The Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac motherboard - mITX Z97, compact yet complete?

[MacClipper]

Thought I should simply just go ahead and share what I already have at hand although it is yet incomplete due to its rather late delivery and my impending holidays... for the sake of all holding out for a nice competent mITX Z97 motherboard to ogle at.




Asrock Z97E-ITX/ac
The latest Z97 mITX effort from Asrock, it's back in Sapphire black.



Official Page
ASRock > Z97E-ITX/ac

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Just how much can one squeeze into a little mITX mobo? Long crazy list coming right up...

• ASRock Super Alloy
- Premium 60A CPU Choke
- Premium Memory Alloy Choke (Reduces 70% core loss compared to iron powder choke)
- Dual-Stack MOSFET (DSM)
- NexFET™ MOSFET
- Nichicon 12K Platinum Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors)
- Sapphire Black PCB

• Supports 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1150)
• Supports New 4th and 4th Generation Intel® Xeon®/Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1150)
• Digi Power
• Supports Dual Channel DDR3 3200+(OC), 15μ Gold Contact in DIMM Slots
• 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 mini-PCIe for WiFi + BT Module, 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1)
• VGA Output/Input Options: DVI-I, HDMI, HDMI-In, DisplayPort
• 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec), Nichicon Fine Gold Series Audio Caps, Supports DTS Connect
• TI® NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier
• Intel® Gigabit LAN
• 1 SATA Express, 6 SATA3, 1 M.2 (Gen2 x2/SATA), 6 USB 3.0 (2 Front, 4 Rear), 6 USB 2.0 (4 Front, 2 Rear)
• WLAN: 1 x 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi + BT v4.0 Module, 1 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna
• Supports ASRock Full Spike Protection, ASRock Cloud, APP Shop, A-Tuning, Full HD UEFI

... to be continued

 

[MacClipper]

Packaging

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[MacClipper]

Bundle

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[MacClipper]

The Mobo
Note the proper CMOS battery holder (beware brands which use much costlier replacements with PITA wire connectors*) and following features

• Sapphire Black PCB
• DisplayPort 1.2 supporting max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 24Hz or 4K x 2K (3840x2160) @ 60Hz
• Dual-Stack MOSFET for CPU Power
• NexFET MOSFET for Memory Power
• Nichicon 12K Platinum Caps

* CR2032 battery with connector - forum discussion

 

[ClementChong]

still no itx board with > ac1200 wifi

If you know any Mini PCIe card that does that, you can just replace the Wifi card that is on the motherboard.

 

[MacClipper]

More Angles

NB: those who want the original untouched full size jpeg of this last photo to read off chip markings, , just PM me

 

[MacClipper]

CPU Socket

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[Op_Valkyrie]

bro... compare impact II and this mobo - frankly which is better?

 

[delson_tan]

I have been looking at this board coz it has >5 SATA ports.

But an added bonus is that it's the only mITX that I see which supports a SATA Express.

 

[MacClipper]

bro... compare impact II and this mobo - frankly which is better?

I don't have the Z97 Impact to compare and I think it is not actually out yet either, just only announced at Computex.

I have been looking at this board coz it has >5 SATA ports.

But an added bonus is that it's the only mITX that I see which supports a SATA Express.

One of the big plus points that despite all its innumerable great features, Asrock is asking for just USD140 at the Egg
ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac Motherboard - Newegg.com

 

[eliteFX]

that's cheap
i wonder what's the local price like. still waiting for m.2 to become slightly more mainstream before I overhaul

 

[MacClipper]

that's cheap
i wonder what's the local price like. still waiting for m.2 to become slightly more mainstream before I overhaul
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Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.8GHz 1.3V | Corsair H60 Hydro
Mainboard
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

Wah... and you already have a golden 2500K on your ASRock Z68 Extreme4 rig there!!!

btw, do you remember which batch is that 2500K - MY or CR and which week?

 

[eliteFX]

haven't update it but im back at stock actually
its from msia but not sure which week

 

[MacClipper]

Heatsinks

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[manshen]

I have to say its a bit disappointing for the MOSFET area. Rather lacking in components

 

[MacClipper]

It's more than capable enough for your 24/7 type of overclocks as can be seen in the test results which will be posted later.

Haswell class processors do not really need overkill onboard power esp. in a mITX model but if you are happy to pay $$$ more than necessary, there are other higher end (read expensive) models around. Actually, most mobo makers are pushing out Z97 models which are cut down in power specs in comparison to their Z87 predecessors.

 

[Assault]

I have the Z87 version of this mobo and it's been nothing but great for me - amazingly fast boot-up and clean overclocking without any issues whatsoever.

I got this mainly for the mSATA slot at the bottom of the board; it was one of very few boards with this feature.

I'd seriously consider this mobo if I'm getting a Z97 ITX board but I think it's pretty clear that the Asus Impact is a higher-spec board targeting a more expensive price segment - can't really compare the two directly. Maybe the EVGA Stinger is a better comparison if/when the Z97 does come out.

 

[MacClipper]

Just did a queued run of 3 back to back movie transcodes tonight to check out the test rig stability under prolonged stress loading and also did a trial run of Enemy Front gaming (rather punishing on the poor AMD R290 card) too.

No problemo!

HTH

 

[MacClipper]

Storage
Really amazing for a compact mobo

• 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 13 and Intel® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
• 1 x SATA Express 10 Gb/s Connector (shared with SATA3_4, SATA3_5 and M.2 Socket)*
• 1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s)

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[MacClipper]

Nichicon Fine Gold Audio Caps
Made In Japan

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