ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Motherboard Review

Overview

 

Well after a very successful look at the ASRock X99X Fatal1ty Killer 3.1, it’s time to take a look at a pcG first, in fact, as far as I’m aware there’s no other product in the world quite like the next item that I’m going to take a look at. This is the ASRock X99-ITX/ac, that’s right guys the crazy guys over at ASRock have squeezed a Socket LGA 2011-3 onto an ITX motherboard, and in fact even more besides. When we ask the question why would they do this this, I think the answer is simply to prove a point…

Obviously the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac features support for Intel’s Extreme CPUs (Haswell-E), as well as support for DDR4 OC (up to 3200MHz) memory, although as the board only has two DIMM slots there’s only support for a Dual Channel setup. In addition to this there’s support for up to six SATA devices, one SATA Express and one eSATA as well as an impressive Ultra M.2 socket. Finally rounding things off there’s 7.1 audio, WLAN and Bluetooth and one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot for that all important Graphics Card. There is even support for USB 3.1 (Type-A)…

 

The ASRock X99E-ITX/ac came to pcG in a rather smart looking black box with blue highlighting with a cool looking image of the motherboard on the front. The front of the box also highlights various features of the X99E-ITX/ac including the support for USB 3.1. In addition to this it’s worth paying close attention to the Free Bundle CPU Cooler as the motherboard uses a proprietary Socket design (X Series OC Socket) that is NOT compatible with regular Socket LGA 2011-3 CPU Coolers!

Looking at the back of the box, it looks rather busy as there’s a lot of information here! The back highlights the fact that the board has two USB 3.1 Type-A sockets and has an images showing how much faster it is than USB 3.0 (twice as fast in fact!). Other highlights include an image of the X OC Socket featuring additional pins for better overclocking performance. There’s also a good size central image showing the motherboard itself with indicators further pointing out some of the board’s main features.

 

 

On opening the box of the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac we can see that the motherboard is well packaged and protected in an anti-static bag and there also seems to be plenty in the box. Including that all important free CPU cooler, found in the top right corner.

I especially like the fact that ASRock seem to ship all of the motherboards protected by a foam tray. They are normally even cable tied to the tray for that extra level of protection.

 

 

As you can see there’s more in the box than you would expect; of special note is the Narrow ILM CPU Cooler, the WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna and that Water Cooling Mounting Plate that is compatible with Cooler Master Seidon 120V Plus/120V CPU Coolers.

At the time of writing this review, the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac is retailiing on Amazon for approximately £235 and comes with a 3 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of ASRock

 

 

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

 

First impressions are somewhere along the lines of; how on earth did they manage to squeeze all of that tech onto that motherboard? The honest answer to that of course is that I have no idea, but I’m glad they have, as what they have here is a really unique product! It is of course completely dominated by that special X Series OC socket. ASRock’s newly designed LGA 2011 CPU socket adds more pins to boost the performance of the CPU and memory, plus it also unlocks several hidden voltage tweaking options for advanced overclocking. I guess we will see, let’s take a tour around the board, but let’s just talk a little about LGA 2011 V3 first…

 

 

 

Looking at what I would call the right side of the board and working left to right in the far corner we have one of two chassis fan headers (CHA_FAN1) followed by four SATA3 6GB/s ports. Next we find the main Front Panel header, a USB 2.0 header, a single CPU fan header (CPU_FAN1) and a separate Power LED header. Last but not least we find the main 8-pin power socket followed by the last of two chassis fan headers (CHA_FAN2).

The left side of this ITX board is dominated by the I/O panel; working left to right we find the following ports: x2 USB 2.0 ports, PS/2 Mouse/keyboard port, Clear CMOS Switch, eSATA Connector, LAN RJ-45 Port (Intel® I218V) and x2 USB 3.0 ports, LAN RJ-45 Port (Intel® I211AT) and x2 USB 3.0 ports, USB 3.1 Type-A Ports and finally the 7.1 audio ports and a dedicated Optical SPDIF Out port. Just in between the Clear CMOS and the eSATA port we find the vertically mounted WiFi/Bluetooth card supporting 802.11ac and 2.4/5 GHz.

 

When looking at the top of the motherboard we can see that’s it is somewhat dominated by the huge LGA 2011-3 socket, note how the frame/bracket for mounting coolers is effectively already build into the motherboard, clever eh! Also note that this special X Series OC Socket has a special layout and can only accept the supplied Dynatron Cooler or Cooler Master’s Seidon 120V series AIO CPU Cooler (with supplied mounting bracket). Here we also find the main 24-pin power socket. Just above this we find two DIMM slots supporting Dual Channel DDR4 memory with speeds up to 3200MHz. The black thing, stuck to the back of the USB/PS2 IO block is actually the CMOS battery. 😉

Looking at what is effectively the bottom of the board in the left hand corner we find the HD audio header followed by the board’s single x16 PCIE gen 3 slot. Just above this (centrally) we find two further SATA ports and a single SATA Express port. Above this we find the single BIOS chip and the single USB 3.0 header. Lurking menacingly in the image above right we also see the Ultra M.2 connector.

 

 

Looking at some board specifics I first draw your attention to the back of the board, not only can wee see the hefty support bracket of the LGA 2011 socket but also so we can appreciate the Sapphire Black PCB. Also we can appreciate the fact that there’s still six SATA3 6GB/s ports aboard the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac. Finally we come to one of main favourite aspects of this board and the last ASRock board that I took a look at, and that’s the Ultra M.2 socket. The M.2, also known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), is a small size and versatile card edge connector that aims to replace mPCIe and mSATA. The Ultra M.2 Socket (M2) can accommodate either a M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module or a M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s). To find a list of compatible M.2 devices take a look here.

Overall there’s very little to dislike about the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac motherboard as it truly offers so much given its Small Form Factor (SFF). The only issues are of course the compromised socket design that will only accept certain CPU Coolers (thankfully one is supplied) and the other is the general layout, that is again compromised with various (normal edge) components found inbound of the edge of the board. This is likely to make the install that much trickier. But let’s get it installed and see, shall we…

 

Hardware Installation

 

A new build was put together to house the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac motherboard with a new Intel Core i7-5820K CPU. The following components were used:

Test Rig Setup

Case	Cougar QBX	Power Supply	Corsair Builder Series CXM 500W
Motherboard	ASRock X99E-ITX/ac	CPU	Intel 5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 CPU
CPU Cooler	SUPPLIED: Dynatron (Narrow ILM Cooler)	RAM	Ballistix Sport BLS2C8G4D240FSA 16GB kit (8GB x 2)
Graphics Card	XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X DD Black Edition	SSD	HyperX FURY 120GB

 

Installation of the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac into the Cougar QBX was as straightforward as any other motherboard install. After first installing the motherboard’s I/O Shield I set about the motherboard assembly.

 

Installation of the cooler itself was very simple, made easier by removing the attached fan, by simply un-clipping it! After adding the Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, the CPU Cooler was then secured by way of the four attached sprung loaded screws, not forgetting to add a little thermal paste first of course! Our new DDR4 test RAM modules the Crucial Sport 16GB kit were then simply plugged in to the two (Dual Channel Only) DIMM slots.

 

 

With this done the motherboard assembly was installed into the side of the Cougar QBX case and secured using the (normal for ITX) four screws.

 

 

As the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac sports such a great M.2 socket, and as the Cougar QBX is such a small case I opted to make full use of the M.2 socket and installed a Kingston M.2 120GB SSD. Note that this is a SATA based SSD and not a PCIE based SSD so we wont be able to take full advantage of the this M.2 socket’s Ultra speed. But it’s great that the board supports both formats. Cabling up was about as awkward as I expected it to be, but this is as much to do with the compromised layout of such a unique motherboard as it is about the confines within the Cougar QBX ITX case itself…

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

A fresh installation of Windows 7 Professional N 64bit (Service Pack 1) was performed and the following Drivers were then installed. The latest ASRock Drivers were used and can been obtained (here). Although the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac has its Drivers and Utilities available on the supplied CD, we here at pcG try to keep up with the latest Drivers and software where possible.

* The latest BIOS version (1.20) was already installed and was used throughout testing *

Drivers installed:

• Intel Chipset Driver (INF driver ver:10.0.20_PV)
• Audio Driver (Realtek high definition audio driver ver:7195)
• Intel LAN (Lan driver ver:19.1)
• Intel USB 3.0 (Intel USB 3.0 driver ver:3.0.0.20)
• ASMedia USB 3.0 (Asmedia USB 3.0/3.1 XHCI Driver ver:1.16.23.0)
• AMD Catalyst Software Suite (15.7 WHQL)

During testing the following tools/benchmarks & games were used/played:

Prime 95 CPU-Z 3DMark Unigine Heaven 4.0 Metro Last Light

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Battlefield 4 Stranded Deep

 

Hardware Performance

 

I had no problems when booting up my Test Rig and after an initial boot I went into the ASRock UEFI to check the Load Optimized Default settings. The CPU had been detected correctly and was running at its default 3.3GHz. And, as you can see from the first screenshot (below) the two Crucial Sport RAM modules (16GB x2 8GB) were also detected and were already running (rather unusual that!) at their maximum (XMP setting) of 2400MHz.

 

 

To dial in our normal 4.0GHz overclock I just opted to use the ASRock Load 4GHz and XMP OC Setting OC setting, once rebooted (as you can see from the image below centre) the CPU was now running at 4.0GHz. I also checked the DRAM Configuration and confirmed the memory speed (2400MHz) and also noted the Timings at 16-16-16-39.

 

 

Below you can see the two CPU-Z screenshots showing the default configuration at 3.3GHz and the overclocked configuration at 4.0GHz. Note the increase in Core voltage from 1.12v to 1.180v, that’s going to give that little supplied CPU Cooler a run for its money I think… 😉

 

 

• Benchmark Results (CPU @ STOCK: 3.3GHz (1.012v) : RAM @ 2400MHz) with XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X DD Black Edition

Benchmark	Resolution	Result
Metro Last Light	1920×1080	77.00
Unigine Heaven 4.0	1920×1080	1377
3DMark Firestrike	Default	10413
3DMark Firestrike	Extreme	5167

 
 

• Benchmark Results (CPU @ OC: 4.0GHz (1.180v) : RAM @ 2400MHz) with XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X DD Black Edition

Benchmark	Resolution	Result
Metro Last Light	1920×1080	76.33
Unigine Heaven 4.0	1920×1080	1399
3DMark Firestrike	Default	10677
3DMark Firestrike	Extreme	5251

 

As you can see from all of the benchmark scores above (in the Gaming tests: Metro/Unigine) there’s very little between the stock results and the results when running with a 700MHz overclock! Why is this? Well this is nothing to do with the ASRock MB that’s for sure and it’s also nothing to do with the X99 platform. It’s just a simple fact that modern day Gaming doesn’t rely much on the CPU and its sub-system. Although we feel this may change soon with the introduction of Windows 10 and DirectX 12. Therefore it’s nice to see some impressive results in both of the 3DMark test where (due to specific CPU testing) the ASRock board and its associated components can prove their worth a little more!

 

Additional Software/Features

 

Hardware (USB 3.1 Type-A)

 

There are so many features and so much software that comes with the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac, that to try and cover it would be a review in itself! I’m also not a big fan of software so for me the only software that I’m likely to install is ASRock’s own A-Tuning utility and that in itself is a portal to a plethora of Apps and options.

Below I have also highlighted (with help from ASRock) various aspects of the board that are also relevant to Gamers.

 

 

Hardware (2T2R 802.11ac WiFi)

 

Hardware (Ultra M.2)

 

Software (A-Tuning)

 

 

The main software suite that is available for the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac is A-Tuning (known as F-sream on the Fatal1ty boards). There’s a wealth of options and adjustments that can be made via the various tabs, but I would like to focus on just four of them.

The first of which is the OC Tweaker that’s nigh on identical to the OC Tweaker found within the UEFI. Here you can overclock the CPU and the CPU Ratio as well as mess with various voltages among other things. What you can’t do from here is mess with Memory Frequencies and Memory Timings. Also what’s a little odd is that the in-built OC profiles are not available through this interface. To access them from within Windows and via A-Tuning you need to go to the Operation Mode and enable Performance Mode. From there you can go to Advanced and apply an one of ASRock’s inbuilt OC profiles such as the 4.0GHz overclock we used in testing.

 

 

There’s also a useful and informative System Info, here you can check all of your Frequencies, Temperatures, Fan Speeds and Voltages etc. In addition to this there’s also Live update; a singular place where you can keep an eye on all of your ASRock software and all of the Drivers (even the BIOS) and ensure that they’re all up to date.

 

Final Thoughts

 

The ASRock X99-ITX/ac motherboard is a difficult product to describe, basically because there’s nothing else quite like it! That in itself makes it special, but what makes it even more special is that not only is it unique, it’s simply a damn good motherboard in its own right also! And that, makes it extra special…

The ASRock X99E-ITX/ac came to pcG in a smart looking black/blue box, highlighting the board’s support for USB 3.1 (Type-A). The contents were all well packaged, with the motherboard itself protected within an anti-static bag and supported within a foam tray. There’s plenty in the box too, including a large WiFi antenna and (more curiously) a CPU Cooler. This cooler is supplied as the X99E-ITX/ac uses not only the latest LGA 2011-3 socket, but also a socket with a bespoke layout, no doubt down to the fact that it’s damn hard to squeeze so much onto such a small board. The cooler itself is a Dynatron narrow ILM CPU Cooler with a 60mm fan and a rotational speed of a 8,000 RPM! Should you wish to use an AIO water cooler there’s also a Water Cooling Mounting plate supplied that is compatible with a Cooler Master Seidon 120V series cooler.

Looking at the board, reveals that the basic layout is good, but there’s no doubt that it has been compromised by the sheer number of features that have been crammed onto this ITX board. The most important of which (in my mind) is the Ultra M.2 socket with both SATA3 and PCIE Gen3 x4 support, so useful on a ITX board and or in an ITX build where free space is always such a rare commodity.

Installation of the board was easy enough, but as I’ve said the layout is undeniably compromised, with numerous headers difficult to reach, and found extremely close to others. This is of course to be expected, but, to be fair ASRock have done an amazing job of getting this amount of tech onto an ITX board, so it’s a little unfair to moan too much I feel…

In testing with our Intel Core i7-5820K and our 16GB of Crucial Sport 2400MHz RAM, the ASRock X99E-ITX/ac put in an impressive performance, both in the stock tests and in the overclocked 4.0GHz test. I wanted to push further and beyond 4.0GHz, and I’m sure the board would have facilitated this, but the supplied CPU Cooler was holding me back as the thermals were starting to get a little out of control. The noise from the 8,000 RPM fan was also just too darn loud! In the 4.0GHz test the X99E-ITX/ac bettered the performance of ASRock’s own Fatal1ty X99X Killer board in three (Unigine Heaven, Firestrike, Firestrike Extreme) of the tests, which is truly impressive. Only in the Metro test did the X99E-ITX/ac seem to falter, but this could be simply down to the fact that the AMD Graphics Card Driver also changed between tests!?

What ASRock have put together here is not only a world first when it comes to motherboard’s, but it’s also a solid all-round motherboard in its own right. Yes there’s been compromises, but to critique that would be unfair because compromises had to be made! The end result is an incredibly capable motherboard with a host of great features (including USB 3.1 (Type-A) support), that has even out-performed its bigger brother. But, as we all know making things smaller always costs more money…

 

Verdict

Please Share, Like & Comment below, we really value your thoughts and opinions…

Many thanks to ASRock for providing this sample for review