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Since the launch of Intel's Broadwell-E CPU family for the X99 platform KitGuru has seen and tested a of variety refreshed motherboards from ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. However, no assessment of new X99 motherboards would be complete without examining what ASRock has to offer.
The ASRock motherboard on test today is the Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7. As the somewhat-verbose naming convention for this product implies it is part of ASRock's Fatal1ty range, and is simultaneously targeted for gaming and professional users of the X99 platform.
Rather fittingly this ASRock motherboard targets an almost identical price point to many other X99 motherboards we've tested such as the ASUS ROG STRIX X99 Gaming and Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming.
At around £275 in the UK, or $260 in North America, this is an upper-mid-range motherboard for the X99 platform that falls in the middle of ASRock's X99 range, which starts with the X99 Extreme 4 and ends with the flagship X99 Extreme 11.
The Fatal1ty X99 Gaming uses a somewhat predictable red and black “gaming” colour scheme with ASRock's almost-trademark gold-coloured capacitors. Despite RGB being the craze of 2016 ASRock has not implemented any RGB or LED lighting into the design, which may be refreshing to some.
The ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Gaming is more about delivering a significant amount of hardware for a competitive price, than flashy aesthetics.
| ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7 | |
| Form Factor |
ATX, 30.5 x 24.4 cm |
| CPU Socket |
LGA 2011-V3, 12 Phase VRM |
| Chipset | Intel X99 |
| Memory | DDR4, 8 DIMMs, up to 3300+ MHz with OC |
| Onboard Graphics |
None |
| Discrete Graphics | Nvidia 3-Way SLI or Quad-SLI, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX or Quad CrossFireX |
| Expansion Slots | 3 x PCIe 3.0 X16 (40 lane CPU: 16X/16X/0X or 16X/8X/8X, 28 lane CPU: 16X/0X/8X or 8X/8X/8X) 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots |
| Storage | 10 x SATA III 6Gbps 1 x SATA Express (shared with SATA ports 4/5) 2 x M.2 32Gbps |
| USB | 6 x USB 2.0 (2 Rear, 4 Front) 8 x USB 3.0 (4 Rear, 4 Front), 4 Rear ports via ASM1074 2 x USB 3.1 (2 Rear) Type-A and C via ASM1142 |
| Networking | 1 x Intel I218V Gigabit LAN 1 x Intel I211AT Gigabit LAN Intel 802.11ac AC3160 dual-band WiFi & Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC1150 7.1 Channel with TI NE5532 Headset Amplifier |
| Fan Headers | 5 x 4-pin |
| Rear I/O | – 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port – 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port – 1 x USB 2.0 Port (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)) – 1 x Fatal1ty Mouse Port (USB 2.0) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)) – 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM1142) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)) – 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM1142) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)) – 4 x USB 3.0 Ports (ASMedia ASM1074 hub) (Supports ESD Protection (ASRock Full Spike Protection)) – 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED) – 1 x Clear CMOS Switch – HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone |
| UEFI | Custom UEFI with Dual BIOS chips |
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