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The ASRock E3V5 WS is not quite in the same league as the last ASRock workstation motherboard we looked at, the ASRock X99 WS-E/10G. But at less than a sixth of the price, we wouldn't expect it to be. It's still possible to put together a more modest performance workstation based around this motherboard.
There are a few features lacking if you're looking to create a compact performance workstation. We would have liked to have seen a M.2 slot, so you could have both NVMe storage and dual graphics. We would also have liked to have seen USB 3.1 and / or Type C connectivity.
The lack of ability to use a processor's integrated graphics will count this board out as a budget option for servers and non-graphics oriented workstations.
Overall, though, considering the price, this is a very tempting motherboard. More feature-rich Socket 1151 workstation motherboards can cost two or three times the price. So if you can live without the omissions just described, and we reckon most people will be able to, the ASRock E3V5 WS is a budget workstation option that will allow you to put together a system that still packs plenty of punch.
Buy from Scan UK for £99.56 inc vat HERE.
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Pros:
- Keen price.
- Comprehensive, easy-to-use UEFI BIOS.
- Supports AMD CrossFireX.
- ECC Memory support.
- Decent performance setting options (depending on processor).
Cons:
- No M.2 storage slot.
- No USB 3.1.
- No NVIDIA SLI support.
KitGuru says: The ASRock E3V5 WS is a keenly priced but capable workstation board for Intel Skylake processors.
