A Closer Look
First impressions are strong with this motherboard. Sure, it doesn’t leap out as anything too crazy at first glance, but it’s ticking all the right boxes for my eyes.
Firstly, that’s one of the most robust and practical looking VRM coolers I’ve seen for a long time. None of that aesthetics-only low-profile nonsense. The metal is thick, finned, and heat piped to get the job done well. The VRM and chokes under there look like serious business too.
No fancy armour, but four DIMM slots will get the job done. Here you’ll also find a built-in BIOS debug LED, and nicely designed on-board power control switches.
Connectivity is pretty standard for this chipset, with six SATA, USB 3 and a few USB 2 ports.
Along the bottom, more built-in switches for overclocking, and BIOS control. It’s great to have these, especially if you’re working from a test bench like I will be.
The audio hardware is on a separate trace, comes with dedicated gold-caps, a swappable OP-AMP chip, and hopefully, it’ll sound pretty great.
There are three full-size PCIe slots here, with three 1x slots in between. That’s more than enough room for a multi GPU configuration, and more. Of course, six slots may appeal to those using this for a mining rig. There are two M.2 drive mounts here too, giving you more storage options.
Finally, around the back, you’ll find a plethora of USB ports, including some super fast 3.1’s. There are six gold-plated audio jacks with auto-switching, HDMI, DP, Optical Out, and even a CMOS clear button. Overall, it’s got all the basicss covered and beyond.
