ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer (LGA 1150) Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer motherboard costs $157.99 at Newegg and $188.99 at Amazon. In the UK it is currently retailing for £124.99 at Overclockers and £119.99 at Amazon. This motherboard has a three year manufacturer warranty.

Overview

ASRock’s Fatal1ty Z97X Killer motherboard is another very competitive offering in the Z97 gaming motherboard space. It has impressive audio performance, aesthetics, networking performance and storage performance in addition to a great BIOS and a significant range of connectivity that will appeal to a wide audience of gamers, enthusiasts and system builders. Best of all the motherboard is priced very well given its performance and hardware features. Having reviewed so many Z97 gaming motherboards already it is hard to say that this motherboard does anything unique or particularly innovative for gamers, but it does offer a solid value for money proposition that is difficult to ignore. ASRock may not be the biggest motherboard brand for gaming motherboards but on this performance their is certainly no reason why you shouldn’t consider ASRock for your next gaming build.

On the down side this motherboard could benefit from slightly better memory performance, which was a few percentage points lower than the competition, and it might also benefit from a better software package – particularly those which add more audio and peripheral features. Some of the in-house software just felt a little hap-hazard and poorly developed and I see significant room for improvement on this front. However, considering most gamers won’t be interested in motherboard software in general this isn’t something that is too tragic. ASRock also did well to source a lot of their software from third party developers and I think a lot of gamers will appreciate the CFOS-developed XFast LAN utility that has advanced internet management options as well as the XSplit Broadcaster 3 month premium license.

Pros

• Best storage performance yet
• Competitive pricing
• Generous third party software offerings – XSplit Broadcaster, CFOS LAN management and Orbweb.ME
• Attractive design
• Intuitive and well designed BIOS
• Premium power components – VRM runs cooler than many rival solutions

Cons

• In-house software suite feels fragmented and underdeveloped
• Memory performance below competition
• Killer NIC has higher CPU usage than Intel NICs

“If you’re looking for a well-priced Z97 gaming motherboard that performs well, looks good and has all the hardware spec of a more expensive motherboard then the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer is definitely worth considering. ASRock have pleasantly surprised me with the quality on offer here today.”

Thank you to ASRock for providing this review sample.