ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Motherboard Review

[Crashman]

The only LGA 2011-v3 motherboard for compact cases, ASRock’s X99E-ITX squeezes up to eight CPU cores into the mini-ITX form factor.

ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Motherboard Review : Read more

 

[SoerenHedemand]

How about a test of the ASRock EPC612D4I. It has four memory slots.

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15937166,0,1994191]How about a test of the ASRock EPC612D4I. It has four memory slots.[/quotemsg]Sorry, I don't have any DDR4 SODIMMs yet.

 

[uglyduckling81]

Is it just me or does the lets compare to other boards bit not contain any other boards to to compare against?

 

[wtfxxxgp]

Is it just me or does the lets compare to other boards bit not contain any other boards to to compare against?

True. However, that section is pointless as it has no direct rivals - I think they're using a standard template and they had to fill something in there.

 

[apache_lives]

For that socket/platform its almost a complete waste - all those unusable memory channels and pcie lanes that make the 2011 platform high end have been stripped away

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15937458,0,18084]For that socket/platform its almost a complete waste - all those unusable memory channels and pcie lanes that make the 2011 platform high end have been stripped away[/quotemsg]it's really just for people who want more cores. So, feel free to ridicule anyone who tries to pair it with an E5-1620

 

[Daniel Ladishew]

Testing this on the stock cooler is useful information, but this mobo will only shine when water cooled. I'd like to see the tests repeated with a closed loop cooler attached. Either the Cooler Master or Corsair H100 (which i've heard will work with that bracket as well). If the point is to pack lots of cores into a small form factor, not overcoming the thermal throttling seems like a weak test.

 

[TechyInAZ]

While not as good as it's micro atx counterparts (obviously), I am very impressed by this motherboard.

So if somebody that doesn't need all the PCIE lanes or memory lanes but just the pure power of a hexa/octo core CPU in a small package, then this is the best solution.

 

[Bossyfins]

The cooler bracket also seems to fit a Corsair H100i/h80i as seen in Linus's video.

 

[goinginstyle]

So other X99 boards get ripped for not being able to do 4-way SLI or 3-way with a PCIe RAID controller but this one gets a pass on those items plus numerous others (lower OC, lack of memory expansion, high price, etc) and receives an award. The board reviews here are just becoming a joke.

 

[Eggz]

Can you comment on whether the PCI-e slot supports bifurcation to utilize a passive PCI-e spliter? If so, that would allow SLI or Xfire by splitting the x 16 slot into two x 8 slots. That single feature would make it the most epic mITX board I can think of!

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15940152,0,177297]So other X99 boards get ripped for not being able to do 4-way SLI or 3-way with a PCIe RAID controller but this one gets a pass on those items plus numerous others (lower OC, lack of memory expansion, high price, etc) and receives an award. The board reviews here are just becoming a joke. [/quotemsg]I guess you're going to tell me next that a car with two wheels missing is a motorcycle? In full ATX boards you have the space and the slots for 3-way SLI, so full ATX boards that don't support it are broken. We can probably agree that Mini ITX is a ridiculous form factor for LGA 2011-v3 in most circumstances, but you and I don't individually represent the target market of this product. At least I'm willing to admit that from a Mini ITX builder's perspective, the joke's on us (or you, since I already made that confession). I was thinking of them, the Mini ITX builder who wants more cores, when I issued the award. Because as a reviewer, I have to think about the needs and desires of the buyer.

[quotemsg=15938998,0,1858088]The cooler bracket also seems to fit a Corsair H100i/h80i as seen in Linus's video.[/quotemsg]We haven't confirmed that yet, but will attempt to

 

[Eggz]

[quotemsg=15940157,0,8708][quotemsg=15938998,0,1858088]The cooler bracket also seems to fit a Corsair H100i/h80i as seen in Linus's video.[/quotemsg]We haven't confirmed that yet, but will attempt to
[/quotemsg]

It works. ASRock's own info video showed the cooler bracket fitting an All-in-One cooler like the Corsair Hydro-Series.

Also, LinusTechTips got it working with an H100i.

Cooling this thing is by no means limited to the stock cooler, which is great!

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15940183,0,1406980][quotemsg=15940157,0,8708][quotemsg=15938998,0,1858088]The cooler bracket also seems to fit a Corsair H100i/h80i as seen in Linus's video.[/quotemsg]We haven't confirmed that yet, but will attempt to
[/quotemsg]

It works. ASRock's own info video showed the cooler bracket fitting an All-in-One cooler like the Corsair Hydro-Series.

Also, LinusTechTips got it working with an H100i.

Cooling this thing is by no means limited to the stock cooler, which is great![/quotemsg]I didn't see the LinusTechTips segment, but the article didn't make a mistake: The ASRock video is referring to the Cooler Master unit, and ASRock informed us that there may be fitment issues on the H100i. So, we wanted to verify any Corsair units before reporting on them.

 

[Eggz]

[quotemsg=15940314,0,8708]I didn't see the LinusTechTips segment, but the article didn't make a mistake: The ASRock video is referring to the Cooler Master unit, and ASRock informed us that there may be fitment issues on the H100i. So, we wanted to verify any Corsair units before reporting on them.[/quotemsg]

I didn't mean to give the impression that I was nitpicking an error in the article, just providing info. Sorry if that's how it came off.

Aside from that, though, do you know anything about whether the PCI-e slot supports a passive spliter? I know it's a basic server-oriented feature to allow two x 8 signals to come out of an x 16 slot that feeds a spliter, and this board supports high-end server CPUs. I couldn't find anything in the documentation. My hope is that you might have a PCI-e spliter on hand to test SLI or Xfire compatibility. Fingers crossed!

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15940396,0,1406980][quotemsg=15940314,0,8708]I didn't see the LinusTechTips segment, but the article didn't make a mistake: The ASRock video is referring to the Cooler Master unit, and ASRock informed us that there may be fitment issues on the H100i. So, we wanted to verify any Corsair units before reporting on them.[/quotemsg]

I didn't mean to give the impression that I was nitpicking an error in the article, just providing info. Sorry if that's how it came off.

Aside from that, though, do you know anything about whether the PCI-e slot supports a passive spliter? I know it's a basic server-oriented feature to allow two x 8 signals to come out of an x 16 slot that feeds a spliter, and this board supports high-end server CPUs. I couldn't find anything in the documentation. My hope is that you might have a PCI-e spliter on hand to test SLI or Xfire compatibility. Fingers crossed![/quotemsg]It's supported by the CPU and not capped by the chipset (as on some of Intel's lower-end 1155 chipsets), so the first person to try it likely wins.

I bought an H60 to test with this bracket. Fingers crossed that you'll tell me the H60, H80i, and H100i all use the same mounting bracket.

 

[Bossyfins]

If its this h60

http://cdn.pcworldrajshahi.com/uploads/media/product/0001/01/70c4246026d81f7d43f6f4e843b99db60573d56d.png
most likely

 

[Eggz]

[quotemsg=15940505,0,8708]It's supported by the CPU and not capped by the chipset (as on some of Intel's lower-end 1155 chipsets), so the first person to try it likely wins.

I bought an H60 to test with this bracket. Fingers crossed that you'll tell me the H60, H80i, and H100i all use the same mounting bracket.

[/quotemsg]

Yes'r! At least the square blocks will work, though not the older circular ones. Looks like you're in luck, though, because the H60 appears to have the newer square block.

http://www.corsair.com/en/cooling

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15941075,0,1406980][quotemsg=15940505,0,8708]It's supported by the CPU and not capped by the chipset (as on some of Intel's lower-end 1155 chipsets), so the first person to try it likely wins.

I bought an H60 to test with this bracket. Fingers crossed that you'll tell me the H60, H80i, and H100i all use the same mounting bracket.

[/quotemsg]

Yes'r! At least the square blocks will work, though not the older circular ones. Looks like you're in luck, though, because the H60 appears to have the newer square block.

http://www.corsair.com/en/cooling[/quotemsg]

I used the photograph to make my selection

 

[rhysiam]

So other X99 boards get ripped for not being able to do 4-way SLI or 3-way with a PCIe RAID controller but this one gets a pass on those items plus numerous others (lower OC, lack of memory expansion, high price, etc) and receives an award. The board reviews here are just becoming a joke.

The way I see it there are 4 main (sensible) reasons why someone would step up to X99 over Z97:
1) Additional PCIe lanes
2) Increased memory bandwidth
3) Increased memory capacity
4) Access to CPUs with more than 4 cores
(Of course there are probably other minor benefits too, but that's the main ones)
For most people any and all of the above are not really necessary, which is why X99 is very much an enthusiast (i.e. not mainstream) platform.

This ITX board does eliminate the benefits of numbers 1-3 above, but it doesn't hold you back on #4 -> more cores. So you're trading #1,2 & 3 for a smaller form factor. I agree that there's a pretty small number people for whom that tradeoff is worthwhile, but there will be some and I think they'd be pretty excited about this board.

Is this a niche product within an (already relatively small) enthusiast product range... Yes.

Is it useless/irrelevant... absolutely not for those (few people) who have these exact requirements.

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15941544,0,1287211]

So other X99 boards get ripped for not being able to do 4-way SLI or 3-way with a PCIe RAID controller but this one gets a pass on those items plus numerous others (lower OC, lack of memory expansion, high price, etc) and receives an award. The board reviews here are just becoming a joke.

The way I see it there are 4 main (sensible) reasons why someone would step up to X99 over Z97:
1) Additional PCIe lanes
2) Increased memory bandwidth
3) Increased memory capacity
4) Access to CPUs with more than 4 cores
(Of course there are probably other minor benefits too, but that's the main ones)
For most people any and all of the above are not really necessary, which is why X99 is very much an enthusiast (i.e. not mainstream) platform.

This ITX board does eliminate the benefits of numbers 1-3 above, but it doesn't hold you back on #4 -> more cores. So you're trading #1,2 & 3 for a smaller form factor. I agree that there's a pretty small number people for whom that tradeoff is worthwhile, but there will be some and I think they'd be pretty excited about this board.

Is this a niche product within an (already relatively small) enthusiast product range... Yes.

Is it useless/irrelevant... absolutely not for those (few people) who have these exact requirements.[/quotemsg]
The problem certain PR people are having is that I rate similar boards on a features-v-price argument and the board that offers the best features for a similar price, or a similar set of features for a lower price, usually wins. A bit of hyperbole points out HOW the features are better, and the next thing you know a guy leaves the motherboard business for the storage business, or something like that.

When one of them responds to an article like this with equal hyperbole, all i can do is ask them to supply the Mini ITX board they have that supports multiple cards and four DIMMs, so that I might give that one an award instead

 

[rhysiam]

[quotemsg=15941577,0,8708]The problem certain PR people are having is that I rate similar boards on a features-v-price argument and the board that offers the best features for a similar price, or a similar set of features for a lower price, usually wins. A bit of hyperbole points out HOW the features are better, and the next thing you know a guy leaves the motherboard business for the storage business, or something like that.

When one of them responds to an article like this with equal hyperbole, all i can do is ask them to supply the Mini ITX board they have that supports multiple cards and four DIMMs, so that I might give that one an award instead [/quotemsg]
It seems to me to be fairly similar to criticizing the Surface Pro because of its poor performance in gaming benchmarks... you have to make sacrifices to go small. For some people, those sacrifices aren't worth it and they'd prefer something larger with a better performance or set of features. Of course that makes sense... but it doesn't mean that others aren't happy to make those trade offs for the smaller form factor.

This board makes an mITX 18 core/36 thread DIY build possible. It's absolutely a niche produce, but worth the review and, given the lack of any competition, well worth the award IMHO.

 

[Arabian Knight]

[quotemsg=15936942,0,8708]The only LGA 2011-v3 motherboard for compact cases, ASRock’s X99E-ITX squeezes up to eight CPU cores into the mini-ITX form factor.

ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Motherboard Review : Read more [/quotemsg]

I dont get it ,

Did you use the Seidon 120V cooler to test this mobo or not ?

and haven't you noticed that that Seidon 120V bracket is actually the AMD bracket ?

which means that you can use ANY cooler that is AMD compatible here ? the same holes ?

the Seidon 120V specs does not say anything about narrow 2011-3 sockets , actually that special bracket is the AMD bracket .

so TRY amd brackets on this motherboard PLEASE .

The Sidon 120V

http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-liquid-cooler/seidon-120v/


here is a link for the Seidon 120V installation manual

http://www.coolermaster.com/xresserver01-DLFILE-P1307220001acf5-F13072200028e0f.html

as you see that second bracket the AMD ONE is the same supplied with the Motherboard for the ILM , which means the screws places are compatable between AMD and ILM 2011-3

PLEAAAASE try all the coolers you have and see if they fit on this mobo using the AMD brackets. use the AMD brackets that comes with the coolers. and try Noctua coolers too.

and more over :


ASRock EPC612D4I

try to test please the Asrock itx mobo that comes with Quad channel SOdimms , you can Ask Asrock to supply the SODIMMS DDR4 for you.

and if you want to buy them , they are available in the market already ..

here is a direct link to Crucial USA

http://www.crucial.com/csrusa/en/ct8g4tfd8213

 

[Crashman]

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]I dont get it ,

Did you use the Seidon 120V cooler to test this mobo or not ?[/quotemsg]No, it was out of stock everywhere I shopped.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]and haven't you noticed that that Seidon 120V bracket is actually the AMD bracket ?[/quotemsg]No, it's Intel's narrrow ILM bracket. The holes are spaced differently.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]which means that you can use ANY cooler that is AMD compatible here ? the same holes ?[/quotemsg]No, most AMD coolers are not compatible. But a few that have legs hanging from a raised bracket, such as the Seidon 120V and certain Corsair models, might be flexible enough to squeeze into place.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]the Seidon 120V specs does not say anything about narrow 2011-3 sockets , actually that special bracket is the AMD bracket.[/quotemsg]No, it's an Intel Narrow ILM bracket. And those didn't change between 2011 and 2011-v3. Actually, neither did the square ILM bracket.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]so TRY amd brackets on this motherboard PLEASE.[/quotemsg]I did. They didn't fit.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]here is a link for the Seidon 120V installation manual[/quotemsg]What good will that do me if I don't have a Seidon 120V?

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]as you see that second bracket the AMD ONE is the same supplied with the Motherboard for the ILM, which means the screws places are compatable between AMD and ILM 2011-3[/quotemsg]I just checked, the screws are different too.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]PLEAAAASE try all the coolers you have and see if they fit on this mobo using the AMD brackets. use the AMD brackets that comes with the coolers. and try Noctua coolers too.[/quotemsg]I did that before I wrote the article. Persistence only makes you right if you're a pandering politician.

[quotemsg=15943910,0,1922137]and more over :

try to test please the Asrock itx mobo that comes with Quad channel SOdimms , you can Ask Asrock to supply the SODIMMS DDR4 for you.

and if you want to buy them , they are available in the market already ..

here is a direct link to Crucial USA

http://www.crucial.com/csrusa/en/ct8g4tfd8213[/quotemsg]
OK, I'll tell them you asked.