The Z97E-ITX/ac is one of the cheapest boards on test, so it’s no surprise that its heatsinks are small and plain without a connecting heatpipe. There are no on-board buttons either, and the area around the CPU socket is sparse, although that also makes it easier to attach coolers to the board.
However, the 8-pin CPU power connector is awkwardly located next to a heatsink, while the four SATA 6Gbps connectors and SATA Express port are crammed between the memory slots and Wi-Fi chip. Meanwhile, the CPU fan connector is in the top-right corner, which is fairly sensible, but the other fan connector is in the bottom-left corner, beyond the memory slots, and there's no third fan header.
Likewise, while it's great to see an M.2 slot, it's angled towards the CPU socket, and only accepts 30mm and 42mm drives, rather than the more prevalent 80mm drives that fit the two Asus boards. Using the M.2 connector also disables the SATA Express port and vice versa. Thankfully, other connectors are in better locations. The main power socket is on the right edge, alongside the CMOS battery, a USB 3 header and the front panel connector.
Meanwhile, the two DIMM slots handle 16GB of RAM at 3,200MHz, and there's a 16x PCI-E 3 slot and two USB 2 headers. There's also dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and the rear I/O panel offers four USB 3 ports, two USB 2 ports and a clear-CMOS switch.
One positive aspect of the board, though, is ASRock's EFI, which has features we wish were commonplace - it updates once Gigabit Ethernet is connected, and it has QR codes that can be scanned to find out more information. There’s no dual BIOS system though.
Sadly, the ASRock couldn't match the best performers in application benchmarks. Its overall result of 111,250 only managed to beat the Asus Z97l-Plus' 110,002, and it couldn't get near the 115,064 of the table-topping Gigabyte. It proved more capable in storage benchmarks though. Its SATA 6Gbps sequential read and write results of 549МВ/ sec and 510MB/sec are second out of the five boards on test, and its M.2 port was the quickest of the three boards equipped with this interface.
Gaming results were inconsistent. In Shogun 2, the ASRock's 31fps minimum, though still respectable, was bottom of the pile, along with two other products, but in Skyrim, the Z97E-ITX came in second place with a fantastic minimum of 100fps.
We used a 1.315V core to hit 4.8GHz with our sample CPU - a moderate amount of voltage. Despite its modest price, the Z97E-ITX also proved to be the Labs' best overclocker. Its application benchmark score jumped to 122,782, which squeaked past the MSI's revised result of 122,681. When overclocked, the ASRock's Shogun score also remained level with its rivals. When running at stock speeds, the ASRock was the most frugal board on test too, with a top power draw of 128 W - 26 W less than the Gigabyte.
At stock speeds, the ASRock offers standard, mid-range benchmark performance, but it also delivered this test's best overclocking results. The great overclocking performance is at odds with its lack of high-end features though - there are no LED displays, on-board power buttons and so on, and the layout leaves plenty to be desired. The low price, sensible feature set and overclocking ability make the ASRock a decent affordable board, but at this price, the superior Asus Z97i Plus is the better buy.
VERDICT
A decent overclocker with a great EFI system, but it's let down by an irritating layout and a lack of features.
SPECIFICATIONS
Chipset Intel Z97
CPU socket Intel LGA1150
Memory support 2 slots: max 16GB DDR3 (up to 3,200MHz overclocked)
Expansion slots One 16x PCI-E 3
Sound RealtekALC1150
Networking 1 x Gigabit Ethernet LAN, dualband 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4
Overclocking Base clock 90-300MHz, CPU multiplier 8-120x, max voltages, CPU 2V, RAM 1.8V
Ports 6 x SATA 6Gbps (Intel Z97), 1 x M.2, 1 x SATA Express, 4 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, 1 x LAN, 1 x PS/2, 5 x audio out, line-in, mic, 1 x optical S/PDIF
Dimensions (mm) 170 x 170