showing some unique feature of this ASRock motherboard, like the Intel Xeon CPU support and Server operation system support, as well as the Server Grade Intel I219LM LAN port, we’ve already mentioned in the unboxing video.
Here is the YouTube Unboxing Video of the ASRock E3V5 WS (German, English sub-titles):
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After opening the box we see the accessories, that is limited to the most important accessories.
The High Density Fibre PCB of the ASRock E3V5 WS makes a high-quality impression, but it comes clear that the features are limited to essential elements.
High-End ASRock motherboard features like the Dr. Debug 7-segment LED Postcode display, button for power and reset Backup BIOS and the HDD saver power connector, which let you switch on and off some disks during operation by software, are missing on this E3V5 WS.
Here you can see the solid caps capacitors and the 24-pin ATX power connector.
Here you can see a side view of this C232 motherboard with small heatsinks, which were very carefully placed on the MOSFETs and the C232 chipset.
Here you can see the LGA1151 socket again, where we have initially installed an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU. But the big X suggests that we can use also an Intel Xeon v5 processor, we have of course also tested with this motherboard.
Interesting is also our comparison of the Intel Core i5-6600K with 6MB cache and Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 LGA1151 CPU with 8MB cache on the ASRock C232 motherboard:
Here you can see the doubled threads when comparing the Intel Core i5-6600K with the Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 (right):
Here you can see the ASRock workstation motherboard with an Intel Skylake CPU and four DDR4 modules …
Here you can see the LGA1151 test system. For the Z170, H170 and C232 motherboard reviews we use an Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake CPU with 3.5 GHz in the LGA1151 socket and additionally we have tested an Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 CPU on this Intel C232 mainboard.
If you want to use only two DDR4 modules, install them this way for Dual Channel Mode:
Equipment and other features …
The E3V5 WS motherboard ASRock comes with a manual, DVD, two SATA data cables and an ATX I/O panel. More USB slot brackets or the ASRock USB 3.0 front panel are optional.
The ASRock Fatality E3V5 WS has many features like the ASRock Instant Flash, ASRock Internet Flash, ASRock Fast Boot, ASRock Restart to UEFI, ASRock XFast LAN, ASRock XFast RAM, ASRock Crashless BIOS, ASRock OMG Online Management Guard, ASRock UEFI System Browser, ASRock UEFI Tech Service, ASRock Easy RAID Installer, ASRock Easy Driver Installer, 5 Power Phase Design und ASRock FAN-Tastic Tuning.
Expansion cards …
The motherboard offers two PCI Express 3.0 slots for CrossFireX, where you can either operate one graphics card with x16 bandwidth, or one graphics card with x16 bandwidth and another graphics cards at x4 bandwidth. The motherboard came without SLI bridge card. In addition to both PCI Express 3.0 slots, there are three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.
Memory …
The ASRock E3V5 WS board can be upgraded with up to four DDR4 modules and is depending on the operating system used (see list) upgradable to a maximum of 64 GB memory.
This Intel LGA1151 motherboard is supporting DDR4 memory modules Dual Channel Mode to DDR4-2133 in dual channel mode. In UEFI there are adjustments for DDR4-800, DDR4-900, DDR4-933, DDR4-1000, DDR4-1066, DDR4-1100, DDR4-1200, DDR4-1300, DDR4-1333, DDR4-1400, DDR4-1466, DDR4-1500, DDR4-1600, DDR4-1700, DDR4-1733, DDR4-1800, DDR4-1866, DDR4-1900, DDR4-2000, DDR4-2100 and DDR4-2133 available.
Here you can see an image of the four DDR4 memory slots with dual channel support:
The Intel LGA1151 motherboard supports DDR3 memory modules up to DDR-1333 and DDR4 memory modules can be setup in the BIOS with a Skylake processor to DDR4-2133 in dual channel mode. In UEFI there are adjustments for DDR4-800, DDR4-933, DDR4-1066, DDR4-1333, DDR4-1466, DDR4-1600, DDR4-1733, DDR4-1866, DDR4-2000 and DDR4-2133 available.
Hard disk drive connectors …
The ASRock E3V5 WS offers 6 SATA3 ports.
Here you can see the six SATA3 ports:
The SATA 3 ports are supporting RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel Rapid Storage Technology Enterprise, NCQ, AHCI and the Hot Plug function in AHCI mode (AHCI stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface and should be selected with a SSD in UEFI especially). Thanks to the UEFI BIOS also drives with more than 2 TB can be used with Windows 10 x64, Windows 8.1 x64 and Windows 7 x64.
Drivers can be installed via Easy Driver Installer or Easy RAID Installer point in UEFI. They are also supplied with a DVD for 32 bit/64 bit Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 and can be downloaded from the ASRock support.
USB and FireWire …
The ASRock E3V5 WS unfortunately has no USB 3.1 ports but it has four USB 3.0 ports on the ATX-panel. Internally there are available two USB 2.0 connectors for up to four optional USB ports and one USB 3.0 connector for up to two optional USB 3.0 ports. The 20-pin pin header can be connected, either to an optional USB3.0 front panel connector or a PC chassis with USB3.0 support.
Network …
The ASRock E3V5 WS is equipped with the Server Grade Intel I219LM Chip, to realize the 10/100/1000 network connector on the ATX panel. The LAN connector is WoL capable, offers LAN cable detection, supports energy efficient Ethernet after 802.3az standard and supports ASRock Full Spike Protection, PXE and more.
Serial connector and parallel port …
No serial COM port and no LPT port is available.
Sound …
The ASRock E3V5 WS motherboard provides the ALC892 Audio Codec with Content Protection, which supports 7.1 surround sound and premium Blu-Ray support. Sound output is possible over 3x 3.5mm jacks at the ATX panel or 7.1 sound over the internal front panel audio connector. An optical SPDIF digital output contrary to the Z170 Extreme6 is not available.
ATX back panel connectors …
From left to right you can see 2x PS/2 connectors for PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse, 4x USB 3.0, Intel RJ45 Gigabit LAN and 2x USB 2.0 and 3x 3.5mm audio jacks for sound out/input.
ASRock E3V5 WS BIOS and Overclocking …