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ASRock Gives AMD Ryzen Mini-ITX Treatment, Launches X370 Gaming ITX/ac
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ASRock Gives AMD Ryzen Mini-ITX Treatment, Launches X370 Gaming ITX/ac

ASRock has introduced a miniature motherboard for AMD Ryzen microprocessors, one of a few such motherboards in the industry. Despite being very small, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac offers everything that a fairly powerful gaming system might require and its price is not too high.

The ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac is based on the AMD X370 chipset and supports all currently available processors in the AM4 form-factor, including A-series APUs as well as all Ryzen CPUs. The motherboard has a digital eight-phase VRM for the CPU designed to guarantee clean power supply (stability, overclocking potential, etc.). According to ASRock, the mainboard can handle DDR4-3200+ memory (assuming that particular modules work well with AMD Ryzen processors). The new platform has two DIMM slots in total.

Like many other motherboards in the Mini-ITX form-factor, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac has one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, one M.2 slot for PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA SSDs, as well as four SATA ports. Meanwhile in a light bit of irony, the mainboard uses GbE and 802.11ac Wi-Fi controllers from Intel. As for other I/O, everything seems to be pretty standard here: the motherboard has two HDMI outputs, five USB 2.0 ports, six USB 3.0 headers (including one Type-C) as well as a 7.1-channel audio powered by Realtek ALC1220 codec with Creative’s Sound Blaster Cinema 3 enhancing software.

ASRock’s Mini-ITX Motherboard for AMD Ryzen
  X370 Gaming ITX/ac
CPU Support CPUs in AM4 form-factor
AMD Ryzen and AMD A-series APUs
Graphics PCIe 3.0 x16, or integrated in case of APUs
Chipset AMD X370
Memory Two DDR4 DIMM slots
Ethernet 2 × Intel GbE controllers
Display Outputs 2 × HDMI for APUs
Storage 4 × SATA 6 Gbps
1 × M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA)
Audio Realtek ALC1220
7.1 channel audio
Creative’s Sound Blaster Cinema 3 enhancing software
USB 5 × USB 3.0 Type-A
1 × USB 3.0 Type-C
5 × USB 2.0
Other I/O 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2
Form-Factor Mini-ITX
MSRP $150 ~ $160

At present, the ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac has only one direct rival, the Biostar Racing X370GTN introduced earlier this year. The Racing X370GTN does not have Wi-Fi support, but it has two USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) headers, including one Type-C. Meanwhile, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac seems to have a more advanced VRM for those looking forward overclocking capabilities.

The ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac will be available in the coming weeks for $150 – $160, according to the manufacturer. Keep in mind that since there are only two AMD X370-based Mini-ITX motherboards announced so far and small form-factor systems are gaining traction, demand for the X370 Gaming ITX/ac will be very high. That said, don’t be surprised if there’s some overpricing from select retailers.

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EVGA Unveils its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition
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EVGA Unveils its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition

EVGA has once again collaborated with extreme overclocker Vince “K|NGP|N” Lucido to develop the new EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition. As EVGA’s ultra-high-end overclocking card, EVGA is guaranteeing each card can be overclocked to at least 2025MHz, which means we’re looking at a binned card with a whole heap of modifications and tweaks to allow for squeezing the last few MHz out of the card.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition
Boost Clock 2025MHz
Memory Clock 11Gbps
VRAM 11GB
TDP Well Over 250W If You’re Doing It Right
Power Connectors 2x 8pin
Length ?
Width 2 Slot
Cooler Type Open Air
Price TBD

EVGA uses a fully custom PCB designed to withstand the rigors of overclocking. The card features a 15 phase digital VRM system with dual 8-pin power connectors on the right edge for better cable management. You will also find the EVGA Evbot connector next to the power connectors on the rear of the card, an interesting situation as this is a feature that doesn’t show up on too many EVGA products these days. The PCB features nine temperature sensors: three for memory, five for PWM, and one for the GPU. When it comes to display connectivity, there are three Mini DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, one DVI, and a single HDMI 2.0 port all in a row, making it possible to create a single-slot graphics card when used with a water block.

The heatsink shroud has a very similar look to EVGA’s FTW3 edition video card. Integrated into the black plastic shroud you’ll find three large dual-ball bearing fans pushing air through interlaced copper-plated fins bonded to six copper heatpipes (three 6mm and three 8mm) that are attached to the copper-plated baseplate. A large metal backplate spans the entire length of the graphics card, adding rigidity and structural strength to prevent it from bending under the weight of the heatsink. The card also has accommodations for LN2 overclocking.

EVGA’s Jacob Freeman tweeted a picture from Computex showing the GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition running cool as a cucumber at 2404MHz. The company said the card will be available in July. No price has been announced yet.

Steven Lynch Contributed to this Report

EVGA Unveils its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition
  • Comments are Closed

EVGA Unveils its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition

EVGA has once again collaborated with extreme overclocker Vince “K|NGP|N” Lucido to develop the new EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition. As EVGA’s ultra-high-end overclocking card, EVGA is guaranteeing each card can be overclocked to at least 2025MHz, which means we’re looking at a binned card with a whole heap of modifications and tweaks to allow for squeezing the last few MHz out of the card.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition
Boost Clock 2025MHz
Memory Clock 11Gbps
VRAM 11GB
TDP Well Over 250W If You’re Doing It Right
Power Connectors 2x 8pin
Length ?
Width 2 Slot
Cooler Type Open Air
Price TBD

EVGA uses a fully custom PCB designed to withstand the rigors of overclocking. The card features a 15 phase digital VRM system with dual 8-pin power connectors on the right edge for better cable management. You will also find the EVGA Evbot connector next to the power connectors on the rear of the card, an interesting situation as this is a feature that doesn’t show up on too many EVGA products these days. The PCB features nine temperature sensors: three for memory, five for PWM, and one for the GPU. When it comes to display connectivity, there are three Mini DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, one DVI, and a single HDMI 2.0 port all in a row, making it possible to create a single-slot graphics card when used with a water block.

The heatsink shroud has a very similar look to EVGA’s FTW3 edition video card. Integrated into the black plastic shroud you’ll find three large dual-ball bearing fans pushing air through interlaced copper-plated fins bonded to six copper heatpipes (three 6mm and three 8mm) that are attached to the copper-plated baseplate. A large metal backplate spans the entire length of the graphics card, adding rigidity and structural strength to prevent it from bending under the weight of the heatsink. The card also has accommodations for LN2 overclocking.

EVGA’s Jacob Freeman tweeted a picture from Computex showing the GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N Edition running cool as a cucumber at 2404MHz. The company said the card will be available in July. No price has been announced yet.

Steven Lynch Contributed to this Report

ASRock Announces X299 Professional Gaming i9 with 3-Way Multi-GPU, 10Gb Ethernet, & Wi-Fi
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ASRock Announces X299 Professional Gaming i9 with 3-Way Multi-GPU, 10Gb Ethernet, & Wi-Fi

ASRock has introduced its flagship motherboard for Intel’s upcoming Core X series HEDT processors. The Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 packs about everything that that is possible, including advanced VRMs, multiple PCIe slots, a Wi-Fi module, as well as a 10 GbE port. Despite being extremely feature-rich, the new product is not going to be too expensive.

Since Intel’s new X299 platform supports a very diverse range of processors that cost from sub-$300 all the way to $1999, makers of motherboards are trying to address different setups with their products accordingly. Some X299 platforms can be considered as “entry-level” (of the ultra high-end) based on their moderate feature set, others may be considered as mid-range and the most advanced models fit into the “extreme” or “workstation-grade” category for prosumers who need every bit of performance they may get. The ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 belongs to the latter category and is thus aimed at systems without compromises that run processors with 10 or more cores, feature multiple graphics cards, up to a dozen of storage devices, and so on.

One of the important features of the ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 is its 13-phase digital VRM that uses high endurance coils as well as solid-state capacitors and designed to ensure high overclocking potential. ASRock claims that this PWM can handle 720 A and deliver up to 1300 W of power, which is well above any CPU can consume (or survive).

The motherboard carries eight DDR4 DIMM slots and the manufacturer supports memory overclocking up to DDR-4400 and beyond. Previous-gen Intel Core Extreme (Broadwell-E) processors could not run DDR4 at extreme data transfer rates in quad-channel mode and it isn’t clear whether the new multi-core Skylake-X will handle DDR4 at 4000+ GT/s in quad-channel mode. However since the X299 platform also supports quad-core Kaby Lake-X CPUs with a dual-channel memory controller that can handle high memory frequencies, support for high DDR4 frequencies may prove especially important for Kaby Lake-X.

Another key selling point of the ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 is the the Aquantia AQtion 10 Gb/s Ethernet controller (presumably the AQN-107) that also supports 2.5G and 5G operation. Installing this specific controller on a motherboard that is priced significantly below $500 makes a great deal of sense, as 10 GbE infrastructure (routers, switches) is still very expensive for most users (even those who buy Intel Core X-series CPUs), whereas 2.5G and 5G equipment promises to be a lot cheaper. Whether or not the owner of the X299 Professional Gaming i9 plans to invest in 10 GbE hardware, they will be ready for everything faster than GbE, and that adds value to the motherboard. In addition to the 10 GbE port, the mainboard also has two GbE headers enabled by controllers from Intel. For scenarios when wired connections are unavailable, the motherboard has a 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 module (based on an Intel controller).

Next up is expandability. The Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 has four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (2 × x16, 2 × x8): three can be used for graphics cards running in AMD CrossFireX or NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU mode, the fourth can be used for an SSD or any other device. Besides, the board has 10 SATA 6 Gbps connectors for systems that need a huge number of SATA storage devices.

ASRock’s Fatal1ty X299 for Intel Core X-Series
  Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9
CPU Support Intel Core i9
Intel Core i7
Intel Core i5

CPUs in LGA2066 form-factor
Graphics

4 × PCIe 3.0 x16 (2 × x16, 2 × x8)
3-way AMD CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI supported
Chipset Intel X299
Memory Eight DDR4 DIMM slots
Ethernet 1 × Aquantia AQtion AQN-107 10 GbE
2 × Intel GbE controllers
Storage 10 × SATA 6 Gbps
3 × M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA)
Audio Realtek ALC1220
7.1 channel audio
USB 8 × USB 3.0 Type-A
6 × USB 3.0 Type-A
1 × USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A
1 × USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C
1 × USB 3.1 internal header

ASMedia ASM3142 controller for USB 3.1
Other I/O Dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2
Form-Factor ATX
MSRP $350

When it comes to connectivity, the Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 has something to brag about even beyond its vast networking capabilities. The motherboard uses ASMedia’s latest ASM3142 controller that is backed by a PCIe 3.0 x2 connect (instead of x1 in case of the ASM1142) and thus offers higher bandwidth than its predecessor. In total, the board supports eight USB 3.0 Type-A ports, six USB 2.0 connectors, two USB 3.1 (Gen 2) receptacles (Type-A, Type-C) as well as one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) header for a USB-C port on the front of the PC that can deliver 36 W of power. Finally, the platform has a 7.1-channel audio sub-system (enabled by the Realtek ALC1220 controller) with the Sound Blaster Cinema 3 software enhancements by Creative.

The ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 will be available in the coming months for about $350. For those, who don’t need a 10G Ethernet port, 36 W power delivery on the front USB-C port and some other minor things, ASRock will offer the X299 Taichi motherboard that uses the same PCB, but without the aforementioned features, at around $300.

Related reading:

ASRock Announces X299 Professional Gaming i9 with 3-Way Multi-GPU, 10Gb Ethernet, & Wi-Fi
  • Comments are Closed

ASRock Announces X299 Professional Gaming i9 with 3-Way Multi-GPU, 10Gb Ethernet, & Wi-Fi

ASRock has introduced its flagship motherboard for Intel’s upcoming Core X series HEDT processors. The Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 packs about everything that that is possible, including advanced VRMs, multiple PCIe slots, a Wi-Fi module, as well as a 10 GbE port. Despite being extremely feature-rich, the new product is not going to be too expensive.

Since Intel’s new X299 platform supports a very diverse range of processors that cost from sub-$300 all the way to $1999, makers of motherboards are trying to address different setups with their products accordingly. Some X299 platforms can be considered as “entry-level” (of the ultra high-end) based on their moderate feature set, others may be considered as mid-range and the most advanced models fit into the “extreme” or “workstation-grade” category for prosumers who need every bit of performance they may get. The ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 belongs to the latter category and is thus aimed at systems without compromises that run processors with 10 or more cores, feature multiple graphics cards, up to a dozen of storage devices, and so on.

One of the important features of the ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 is its 13-phase digital VRM that uses high endurance coils as well as solid-state capacitors and designed to ensure high overclocking potential. ASRock claims that this PWM can handle 720 A and deliver up to 1300 W of power, which is well above any CPU can consume (or survive).

The motherboard carries eight DDR4 DIMM slots and the manufacturer supports memory overclocking up to DDR-4400 and beyond. Previous-gen Intel Core Extreme (Broadwell-E) processors could not run DDR4 at extreme data transfer rates in quad-channel mode and it isn’t clear whether the new multi-core Skylake-X will handle DDR4 at 4000+ GT/s in quad-channel mode. However since the X299 platform also supports quad-core Kaby Lake-X CPUs with a dual-channel memory controller that can handle high memory frequencies, support for high DDR4 frequencies may prove especially important for Kaby Lake-X.

Another key selling point of the ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 is the the Aquantia AQtion 10 Gb/s Ethernet controller (presumably the AQN-107) that also supports 2.5G and 5G operation. Installing this specific controller on a motherboard that is priced significantly below $500 makes a great deal of sense, as 10 GbE infrastructure (routers, switches) is still very expensive for most users (even those who buy Intel Core X-series CPUs), whereas 2.5G and 5G equipment promises to be a lot cheaper. Whether or not the owner of the X299 Professional Gaming i9 plans to invest in 10 GbE hardware, they will be ready for everything faster than GbE, and that adds value to the motherboard. In addition to the 10 GbE port, the mainboard also has two GbE headers enabled by controllers from Intel. For scenarios when wired connections are unavailable, the motherboard has a 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 module (based on an Intel controller).

Next up is expandability. The Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 has four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (2 × x16, 2 × x8): three can be used for graphics cards running in AMD CrossFireX or NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU mode, the fourth can be used for an SSD or any other device. Besides, the board has 10 SATA 6 Gbps connectors for systems that need a huge number of SATA storage devices.

ASRock’s Fatal1ty X299 for Intel Core X-Series
  Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9
CPU Support Intel Core i9
Intel Core i7
Intel Core i5

CPUs in LGA2066 form-factor
Graphics

4 × PCIe 3.0 x16 (2 × x16, 2 × x8)
3-way AMD CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI supported
Chipset Intel X299
Memory Eight DDR4 DIMM slots
Ethernet 1 × Aquantia AQtion AQN-107 10 GbE
2 × Intel GbE controllers
Storage 10 × SATA 6 Gbps
3 × M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA)
Audio Realtek ALC1220
7.1 channel audio
USB 8 × USB 3.0 Type-A
6 × USB 3.0 Type-A
1 × USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-A
1 × USB 3.1 (Gen 2) Type-C
1 × USB 3.1 internal header

ASMedia ASM3142 controller for USB 3.1
Other I/O Dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2
Form-Factor ATX
MSRP $350

When it comes to connectivity, the Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 has something to brag about even beyond its vast networking capabilities. The motherboard uses ASMedia’s latest ASM3142 controller that is backed by a PCIe 3.0 x2 connect (instead of x1 in case of the ASM1142) and thus offers higher bandwidth than its predecessor. In total, the board supports eight USB 3.0 Type-A ports, six USB 2.0 connectors, two USB 3.1 (Gen 2) receptacles (Type-A, Type-C) as well as one USB 3.1 (Gen 2) header for a USB-C port on the front of the PC that can deliver 36 W of power. Finally, the platform has a 7.1-channel audio sub-system (enabled by the Realtek ALC1220 controller) with the Sound Blaster Cinema 3 software enhancements by Creative.

The ASRock Fatal1ty X299 Professional Gaming i9 will be available in the coming months for about $350. For those, who don’t need a 10G Ethernet port, 36 W power delivery on the front USB-C port and some other minor things, ASRock will offer the X299 Taichi motherboard that uses the same PCB, but without the aforementioned features, at around $300.

Related reading: