ASRock Fatal1ty B85 (LGA 1150) Killer Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

In the UK the ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer motherboard is selling for around £65-75 though we can’t see it listed at any big well known retailers. In the USA we found it on Newegg for $104.99 though this does seem a little expensive given that the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer is selling at Newegg for just $20 more. Either way though relative to other Z87 and B85 motherboards this is very competitive pricing

Overview

ASRock’s Fatal1ty B85 Killer motherboard has actually surprised me a lot considering its ridiculously cheap price. In the UK even at the £75 price point you can barely get your hands on a Z87 motherboard let alone one with advanced networking, audio and a fantastic design. This is why ASRock’s decision to pick B85 is great because you still get SATA III, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, lots of other PCI(e) connectivity and overclocking but you also get a Killer Gigabit NIC, advanced audio, a rich software package and that’s all for the same price as an absolutely barebones entry-level Z87 motherboard that wouldn’t have any of those networking or audio features. As I’ve mentioned this motherboard does overclock K Series CPUs which is great for anyone looking to pair up with a Core i5 4670K. Yet even without overclocking the ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer motherboard has a shed load of features for your money and if you’re a gamer then chances are you aren’t really going to care about CPU overclocking that much – you’ll be more interested in the gaming NIC, the advanced audio, overclocking your graphics card, having enough storage, having snappy peripherals thanks to the Fatal1ty USB port and so on. I think in this regard the ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer motherboard is just a stunning value for money option for any gamer. It is a well rounded package.

Of course the ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer motherboard isn’t perfect, but the only “issues” I have with it are more like issues with the B85 chipset not the actual ASRock board itself. Firstly, being B85 memory is limited to 1600MHz max which is reflected in a lot of the benchmarks. While 1600MHz memory is enough and what most people use, it does hold the CPU back slightly compared to 2133/2400MHz memory. We saw this by a slight decline in performance compared to Z87 systems using faster RAM. The second point is with regards to some uncertainty about B85 overclocking, we still need a clarification on the specificities of B85 overclocking from Intel but as far as we know and have seen, and from what ASRock told us, it is possible to overclock K series CPUs and will be possible for the forseeable future. One final point to consider is that this motherboard has the B85 chipset but ignores almost all the features of the B85 chipset (though you can still download the software for this chipset such as Intel Small Business Advantage). Now of course the B85 chipset is meant for small and home business users so as a gaming motherboard it is fair enough ASRock would choose to neglect those options. However, to me it just seems sad that a motherboard vendor like ASRock has to use the B85 chipset to make a more cost effective motherboard, not because it wants to use the B85 chipset but because the B85 chipset is a means of avoiding the (excessively?) high price of the Z87 Express chipset that Intel charges. I think Intel should take note and consider lowering the Z87 chipset price because it is sad that vendors have to resort to this slightly “back-alley” method to make more affordable products. From a consumer standpoint I am glad to see ASRock taking the stand and I hope other motherboard vendors offer up similar products and do their best to resist the Intel microcode updates that might prevent K series overclocking on B85 chipset motherboards.

Pros

• Excellent Audio
• Killer Gaming E2200 NIC
• Highly attractive price
• Great gamer looks
• Minimal performance drop vs Z87 motherboards
• 3 year warranty
• Free XSplit software
• Value added and extensive software bundle

Cons

• 1600MHz memory limit
• Low resolution UEFI BIOS

“If you’re looking for a fully equipped Haswell gaming motherboard that pretty much does it all, but you aren’t prepared to pay the premium for Z87, then ASRock’s Fatal1ty B85 Killer gaming motherboard is a game-changing option. Sure it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the really expensive Z87 options but it costs a mere fraction of the price and you’ll find it tough to notice anything is even missing. This should undoubtedly be one of the more popular Haswell gaming motherboards when paired up with a cost effective Haswell CPU. Kudos to ASRock for bringing a gaming quality motherboard to the market at such an attractive price point.”

Thanks to ASRock for providing this review sample.