While other motherboard manufacturers seem to exist getting less creative with their designs, Asrock has shown it doesn't mind taking chances with its products and continues to push boundaries. The company currently offers fourteen X99 motherboards and nigh are farthermost in both cost and features. For example, the X99 Extreme11 costs $620 and information technology'due south non even their most expensive model. That honor goes to the X99 WS-E/10G, an awesome server-grade lath that features an Intel X540 controller for dual 10G Base-T support.

If y'all read our recent article "The Ridiculously Powerful MicroATX PC" you will also know that Asrock has done something few others have by creating a MicroATX board based on the X99 chipset. The Fatal1ty X99M Killer is a groovy little mATX lath and so is the X99M Extreme4.

The MicroATX versions still boast many of the features found on the full-size Extended ATX motherboards such as quad-channel DIMMs, dual Gigabit LAN, ten SATA storage connectors and and so on. What nosotros haven't seen is a Mini-ITX version using the X99 platform and not that long agone I would take accounted it impossible. I've since discovered the Asrock X99E-ITX/air conditioning.

Somehow someone at Asrock got the greenlight to develop an X99 motherboard using the Mini-ITX form factor, and somehow they fabricated it piece of work.

The Asrock X99E-ITX/air conditioning is the world's first and simply Mini-ITX X99 motherboard along with being the first ever Mini-ITX motherboard to feature an Intel Farthermost-series chipset.

Apart from being nearly impossible to design, there are obvious drawbacks to such a creation. In the case of the X99E-ITX/ac, information technology's limited to just two DIMM slots, eliminating the quad-channel feature of LGA2011-3 processors.

Withal, running a processor such as the Cadre i7-5960X in dual-channel doesn't exactly kill performance and users can notwithstanding look forward to features such as Wireless AC, USB three.1, SATA Express and M.2 support, which opens the possibility of using the X99E-ITX/air conditioning up for an insanely powerful Mini-ITX computer.

Features & Specifications

Most Mini-ITX boards aren't too characteristic-packed considering of their express space. Most rely heavily on the features provided by the chipset and fifty-fifty then many of the standard features become axed.

The same is true for the Asrock X99E-ITX/ac to an extent. Onboard we find merely six of the ten SATA 6Gb/s ports and 2 DIMM slots.

However Asrock still managed to include a SATA Express connectedness, an Ultra M.two slot, a vertical one-half-size Mini-PCI Limited slot for the supplied WiFi/Bluetooth module, dual Gigabit LAN, half a dozen USB iii.0 ports plus two USB iii.1 ports, eSATA and a PCI Express three.0 x16 slot.

Asrock has also equipped the board with its Super Alloy hardware, including the Premium 60A Ability Chokes, Premium Memory Blend Chokes, Fairchild 60A Dual Cool DrMOS which withstands 60A currents, Nichicon 12k Platinum Capacitors, plus a 6-phase ability blueprint and digi power.

That is an impressive list for a full-size desktop motherboard, and then we are nevertheless a piffling puzzled as to how Asrock has pulled this off with the Mini-ITX standard.

Despite the express infinite, Asrock isn't existence gun shy with CPU support, claiming that the X99E-ITX/air-conditioning volition happily accept the 140w Cadre i7-5960X or even the Xeon E5-2699v3 (xviii Cadre/36 Thread, 45MB Enshroud, 2.30 GHz).

The included ILM CPU libation should exist able to handle a 140w processor without much trouble, although those server grade models tend to be loud and so nosotros will written report on that later in the review.

With just ii DIMM slots the board is limited to dual-channel DDR4 memory technology, though we don't look this to touch on performance profoundly.

When it comes to storage the X99E-ITX/air conditioning can support more than devices than any Mini-ITX case with six SATA 6Gb/s ports and an Ultra One thousand.2 slot -- we can't imagine many users will exist asking for more than. There is too a SATA Limited port though that claims two of the six SATA ports when in utilise.

The One thousand.2 slot supports both M.2 SATA3 6.0Gb/due south modules and Yard.2 PCI Express modules up to Gen3 x4 (32Gb/s). The slot accommodates a wide range of G.2 sizes which includes 42, 60 and 80mm.

For audio, the X99E-ITX/air-conditioning is equipped with the ALC1150 codec, Realtek's premier offering. Complete with content protection, premium Blu-ray audio and DTS support it's about as good as onboard audio gets.

Realtek's bit is accompanied by Asrock's Purity Audio technology, which incorporates a headphone amplifier, a 115dB SNR DAC with a differential amplifier, Direct Bulldoze applied science, EMI shielding cover and PCB isolated shielding.

For networking, Asrock has included Intel'southward I218V PHY and I211AT controllers, which back up Wake-On-LAN, Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az and PXE while the I217V offers Intel Remote Wake Technology. Together, the pair can also be used for teaming.

The X99E-ITX/air conditioning too offers wireless networking out of the box using a half-size Mini-PCI Limited 2T2R 802.11ac WiFi card. The ii.4G/5G WiFi module supports upwards to 867Mbps wireless networks and Bluetooth v4.0.