ASRock Unveils Fatal1ty 970 Performance Socket AM3+ Motherboard

btarunr · Mar 26, 2015

ASRock unveiled its newest socket AM3+ motherboard for gamers with on a budget, the Fatal1ty 970 Performance. Based on the AMD 970 chipset with SB950 southbridge, this board offers a slick feature-set for its potentially two-figure price. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. An optional 4-pin Molex power connector is required, if you have two cards that rely solely on the expansion slot power. The board features a 10-phase CPU VRM, and supports 220W TDP chips such as the FX-9370 and FX-9590.

Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), a third PCI-Express 2.0 x16, which is electrical x4 and wired to the southbridge, a legacy PCI, and two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and an M.2 slot (electrical PCIe 2.0 x4). Other modern connectivity includes six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two by headers), an electrically-reinforced Fatal1ty Mouse port, ASRock Purity Sound 2 on-board audio with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors, headphones amp, and ground-layer isolation, and gigabit Ethernet (Realtek-made controller). The board is driven by UEFI BIOS, and supports Windows 8.1 features such as Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Expect this board to be priced at $99.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Sempron Guy · Mar 26, 2015

this one is more beefier than the MSI 970A SLI Krait. A better option for overclocking. Though I'm unsure what vrms ASRock is using and how it fares against MSI. My last ASRock board, a 970 Extreme 3 can't even handle decent overclocks on my FX-6300 w/o throttling.

john_ · Mar 26, 2015

What's going on here? Companies remembering that there is an AM3+ platform and putting out, not pathetic and cheap boards with the ancient 760 chipset but with newer 900 series ones? Is it the new Windows 10? USB 3.1? DirectX 12? Whatever it is, it is good to see new boards for this platform.

Sempron Guy · Mar 26, 2015

But this one doesn't even have usb 3.1. DX12 effect maybe?

The Quim Reaper · Mar 26, 2015

john_ said:
What's going on here? Companies remembering that there is an AM3+ platform and putting out, not pathetic and cheap boards with the ancient 760 chipset but with newer 900 series ones? Is it the new Windows 10? USB 3.1? DirectX 12? Whatever it is, it is good to see new boards for this platform.

I think they've been told by AMD that there's about another 2yrs worth of sales to be had with AM3+ until ZEN arrives.

These will be quite cheap to manufacture and will no doubt have a good profit margin on them and there are plenty of buyers out there who will want to put a cheap 6 or 8 core (oh, OK 3 or 4 core) CPU in a newer board.

TheinsanegamerN · Mar 26, 2015

If only someone would make a 900 series micro atx board......

Mindweaver · Mar 26, 2015

The best part about this board is that it's $99, and it has 6x usb3.

EDIT: Plus the M.2 slot.

AsRock · Mar 26, 2015

TheinsanegamerN said:
If only someone would make a 900 series micro atx board......

Isn't that what this is ?
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...pro3-micro-atx-socket-am3-motherboard.211054/

Caring1 · Mar 26, 2015

TheinsanegamerN said:
If only someone would make a 900 series micro atx board......

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not.
Asrock also has the new 970m Pro3 supports CPU's up to 140W.

m0nt3 · Mar 26, 2015

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157577

Newegg has it for $69.99 after rebate. Sounds like a good deal.

Jorge · Mar 26, 2015

This mobo is a steal for the price. IME Asrock has delivered some excellent product in the past several years so if this mobo meets your needs and performs like other Asrock mobos, it should make for a lot of happy campers.

HossHuge · Mar 26, 2015

I don't like having to use the Molex connector. I have the AsRock 970 Extreme4 Mobo, it's kinda weird. Whenever I put my computer to sleep it takes awhile for the mouse to wake and for some reason I have to use AMD Overdrive to O/C cause it won't do it through the bios.

devguy · Mar 26, 2015

I found the whole Fatal1ty branding thing weird and tired years ago. ...It's still around?

Jorge · Mar 26, 2015

HossHuge said:
I don't like having to use the Molex connector. I have the AsRock 970 Extreme4 Mobo, it's kinda weird. Whenever I put my computer to sleep it takes awhile for the mouse to wake and for some reason I have to use AMD Overdrive to O/C cause it won't do it through the bios.

Any changes that you can make in AOD can and should definitely be done directly in the BIOS for best system stability. I can't imagine why a Molex connector would be an issue for anyone. It's only a plug in connector that provides additional power to the mobo.

FWIW, I've never heard of anyone having issues changing BIOS settings on the Asrock mobos so you might want to send an e-mail to Asrock Tech Support. They are one of the very few PC companies that I have ever found in over 25 years, that actually provides decent customer support.

Jorge · Mar 26, 2015

devguy said:
I found the whole Fatal1ty branding thing weird and tired years ago. ...It's still around?

I agree the Fatality "branding" theme was a poor decision. Unfortunately it must have some value for marketing to the 13 year old kids spending Mommy's money...

Asrock could do better, IMO. At least their products are quality.

HossHuge · Mar 26, 2015

Jorge said:
I can't imagine why a Molex connector would be an issue for anyone. It's only a plug in connector that provides additional power to the mobo.

I can't imagine why it would bother you that I wouldn't like having a Molex connector. Let's just say I appreciate a clean build.

Caring1 · Mar 27, 2015

HossHuge said:
I can't imagine why it would bother you that I wouldn't like having a Molex connector. Let's just say I appreciate a clean build.

Damn that 24 pin power connector is way bigger, better leave that one out too :laugh:

Tatsu · Mar 27, 2015

Totally surprised to see this to be honest. I don't really see the point from the offset.

Tatsu · Mar 27, 2015

Mindweaver said:
The best part about this board is that it's $99, and it has 6x usb3.

EDIT: Plus the M.2 slot.

Yes it would be nice to have that on an AMD board, but isn't that Intel proprietary?

System Name	RBMK-1000
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Processor	Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.325ghz 1.206v
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Software	Windows 10 / Windows 10&Windows 11 / Windows 10

System Name	Salamander
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.325ghz 1.206v
Motherboard	Asrock X370 Taichi
Cooling	EK Supremacy Evo \| Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS XFlow \| Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro 120mm x 3
Memory	Team T-Force Xtreem 2x8GB DDR4 3733 @ 3733mhz c16 1.4v \| IF @ 1866mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX RX-470 RS Single Fan flashed to RX-570 @ stock water-cooled
Storage	Samsung 850 Evo 256gb M.2 \| Crucial M4 128GB \| WD Blue 1TB \| WD Blue 500GB 2.5" \| Toshiba 2TB 2.5"
Display(s)	LG 27MP68VQ 27" 1920x1080 75hz IPS Freesync monitor
Case	Fractal Design Define C
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Gold 650w
Mouse	Steelseries Kana White
Keyboard	Steelseries 6GV2 Cherry MX Black
Software	Windows 10 Pro N

System Name	Skunkworks 3.0
Processor	5800x3d
Motherboard	x570 unify
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A
Memory	32GB 3600 mhz
Video Card(s)	asrock 6800xt challenger D
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ASRock Unveils Fatal1ty 970 Performance Socket AM3+ Motherboard

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Processor	AMD Phenom II 1055T @ 3.6ghz 1.3V
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Memory	16 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
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Power Supply	Corsair RM850
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