ASRock Rack EPC612D4U-2T8R (Intel C612) mATX Server Motherboard Review

Final Thoughts & Pricing

Pricing

The ASRock Rack EPC612D4U-2T8R isn’t the cheapest motherboard around, but it is still priced more than fair. At the time of writing, the EPC612D4U-2T8R can be had for $499.99 at NewEgg, £384.00 at Scan Computers, and starting from €499.60 in Germany through Geizhals.

Overview

I have to say right away, I’m a big fan of this motherboard and ASRock Rack have done a great job at creating it. It is a tiny mATX motherboard that still packs everything it should and doesn’t need to shy back from the bigger brothers in ATX form factor. Granted, there are a few limitations based on the size, but not many. The overall design is great and it pleases my inner OCD genes as everything is grouped logically and the board generally just appears to be designed perfectly. I also like how the jumpers are conveniently placed and easy to access where no other components will interfere and how storage and headers are positioned close to each other and in a collective fashion.

There are plenty of connection abilities on the Intel C612 chipset based motherboard. You get two PCIe x16 Gen3 slots and one x8 internally, plenty of headers for everything including an A-type USB 3.0 connector and two-digit display, and it also features plenty of storage ability with eight SATA3 ports controlled by the chipset and eight SAS3 ports controlled by the LSI3008 controller. Externally you get a dedicated IPMI 2.0 remote control interface as well as two 10Gbps network connections. Serial port, VGA D-Sub, and USB ports are also present on the rear.

The ASRock Rack EPC612D4U-2T8R supports one Intel E5-1600/2600 v3 CPU and comes with four DDR4 DIMM slots with quad-channel support. You can run modules up to 2133MHz at 1.2v which worked like a charm in our setup. The CPU performed stable and there really wasn’t a single problem with this board what so ever. It works like it should.

The remote control management works like a charm and the easy integration of Java consoles for browsers that don’t support it, such as Google Chrome, is a welcome addition. You don’t need any local connections except an LAN cable and power, the rest can be done remotely.

The performance of the board doesn’t need to hide anything either and it performed right along with the other boards we have tested, both smaller and larger ones. A worthy pick for any server or workstation that is limited to the mATX form factor.

Pros:

• Dual 10 Gbps LAN
• Dedicated IPMI Interface
• 8x SATA3 and 8x SAS3 ports
• Onboard USB A-Type
• Good board layout and compact

Cons:

• Requires narrow CPU cooler type

“Size restraints don’t need to limit neither performance nor features and ASRock Rack proved just that with their impressive EPC612D4U-2T8R mATX server motherboard.”

Thank You ASRock Rack for providing us with this review sample