Up Close Board Features
So lets take a closer look at some of the features on this board. In their Physical incarnations.
The SATA ports are very nicely labeled on this board. Including arrows showing which port is which number.
The use an interesting retention mechanism for their pcie slots. This is my first time seeing one that slides back and forth.
A nice assortment of well labeled ports for your front panel accessories. Located in a good location for those wanting to go that extra mile for clean with cable routing.
I’ve always been a fan of boards with a debug display on them. Interestingly enough ASRock allows you to disable the display once the systems booted cleanly which gives the board an extra clean appearance during normal running.
The reset and power buttons are also in a nice easy to access location. I typically like to have this side of the board closest to me on the test bench and while benching. This makes the buttons easily accessable rather than have to reach under my memory fans and other assorted CPU central cooling to get to the buttons.
A nice standard setup of I/O options. A traditional PS/2 port is included above the first two USB3.0 ports. HD15 (VGA) connector for a traditional monitor output, as well as DVI, HDMI and display port connectors. For a complete offering of Display options. Next to these we find an easily accessible Clear CMOS switch. Though with the crashless bios you are not going to need this too often.
Two USB2.0 ports for boot compatibility for things like keyboards and mice. Not to mention a nice touch for when you’ve overclocked a board so far the USB3.0 Controllers disappear (yes, this can be a problem when really pushing motherboards to the limits). Ethernet Port, another pair of USB3.0 ports, then finally multi channel sound jacks along with an optical output port for those interested in connecting it to a home theater system or have a high end digital amplifier.
Heatsinks
On a lot of boards on the market we see vrm heatsinks pinned in place with plastic pins and spring. Usually only on the high end boards do you see these high quality screw down designs.
They did a wonderful job mounting the VRM heatsink. It was on so well that it actually took some effort to get it to come loose despite having removed the screws. Unlike a few other boards I have worked with lately that have huge gaps in the interface material to the vrm heatsink if they are even making contact to begin with
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You can see that a slight amount of the interface pad was left behind. Shows just how good the stock bond is.
The FCH (fusion controller hub / A85X chipset) was not ignored either. Another solid strong mounting with minimal excess material left between surfaces.
A slight amount of thermal compound remains but a solid even spread overall.
