ASRock Z77E-ITX Pro Reviews

So what should we do if we really want to build a high-performance LGA 1155 computer on a Mini-ITX platform today? Our recommendation would be to start from the contrary. First of all you need to exclude those mainboards that limit the overclocking. These are Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI, that doesn’t have any functionality to adjust the voltages, and EVGA Z77 Stinger, which doesn’t work with the memory and has several issues in the BIOS. Then we need to eliminate those mainboards, which cannot save power when the CPU is idle and disable all processor power-saving technologies during overclocking. This will take MSI Z77IA-E53 off the list. Finally, we will exclude slower mainboards, which will mean the end of the race for Zotac Z77-ITX WiFi. As a result, the only two choices remain ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE and ASRock Z77E-ITX. Asus product boasts very well thought-through design, high performance and a WiFi controller supporting 5 GHz frequency range. However, it suffers from some frustrating issues in the BIOS, heats a lot and is quite expensive. ASRock mainboard, on the contrary, is very affordable, comes with a well-balanced BIOS and an additional mSATA slot, but doesn’t support Bluetooth and has somewhat awkward layout.

Thanks to some impressive design elements, and the amount of motherboard real-estate freed up by components moving onto the CPU itself, we're now starting to see boards in the mini-ITX form factor that are almost impossible to distinguish in performance or feature-set from their full size compadres. This ASRock Z77E-ITX board is another, relatively cheap, example of this.

he ASRock Z77E-ITXwas able to hold it's own against our other Intel Z77 motherboards today. It may be small, but great things can come in small packages! If you're looking to build an Intel Z77 SFF PC, the ASRock Z77E-ITX is a great choice!

The ASRock Z77E-ITX is the perfect product if you want to build an updated small form factor computer. Since it has a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, you can install a high-end video card, if you want to build a powerful gaming machine. The highlights of this motherboard include the presence of six USB 3.0 ports, a Wi-Fi card supporting the IEEE 802.11b/g/n standards, an mSATA slot, and a professional-grade audio codec. On the negative side, the only thing we can complain about is the fact that the mSATA slot is SATA-300, not SATA-600. We believe that the price of this motherboard is fair for the features it brings.