ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X KILLER (Intel LGA 1150)

cadaveca · May 15, 2014

Hide your childrens, hide your wives! A KILLER is here! ASRock's Fatal1ty Z97X KILLER is on my test bench, after arriving in a plain white box. The only true Fatal1ty here is hopefully the one in the name, or this red and black gamer had better go back to training camp!

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FreedomEclipse · Jun 2, 2014

The naming scheme alone makes me want to murder a basket full of kittens in the most horrific way possible. Fatal1ty is an overused branding that seems to be synonimous with gamers but isnt - yet brands like to use Fatal1ty branding as a selling point to signify that their product is supposed to be uberL337 for noobs that have no idea who Fatal1ty even is let alone what he does or has done for the gaming community.

'Killer' on the other hand is a word thats so overused and beaten to death and the name of this motherboard lacks creativity and also originalty

LAN_deRf_HA · Jun 2, 2014

*sigh* yet another board with dickish EPS plug placement. At least they had the decency to face the clipping side down. Asus keeps getting worse and worse on their $200+ boards, now they have their clipping side up and every build I do with a H110 or X60 requires me to chop up a power supply cable. I guess Gigabyte is the only brand still doing practical build testing with their boards.

ChaoticG8R · Jun 2, 2014

Looks like the Z97i has hit your test bed, how much longer for it's completion? Thanks Dave!!!

cadaveca · Jun 2, 2014

Already done, just waiting it's turn for the spotlight. I've been doing good lately, four other reviews beyond that nearly done, two already fully done (but aren't boards).

souleet · Jun 3, 2014

Hi Dave! How come they got Editor's choice but have a 8.7 rating and BIOS issue?

cadaveca · Jun 3, 2014

souleet said:
Hi Dave! How come they got Editor's choice but have a 8.7 rating and BIOS issue?

Excellent question.

It should be scored 9.7!!!

The BIOS issue is minor. OC performance and power consumption shows this is simply a tuning problem, since my manual tuning, which is nothing special, bright this board in line with everything else with my test CPU. I just wish that "stock", on all boards, was really "stock". I've moaned for a couple years now in every review about board makers that do tune their BIOS for stock performance should include a voucher for the Intel Tuning Plan, but in this case, it's a GAMING board, and most users that buy such a board expect a bit extra in that department.

As to SATA Express issue, my test drive is an ASUS Hyper Express enclosure, and it doesn't work with ANY board but ASUS boards properly.

Score fixed! I feel really bad for missing that, to be honest.

ryanmartin · Jun 3, 2014

If I'm not mistaken this motherboard costs $159.99 (for example see Newegg) not $199.99. Of course if you're including sales TAX then it might be worth pointing that out because that's one of this board's main selling points (the price)

evilacg · Jun 3, 2014

cadaveca said:
Excellent question.

It should be scored 9.7!!!

The BIOS issue is minor. OC performance and power consumption shows this is simply a tuning problem, since my manual tuning, which is nothing special, bright this board in line with everything else with my test CPU. I just wish that "stock", on all boards, was really "stock". I've moaned for a couple years now in every review about board makers that do tune their BIOS for stock performance should include a voucher for the Intel Tuning Plan, but in this case, it's a GAMING board, and most users that buy such a board expect a bit extra in that department.

As to SATA Express issue, my test drive is an ASUS Hyper Express enclosure, and it doesn't work with ANY board but ASUS boards properly.

Score fixed! I feel really bad for missing that, to be honest.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/?category=Motherboards still shows 8.7 on this board.

cadaveca · Jun 3, 2014

ryanmartin said:
If I'm not mistaken this motherboard costs $159.99 (for example see Newegg) not $199.99. Of course if you're including sales TAX then it might be worth pointing that out because that's one of this board's main selling points (the price)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157505

Why Newegg sells it for $50 more here, I dunno.

Also please note that I write my reviews sometimes many weeks before they are published. When it comes to product pricing, there are bound to be errors at times.

ChaoticG8R · Jun 3, 2014

cadaveca said:
Why Newegg sells it for $50 more here, I dunno.

Oh Canada

newtekie1 · Jun 3, 2014

The board is more reasonably priced in the US, Newegg has it for $158 right now. Though it was $169 a week or so ago. I think ASRock has dropped the price a little after hearing some feedback from their reviewers.

cadaveca · Jun 4, 2014

I got the box and accessories by courier today. $160 seems pretty fair, puts it with MSI GAMING 5 price-wise, yet offers SATA Express. They just need to tune the BIOS a bit, but only for those running stock. Like, following CPU VID would be nice. :roll:

Since I wrote this, and now, a BIOS may have fixed that already. Minor stuff.

Of course, now that I have a manual and such, there's some HDD power-saving stuff built-in as well, with SATA cord in the box that powers the drives, and powers them down too. This board actually has a lot going on for the US price.

Jetster · Jun 5, 2014

Nice review Dave

FreedomEclipse · Jun 8, 2014

would i be correct in saying that its a 'Killer motherboard that could cause some Fatal1tys' ??

cadaveca · Jun 8, 2014

FreedomEclipse said:
would i be correct in saying that its a 'Killer motherboard that could cause some Fatal1tys' ??

You know, I have to say, I was trolling through the Twitch website, and I found Fatal1ty streaming CS:GO. So I guess he's still playing competitively, which was good to see, but he didn't have many viewers. Not that I get any more, I might have had 10 at most.

Ruru · Jun 10, 2014

I'd rather have an Intel network chip, than some "gaming" crap what is pure marketing for CoD playing kids. Just my opinion, don't get mad.

omg, like from Dave! Cheers for that! :toast:

ChaoticG8R · Jun 13, 2014

cadaveca said:
You know, I have to say, I was trolling through the Twitch website, and I found Fatal1ty streaming CS:GO. So I guess he's still playing competitively, which was good to see, but he didn't have many viewers. Not that I get any more, I might have had 10 at most.

Trolling or Strolling Sir?!

valentyn0 · Jun 14, 2014

Dont know where you get that $ 200 price tag when i bought this, a week ago for 150 bucks...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157505

LE: nvm, u Canada /sigh

Gabkicks · Jul 6, 2014

I've had this board for a little over a week now. It ran my 4790k at 44x multiplier on default heh. My corsair h100i just came so I will play around with overclocking a bit.

Jetster · Jul 11, 2014

Nice review.

newtekie1 · Jul 12, 2014

So I'd like to point out something to anyone considering this motherboard(or any Asrock Z97 Board with SLI). While they have went through the effort to use true black PCBs that look really nice, they even point this out as a feature in the marketting for a lot of their boards, they include poop brown colored SLI bridges! OMG, they are so ugly! I've bought a Z97X Killer and a Z97 Extreme6, and both have come with poop brown SLI bridges.

I tried talking to Asrock about this(as well as some pretty nasty BIOS bugs on the Z97 Extreme6) but haven't heard anything back on the SLI issue. And actually I'm kind of disappointed with the answer I got for the BIOS issue. They told me to return the board to the retailer for a replacement and hope the new board doesn't have the BIOS bug. Not sure how getting a new board that is the same model would sold a BIOS bug...

Hrhrhr · Aug 18, 2014

i really can't decide which one should i get
ASRock FATAL1TY Z97X Killer
or
Asus Z97-A
i think asrock has more feature but asus is better brand and has better bios.
both has same price in my local store

i'm gonna use it with Intel Core i7 - 3.6GHz - 4790 and not planning on overclocking

Dave54321 · Oct 24, 2014

What is going on with those Metro fps benchmarks with this board losing by 70fps?

sprsk · Nov 15, 2015

In your review u say

No Intel Thunderbolt

I was trying to decide between Z97 Pro4 and Fatal1ty Z97 Killer/3.1

http://www.asrock.com/mb/compare.asp?SelectedModel=Z97+Pro4&SelectedModel=Fatal1ty+Z97+Killer/3.1http://www.asrock.com/mb/compare.asp?SelectedModel=Z97+Pro4&SelectedModel=Fatal1ty+Z97+Killer/3.1

as you can see there is " 1 x Thunderbolt™ AIC Connector "

if u look at Z97 pro4 there is an explanation " *Please update to the latest BIOS to support Thunderbolt™ technology. "

So does it support Thunderbolt or NO ? ? ?

System Name	DarnGosh Edition
Processor	AMD 7800X3D
Motherboard	MSI X670E GAMING PLUS
Cooling	Thermalright AM5 Contact Frame + Phantom Spirit 120SE
Memory	2x32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO DDR5 6000 CL32-38-38-96
Video Card(s)	Asus Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage	WD SN770 1TB (Boot)\| 2x 2TB WD SN770 (Gaming)\| 2x 2TB Crucial BX500\| 2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300
Display(s)	LG GP850-B
Case	Corsair 760T (White) {1xCorsair ML120 Pro\|5xML140 Pro}
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V573\|Speakers: JBL Control One\|Auna 300-CN\|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850 80+ GOLD
Mouse	Logitech G502 X
Keyboard	Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software	Windows 11 Home
Benchmark Scores	ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ

System Name	Obelisc
Processor	i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling	H110
Memory	16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s)	GTX 780 Ti
Storage	850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case	T81
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply	EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software	Win10 64bit

System Name	ChaoticG8R / Lil'G8R
Processor	Intel i7-970 / Intel i7-4790K
Motherboard	ASUS Sabertooth X58 / ASUS ROG Impact VII Z97
Cooling	Swiftech H220 AIO / Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
Memory	Mushkin Enh. Radioactive 3x4GB DDR3 1600 / Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB DDR3 2133
Video Card(s)	2 x EVGA GTX 680 4GB / Zotac AMP! GTX 980
Storage	240GB Crucial M500 + RAID1 2x2TB WD BlackCaviar / Raid0 3x256 GB Crucial MX100 + 2TB WD BlackCaviar
Display(s)	QNIX QX2710 @ 120hz + 2x Sceptre 20"
Case	Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black Edition / Thermaltake Core V1
Power Supply	BFG LS1200 1250W / Corsair AX860i 860W
Mouse	ROCCAT Kone XTD
Keyboard	ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro
Benchmark Scores	Runs daily @ 4.5Ghz; Runs stable @ 4.8Ghz; Max OC on air: 5.0Ghz

System Name	ChaoticG8R / Lil'G8R
Processor	Intel i7-970 / Intel i7-4790K
Motherboard	ASUS Sabertooth X58 / ASUS ROG Impact VII Z97
Cooling	Swiftech H220 AIO / Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
Memory	Mushkin Enh. Radioactive 3x4GB DDR3 1600 / Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB DDR3 2133
Video Card(s)	2 x EVGA GTX 680 4GB / Zotac AMP! GTX 980
Storage	240GB Crucial M500 + RAID1 2x2TB WD BlackCaviar / Raid0 3x256 GB Crucial MX100 + 2TB WD BlackCaviar
Display(s)	QNIX QX2710 @ 120hz + 2x Sceptre 20"
Case	Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black Edition / Thermaltake Core V1
Power Supply	BFG LS1200 1250W / Corsair AX860i 860W
Mouse	ROCCAT Kone XTD
Keyboard	ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro
Benchmark Scores	Runs daily @ 4.5Ghz; Runs stable @ 4.8Ghz; Max OC on air: 5.0Ghz

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s)	ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case	Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard	Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro

System Name	4K-gaming / media-PC
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X / Intel Core i7-6700K
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero / Asus Z170-A
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 50 / Thermaltake Contac 21
Memory	32GB DDR4-3466 / 16GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 10GB / RX 6700 XT
Storage	3.3TB of SSDs / several small SSDs
Display(s)	27" 4K120 IPS + 32" 4K60 IPS + 24" 1080p60
Case	Corsair 4000D AF White / DeepCool CC560 WH
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless / Corsair HS35
Power Supply	EVGA G2 750W / Fractal ION Gold 550W
Mouse	Logitech MX518 / Logitech G400s
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO / NOS C450 Mini Pro
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	They run Crysis

System Name	Main
Processor	Ryzen 5800x
Motherboard	Gigabyte Aorus Pro rev1.1
Cooling	Alphacool Eisbaer 280 w/ 2x Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 PWM
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 32GB 3600@CL16 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Power Color Red Dragon RX 6800 XT @2600
Storage	NVME: A-data SX8200 PRO 512 GB M2 +Gammix S11 Pro 1 TB M2 +Patriot 1 TB; 1 TB;HDD 3TB+2TB+4TB+8TB
Display(s)	Lenovo Legion Y27q-20
Case	Thermaltake Core X9
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS GX GOLD 850W /UPS Mustek 1000 VA @600W
Mouse	Steelseries Rival 110/Logitech G203
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB
Software	W10 Enterprise

System Name	黒い美
Processor	i7 4790k
Motherboard	ASRock z97x Fatality killer
Cooling	Swiftech h220-x
Memory	AMD Performance DDR3 1866 4 x 4GB
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1080 FTW+ ACX
Storage	Samsung 840 pro 256gb, 640gb WDBlue, 1.5tb WD Black
Display(s)	ASUS VG248QE, Oculus Rift, LG IPS236v
Case	Antec Twelve Hundred
Audio Device(s)	Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Music
Power Supply	Cooler Master v1000
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Corsair K70 RGB
Software	Windows 10 PRo 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	Fanatec CLubsport V2 Base, CLubsport V3 pedals

ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X KILLER (Intel LGA 1150)

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