Motherboards based on Intel Z77 chip have been lately given much attention, to the detriment of products featuring AMD solutions. In fact, motherboards with AMD chips are in abundance in the market, providing a competitive conditions for the manufacturers and plentiful offers for potential consumers. Asus developed a lot of boards with Intel Z77 chip, but it also boasts the products, like Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0, based on AMD 990FX chip for AM3+ socket. This model is an apt sample of performance, resources and design.



Integration


Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 is developed in ATX form-factor and features 305x244 mm dimensions. The motherboard accommodates five sockets for the connection of fans and large heatsinks which manage heat quite efficiently; heatsinks located on the northbridge and CPU power converter are joined by a heat pipe. There is one peculiar feature pertained to the implemented heatsinks: each of them is notable by an individual fixture type. The reverse side of the …

Ever-increasing popularity of mini-ITX mainboards is accounted for the augmentation of small-sized PC systems, work- and multimedia stations, as well as gaming platforms. The latter lay down specific demands towards hardware base, requiring the combination of high performance, durability and price-efficiency. MSI is ready to satisfy those demands, by offering ‘mini, but mighty’ Z97I Gaming AC system board. Being a part of Intel Z97 chipset family, this tiny tot owns all ‘Gaming’ series facilities, despite compact dimensions. Let’s check them out.



Specs Overview


MSI Z97I Gaming AC is based on Intel Z97 chipset targeting Haswell-based CPUs for Socket LGA1150 platform (Celeron, Pentium, Core i3/i5/i7 series). The implemented PCB accommodates a pair of DIMM slots for DDR3 SDRAM modules (16 GB volume) with the clock frequencies from 1333 MHz to 3300 MHz. Expansion facilities are introduced by a single PCI-e 3.0 x16 slot with no backup from PCI slots. The board comes …

ASRock has stricken the general public by the development of a motherboard with an extraordinary layout. As a rule, mainboards targeting all-in-one solutions are void of expansion slots for graphics cards, due to lack of space. However, ASRock has designed a space-efficient model with an integrated PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot. Yet, it’s localized parallel to the PCB as against standard items with perpendicular slot orientation.



ASRock Z170M-PIO2 is based on Intel Z170 chipset for Socket LGA1511 platforms. It supports Intel Celeron/Pentium/Core i3/Core i5/Core i7 CPUs. The PCB features a pair of DIMM slots for the installation of DDR4 memory modules with the maximum clock frequency of 3466 MHz (up to 32 GB of capacity). Storage subsystem is introduced by 4 SATA 6 Gb/sec ports as well as a single Ultra M.2 x4 slot.


As far as expansion is concerned, the model accommodates a single PCIe 3.0 x 16 slot and one M.2 2230 slot, occupied by Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter. The 7.1-channel …