Introduction

You have not been paying a lot of attention if you by now do not know who ASRock is and what they have to offer. Having been around for quite some time as an enthusiast-focused board manufacturer, ASRock has definitely made a name for itself by providing a host of affordable and functional daily-driver boards and everything up to crazy LSI RAID-equipped storage monsters for every platform, aside from a bunch of other products. From the Fatal1ty line some love, but many hate and to the OC Formula line of boards purely focused on pushing the limits of attainable frequencies, no matter what sort of user you are, an ASRock product should have crossed your path at some point. I have covered many myself and still have quite a few sitting here that I have yet to cover. ASRock is serious about giving you what you want, no matter the twist you desire, and with that in mind, I asked them for some mITX products to review.

I have had many requests for mITX product reviews, so much so that it has almost been overwhelming. With current technology offering pretty respectable performance while using very little power, many users want smaller systems that simply take up less space under the desk, or are small enough to dissolve from view in a home theater. With Intel's Haswell offering nearly perfect levels of performance for high-end home theater builds, great for ripping and encoding movies or playing a lightweight game or two, and nearly anything that might be internet-based, the ability to make computing that much less intrusive on daily living is something many cannot ignore. Valve's Big Picture and STEAM OS show that the entire industry recognizes this movement, nevermind that many enthusiast case makers have supporting products for mITX builds. ASRock does recognize this as well, having sent me a mITX Haswell-based board nearly immediately after I asked for one so many months ago, and since then, it and several other mITX boards have been poked, prodded, and abused for 6 months, and over the next several weeks, I'll be reporting my findings to you.

The ASRock Z87E-ITX is a small base for high-performance computing platforms that even those interested in smaller-sized gaming boxes might want to pay attention to, nevermind everyone else. Built-in WiFi and a decent set of overclocking-focused features make the ASRock Z87E-ITX an interesting option for those looking to get everything Intel's Haswell has to offer into a smaller form factor.

Specifications