ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac Review

As far as automatic software influenced overclocking, the A-Tunning application brought our i7-4790K to a modest 4.3GHz under water.  With a manual transmission we were able to again bring our CPU to 4.7GHz stable (a 17.5% increase).  Pushing any further resulted in frequent crashing.

Having the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac running in a small HTPC / Gamer, the motherboard has proven to be a stable performer.  The most attractive thing about this motherboard that hasn’t been mentioned yet in this review is the price.  This motherboard is selling for $104.99 at some popular retailers making this a pound for pound super star!

When it came to the benchmarks, this mobo didn’t set any world records; it did, however, pull its own weight.  After having been impressed by the performance in our most of the benchmarks, the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac really let me down in our Ethernet speed benchmark.

The included software doesn’t look as trendy as that of ASUS, but I actually like the smooth and polished look better.  As far as function goes, I give the edge to ASRock for having a single utility that can tweak my system as well as make sure I have latest BIOS and drivers.  I do wish it would show me what changes there have been in firmware versions.

The mini ITX platform is flat-out fun.  Mini Cooper, Mini Fridge, Mini Me, Mini ITX.  I am becoming a huge fan of the platform and the ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac is really helping its cause.  The ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac packs all the features I want in a tiny package and wrapped it up with a price tag that just about anyone can afford ($104.99 USD).  This motherboard is a featherweight champion.  As with almost all the fighting sports, the heavy weights (ATX) get most of the attention, but the lower weight classes (ITX) are more fun.

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