ASRock Z87E-ITX Review: Motherboard Juxtaposition

ASRock Z87E-ITX Conclusion

ASRock is definitely making progress on their product lines, in almost all areas: specifications, functionality, software and pricing.  ASRock are very aggressive when it comes to pricing, perhaps at the expense of a few aesthetics compared to some other boards.  The next step up for ASRock is going to be the creation of their own tools in terms of hardware – their competitors are looking to daughter boards for VRMs, for sound, and for extra features on the Rear IO.

At AnandTech we have previously reviewed the Z87I in the Z87 mini-ITX Haswell arena.  Compared to this review, the ASRock is $10 more, has two more SATA 6 Gbps ports, dual band 802.11ac rather than single band 802.11n, only one NIC rather than two but comes with an ALC1150 not an ALC892.  The ASRock has a more aesthetically pleasing BIOS than the MSI, they trade blows in software (ASRock has XFast, MSI has Live Update), ASRock has more in-the-box, overclocks further, fundamentally better USB speed but is a bit short on some CPU benchmarks.  If I had an extra $10, I would be going with ASRock in that battle.

$150 for a mini-ITX, 802.11ac enabled motherboard, giving good overclock performance but a little down on the CPU out-of-the-box unless you can change a single BIOS setting.  It still performs toe-to-toe in gaming benchmarks, with six SATA 6 Gbps, six USB 3.0 ports and a nice BIOS/software package that ASRock has been working on for several generations.

Users wanting a motherboard at $140-160 have a fair few choices as of 11/4:

$140 – MSI Z87I, ASUS Z87-C, MSI Z87-G43 Gaming, GIGABYTE Z87X-D3H
$145 – ASRock Z87 Extreme4, ASUS Z87-A
$150 – ASRock Z87E-ITX
$160 – ASUS Z87-PLUS, GIGABYTE Z87X-UD3H, MSI Z87-G45 Gaming

And other Z87 mini-ITX are available:

$135 – GIGABYTE Z87N-WiFi
$190 – ASUS Z87I-Deluxe
$220 – EVGA Z87 Stinger
$225 – ASUS ROG Z87 Impact

Actually, since I started this review, the Z87E-ITX has a current price drop to $140, putting it right in the mix with the Z87N-WiFi.  I have the two ASUS ITX boards as well as the EVGA ITX motherboard in to test over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those reviews.

However overall I am pleased with the ASRock Z87E-ITX: it surpassed my high expectations in a few important areas (SATA ports, audio codec, overclock performance, 802.11ac) and is well deserving of a recommended award.  Another fan header or two, and perhaps an adjustment of that 8-pin CPU power connector might see it hit a full award.

Recommended: ASRock Z87E-ITX at $140