With Intel’s new Skylake chipsets and processors, there are a whole new range of motherboards to choose from. That goes for chipsets, too. This particular ASRock motherboard features an H170 chipset, rather than the more commonly talked about Z170. For a quick clarification on the differences… the Z series are the top-of-the-line commercial chipsets, with a few more features than the H. This includes overclocking. If you are a keen overclocker, Z is the way to go. You cannot overclock the CPU on an H chipset motherboard.
That may be an issue for some, but the majority of folks out there want a good performer that works well out of the box, and aren’t really too interested in pushing all kinds of limits. For them, the H is a better option. Sure, the Z packs a little more punch in some areas, but the performance differences will be hard to see “with the naked eye”.
ASRock’s H170 Performance Series motherboard has a host of features that will negate the slight shortcomings of the less capable chipset. And some of these allow you to trim up performance no matter what peripherals you are using. The Fatal1ty mouse port, for example, allows you to adjust your mouse polling rate on the motherboard, while Key Master allows the saving of macros – as well as the use of a mouse-movement-managing Sniper Key – as motherboard functions, rather than as peripheral functions. That’s pretty handy when switching peripherals, and can be quite a time saver.
The board also makes use of a Purity Sound 3 system, for good quality 7.1 audio delivered via a Realtek codec.
The H170 Performance Series also offers a number of protective functions that look afterpower stability, excessive heat and static electricity. Excellent grade components also help ensure a better longevity.
It also makes use of ASRock’s Gaming Armour system, which means that it offers an extra PCIe power socket, gold contacts in DIMM and VGA slots, and an extralarge aluminium alloy heat sink to help drag the heat away from the board’s vital areas.
What you have here is a board that performs really well under stress, and provides you with exactly what you need, and a little more. It obviously features USB 3.1 and supports DDR4 RAM, like all boards of this generation. The only real issue that it has is that people may look at the H170 name and ask why it’s not a Z170. Sadly, PC culture has the idea that top-of-therange is all that counts, and this great device may get glossed over by someone looking for a Z170, when an H170 is actually what they need.
This board is a great investment, and a perfect backbone for a non-tweaking PC user.
It might not be a Z170, but this H170 will give you everything you need from a motherboard… as long as you don’t want to overclock the CPU.
TECH SPECS
- H170 chipset
- Fatal1ty mouse port
- Key Master technology
- Purity Sound 3
- Gaming Armour features
- 12K Platinum CAPs