ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched the new OC Formula, Phantom Gaming and Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT and AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT GPUs.

The new graphics cards leverage the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, include process optimizations and software and firmware enhancements, and offer high-bandwidth, low-latency AMD Infinity Cache memory technology and ultra-fast 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory. They also support Microsoft Windows 11 and Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), the forthcoming AMD FSR 2.0 and AMD Radeon Super Resolution upscaling technologies, as well as other advanced features that provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate gaming experiences.

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today announced the ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6400 Challenger ITX 4 GB graphics card. Built on the high-performance, energy efficient AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, AMD Radeon RX 6400 graphics cards feature high-bandwidth, low-latency AMD Infinity Cache memory technology and high-speed GDDR6 memory. They also support Microsoft Windows 11 and Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) and AMD Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) upscaling technologies, AMD Smart Access Memory technology, as well as other advanced features that provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate gaming experiences.

In addition, ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6400 Challenger ITX 4 GB graphics card is also equipped with many unique features, including a compact single-fan Challenger ITX thermal design to provide excellent heat dissipation, and Super Alloy Graphics Card components that improves stability under long-term operation. In addition, without requiring an additional 8-pin power connector, the new graphics card is optimized for low power consumption and flexibility when upgrading an existing system.

It looks like launch of the entry-level Radeon RX 6400 desktop graphics card is just around the corner, with pictures of custom-design cards surfacing. The RX 6400 Challenger by ASRock, pictured below, features a simple aluminium monoblock fan-heatsink, and lacks any power connectors, as the 6 nm "Navi 24" silicon can make do with under 75 W TGP. The RX 6400 is armed with 768 stream processors across 12 RDNA2 compute units, and a 64-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. The SKU is expected to formally launch on April 20.

ASRock Industrial announces the 4X4 BOX-5000 Series Mini PCs 4X4 BOX-5800U, 4X4 BOX-5600U, and 4X4 BOX-5400U, with enhancement powered by AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 U-Series APUs- Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U, and Ryzen 3 5400U up to 8 cores/16 threads to energize performance, energy efficiency, and lower latency. Featuring a powerful yet compact design, the 4X4 BOX-5000 Series supports quad display outputs up to 4K with AMD Radeon Graphics for the enhanced visual experience. The Series also includes dual LAN ports up to 2.5 Gigabit with one DASH function and Wi-Fi 6E support of 6 GHz band for real-time connections. Moreover, it can uphold one M.2 Key M, one SATA 3.0 for storage, and five USB ports (three USB 3.2 Gen 2, two USB 2.0) for ultra-connectivity. The energized features make it the world's most advanced core for a wide range of home and business applications such as gaming, content creation, working from home, KIOSK, digital signage, and many more.

With AMD Ryzen 5000U Series Processors- Zen 3 Core Architecture, the 4X4 BOX-5000 Series Mini PCs deliver energized performance and reduced latency with up to 17% single-thread and multi-thread performance compared to Zen 2 along with improved graphics capabilities with AMD Radeon Graphics. Spanning from the flagship 4X4 BOX-5800U, 4X4 BOX-5600U, and 4X4 BOX-5400U, the new Series is powered by AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U, Ryzen 3 5400U to increase power efficiency with lower power consumption- 6.7 W at idle. The 4X4 BOX-5000 Series also supports dual-channel DDR4 3200 MHz SO-DIMM memory up to 64 GB for uncompromised multitask computing capabilities.

The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, proudly announces that the unrivaled Z690 AQUA OC breaks multiple overclocking records on HWBOT.org again. The global professional overclocker, Splave, achieves 6 World Records and 9 Global 1st Places by overclocking the Z690 AQUA OC motherboard with Intel Core i9-12900KS processor. ASRock Z690 AQUA OC defines what a powerful motherboard should be. It is a motherboard made for breaking records. These records commit ASRock's promise to all overclockers, PC enthusiasts and gamers.

ASRock, announces that it is ready to support the latest Intel Core i9-12900KS processor, the newly released CPU not only offers higher base clock to squeeze out more performance, but also supports Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) & Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT) making this processor the absolute king of gaming as well as other content creation usage. As a company that always design ahead, most ASRock Intel 600 series motherboard is shipped with the correct BIOS to support Intel Core i9-12900KS processor, but it is still recommended to update to the latest BIOS in order to experience the best performance.

The global leading motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, announces that with BIOS update, ASRock AMD X570/B550/A520/X470/B450 motherboards will support the latest AMD Ryzen 5000/4000 series processors, including Ryzen 7 5800X3D. ASRock always design ahead to get for new processors and has been working with AMD to validate the latest BIOS AGESA code. The 3D V-Cache technology of AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor offers significant improvements on gaming performance, update to the latest BIOS and get ready to game with new AMD Ryzen processors.

ASRock Industrial launches a new range of industrial motherboards powered by 12th Gen Intel Core Processors (Alder Lake-S) with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, supporting the new Intel 600 Series W680, Q670, and H610 chipsets. Featuring high computing power with performance hybrid architecture and enhanced AI capabilities, rich IOs and expansions for up to quad displays 4K@60 Hz, USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbit/s), triple Intel 2.5 GbE LANs with real-time TSN, multi M.2 Key M, ECC memory, plus TPM 2.0, and wide voltage support. The new series covers comprehensive form factors, including industrial Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards for diverse applications, such as factory automation, kiosks, digital signage, smart cities, medical, and Edge AIoT applications.

Remember that initial Phantom Gaming Evo NFT push from AsRock? It seems that the company was testing the waters amongst its user base - and the industry at large. The company is now seemingly doubling down on NFTs, but in a creative way. The company's latest "Unity Makes Strength: Z690 PG Riptide NFT Edition" campaign is bringing community-based design as input towards the final production look of its upcoming Z690 PG Riptide NFT Edition motherboard. The final design will then be minted into an NFT.

The company will be accepting submissions for motherboard designs around the motherboard, with users being called to paint it (the canvas is subdivided into 4,309 pixels) at their leisure. Then, AsRock will be taking five random designs among the submissions, and compare them on a per-pixel basis. The dominant color will then be averaged among the designs, and will become the final pixel. The designs can be submitted via AsRock's site from March 7th through March 26th, with participants receiving a sweepstakes code upon submission. Every entrant will be eligible to win the NFT associated with the motherboard's final design, but additional prizes will be offered on day one, 10, and 20 of the campaign. The winner is likely to hold a pretty valuable NFT by the end of it all; ASRock sold the initial allocation of 30 Phantom Gaming Evo NFTs on January 28 th for 0.1 ETH (~$250 at the time) each. With the Z690 PG Riptide NFT Edition being a one-off, however, it's likely it'll fetch for much higher in secondary markets.

Today, ASRock Industrial launched NUC 1200 BOX Series Mini PCs and NUC 1200 Motherboard Series, the next-level Powerhouse taking evolutionary leaps with 12th Gen Intel Core Processors (Alder Lake-P). The new performance hybrid architecture offers fantastic performance and responsiveness with Intel Iris Xe's enhanced graphics/media/display, 4K quad displays, 2.5 GbE dual LAN, Wi-Fi 6E, and rich IOs connectivity for gaming, multi-tasking, home-office productivity boost, content creator demand, business, and AI BOX applications.

NUC 1200 BOX Series Mini PCs- NUC BOX-1260P/ NUC BOX-1240P/ NUC BOX-1220P powered by the latest 12th Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3 Processors (Alder Lake-P) pushes for evolutionary leaps in a compact casing- 110.0 x 117.5 x 47.85 mm (WxDxH). The performance hybrid architecture is a novel combination of Performance-cores (P-cores) maximizing single-thread performance and Efficient-cores (E-cores) built for multitasking to deliver upgraded performance and responsiveness with intelligent Intel Thread Director. Featuring Intel Iris Xe Graphics, up to 96 EUs combined with AI enablement and dual DDR4 3200 MHz memory up to 64 GB, the NUC 1200 BOX Series also provides accelerated AI inference and highly scalable graphics/ media/ display engine all in one go.

The leading global motherboard, graphics card, and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, today announces to join the era of metaverse and support the designer and creator community. ASRock issues the first non-fungible token (NFT), Phantom Gaming EVO on OpenSea, the world's first and largest NFT marketplace. ASRock Phantom Gaming EVO is a crypto art, a short footage of the evolution Phantom Gaming logo. ASRock plans to release 100 pieces of Phantom Gaming EVO. The first 30 pieces are sold on January 28th and priced at 0.1 ETH each.

As digital experiences continue to evolve and attract increasing amounts of people's attention, the launch of the Phantom Gaming EVO leads ASRock to embrace the era of the metaverse. By leveraging the new technology and design, the NFT delivers the next generation collectibles for preservation. This helps ASRock to serve and connect the community closely and extend the digital footprint to the new stage.

We're not sure if this will bring more praise for AMD, or if there will be a new angry mob with virtual pitchforks, because it's coming too late, but it looks like at least some AMD X370 based motherboards are getting support for AMD's Zen 3 based Ryzen processors. First out is ASRock with the X370 Pro4, which even at launch was a run of the mill X370 board, but it's possible that the company is just using it as its test platform to see if it's worth adding support for Zen 3 or not.

ASRock has added support for all of AMD's Vermeer based CPUs, as well as several Renoir based APUs. You can find all the added models in the modified screenshot below, since the processors weren't all listed in order on ASRock's website. The P7.10 UEFI update is required and it also drops support for AMD's now rather old Excavator+ based Bristol Ridge APUs, a loss that almost no-one is likely to shed a tear over. The interesting thing to keep an eye on now, is both if ASRock will follow suit with other models, as well as what its competitors will do in terms of adding support for Zen 3 CPUs on their older motherboard models.

The recently announced AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT only features a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface according to specifications and images of the card published on the ASRock site. This is equivalent to a PCIe 3.0 x8 link or a PCIe 2.0 x16 connection and is a step down from the Radeon 6600 XT which features a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and the Radeon 6700 XT with a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. This fact is only specified by ASRock with AMD, Gigabyte, ASUS, and MSI not mentioning the PCIe interface on their respective pages. The RX 6500 XT also lacks some of the video processing capabilities of other RX 6000 series cards including the exclusion of H264/HEVC encoding and AV1 decoding.

At the launch of the Z690 chipset, ASRock didn't reveal its flagship Aqua model, but now the company has finally announced not just one, but two Z690 Aqua models, one "regular" SKU and one OC SKU. The main difference between the two is that the OC SKU only has two DIMM slots, since as we know, DDR5 is extra finicky when it comes to running at high clock speeds and two DIMM boards allow for higher DRAM clock speeds, This also means that all the major board makers have now launched a two DIMM product geared towards overclockers.

The two boards are mostly identical in terms of features otherwise, but there are some minor differences that we'll point out later. As expected, both boards feature a large, nicely integrated liquid cooling plate for the CPU and the 20 phase 105 A SPS VRM setup. ASRock has gone for a 12 layer PCB, not something you see in a lot of consumer motherboards and it's unclear if it'll bring any real benefits, but as this is a premium motherboard, it's a nice touch. The heatsink of the top-most M.2 drive is home to a small OLED display, but ASRock hasn't listed the size on its website.

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, reveals Z690 Taichi Razer Edition, a Razer Chroma RGB integrated motherboard paired with innovation and craftsmanship, poised to perfect Chroma RGB ecosystem on the latest 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, and illuminate the strong relationship between ASRock and Razer.

Razer Chroma RGB is the world's largest lighting ecosystem for gaming devices which supports over 500 devices, 150 natively integrated games and over 15 million users worldwide. The integration with ASROCK enables universal compatibility with thousands of addressable RGB (ARGB) components directly into the ecosystem.

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today announced the new Phantom Gaming and Challenger series graphics cards based on AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT GPUs.

Built on the 6 nm manufacturing process and the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, the new ASRock graphics cards are designed to make incredible 1080p gaming experiences for popular AAA and e-sports titles accessible to more gamers. They offer high-bandwidth, low-latency AMD Infinity Cache and high-speed 4 GB GDDR6 memory. They also support Microsoft Windows 11 and Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate, AMD Smart Access Memory technology, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaling technology and other advanced features that provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate gaming experiences.

ASRock, is proud to announce its latest H670, B660 and H610 motherboards. This comprehensive range of feature-filled motherboards is designed to bring great performance and practicality - including up to PCI-Express 5.0 - to PC builders, gamers and office users looking to partner with either just launched Intel 12th Generation Core 'non-K series' processors, or existing K-series processors (LGA1700).

ASRock offers SFF builders a full range of Mini-ITX motherboards featuring H670, B660, H610 chipsets. The fully-featured ASRock H670M-ITX/ax includes support for future PCI-Express 5.0 16x graphics cards, plus space for two PCI-Express Gen-4 M.2 NVMe SSDs. A powerful 8-phase Dr.MOS VRM design and up to DDR4 5000 MHz OC means ensures small form factor builds still offer maximum performance. Three types of connectivity include extreme performance Wi-Fi 6E (2x2), Dragon 2.5G LAN and Intel Gigabit Ethernet.

Intel's next entry-level processor for the Socket LGA1700 platform is the Core i3-12100. Carved out of the "Alder Lake-S" H0 silicon, this processor features 4 "Golden Cove" performance cores with HyperThreading enabling 8 logical processors, and no E-cores. The processor ticks at 3.30 GHz, with 4.30 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0 frequency. Each of the four cores has 1.25 MB of L2 cache, and they share 12 MB of L3 cache. The i3-12100 gets a Gen12 Xe LP-based iGPU, while a variant of the processor, the i3-12100F, lacks integrated graphics. Intel is rating the processor base power value at 60 W, with 77 W maximum turbo power.

XFastest scored an i3-12100 engineering sample, and wasted no time in comparing it with the Ryzen 3 3300X. The i3-12100 was tested on an ASRock Z690 Steel Legend motherboard that has DDR4 memory slots. 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3600 memory and RTX 3060 Ti were used on both the Intel and AMD test-beds. A Ryzen 3 3100 was also used on the AMD side. Right off the bat, we see the i3-12100 take a significant lead over the AMD chips at PCMark, posting a roughly 15% performance lead. Cinebench R23 is another test where the little "Alder Lake" scores big, posting a roughly 26% performance lead in the multi-threaded test, and 27% in the single-threaded test. This is mainly because the 3300X is based on "Zen 2" while the i3-12100 uses the cutting-edge "Golden Cove" cores. AMD hasn't bothered with "Zen 3" based Ryzen 3 desktop processors in the retail market.

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, proudly announces its comprehensive new range of motherboards featuring Intel Z690 chipset, a brand new LGA1700 socket platform to pair with latest 12th Generation Intel CoreTM Processors, opening endless possibility with PCI Express 5.0 and DDR5 high speed memory.

Z690 Taichi
Designed for premium user who is looking for uncompromised performance, ASRock Z690 Taichi is definitely the way to go, this motherboard has been given 20 phase Dr.MOS design featuring the latest SPS (Smart Power Stage) technology for a smoother and neater power to the CPU with enhanced performance and OC capability. To pair with the latest and greatest performance from the 12th Generation Intel CoreTM Processors, the Z690 Taichi is also capable of supporting the newest DDR5 DRAM module, the reinforced DIMM slot is surfaced mounted onto the motherboard to give better physical strength as well as a more stable memory signal, with this superior revolutionary design, it is able to dramatically overclock DRAM module up to insane frequency.

As we're getting closer to the reveal of Intel's 12-series of CPUs and the Z690 chipset, we're seeing more and more retailers leak pricing information about the various products and today pricing of some upcoming ASRock Z690 has leaked courtesy of Amazon UK. We're looking at a good spread of boards here, from the high-end Z690 Taichi to entry level Phantom Gaming 4, which should give a good idea on what to expect to pay based on where in the range the board is located.

The cheapest board of the eight is the Z690M Phantom Gaming 4 which is a DDR4 board and this mATX board comes in at £172.50, or about $238. Keep in mind that UK VAT is at 20 percent, so the pricing might not be directly comparable to US pricing. Next up we have the full-sized Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 which comes in at £213.50 or US$295, with the DDR5 version actually being slightly cheaper at £207.15 or US$286.

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched new Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPUs. Built on the 7 nm manufacturing process, the new ASRock graphics cards offer support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, HDMI 2.1, PCI Express 4.0, and the Microsoft Windows 11 operating system. With a wealth of exclusive features, the new graphics cards are designed to provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate 1080p gaming experiences to the midrange market.

The new graphics cards are built on the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal balance of performance and power efficiency. Offering 32 MB of high-performance AMD Infinity Cache, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, AMD Smart Access Memory and other advanced features, the new graphics cards are designed to bring next-generation desktop gaming experiences to the midrange market. They also support the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution open-source spatial upscaling solution, which is designed to increase framerates while delivering high-resolution gaming experiences.

If the amount of upcoming Z690 was anything to go by, one could presume that the motherboard makers are backing Intel's upcoming platform to the max, as a leaked list of what should be close to every Z690 that will hit the market, counts a total of 98 boards. The list covers ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, NZXT, Gigabyte and MSI, but not EVGA and some other smaller players.

ASUS is apparently planning no less than 30 different models/SKUs, since some are clearly DDR4/DDR5 SKUs of the same model or SKUs with or without Wi-Fi, but even so, that's a massive launch lineup. Gigabyte isn't far behind with 27, followed by MSI at 24 and ASRock at 14, if we didn't count wrong. There isn't much news in terms of details of each of the boards here though, but it's clear that the high-end SKUs are mostly DDR5, while the mid-range and standard models are mostly using DDR4. The only slight surprise here is that only ASRock has more DDR4 than DDR5 models, with ASUS having exactly half of each, but Gigabyte and MSI are going with a preference for DDR5. ASRock, ASUS and Gigabyte appear to have liquid cooled SKUs, but it's not clear if MSI will offer such a SKU of its Godlike board.

FSP is giving away some really cool gaming PC hardware and Steam Cards as part of its new FSP LightUp Giveaway, in partnership with Palit, ASRock, and V-Color. Open worldwide, up for grabs are a boatload of prizes for a total of 21 winners. The pool of prizes include a Palit GeForce RTX 3060 Dual graphics card, an ASRock B550 PG Velocita motherboard, a V-Color SCC DDR4-4600 16 GB dual-channel memory kit, two FSP Dagger Pro 850 W power supplies, an FSP CMT212G case, two $50 Steam Cards, three $25 Steam Cards, and ten $10 Steam Cards. To participate, simply drop in your hat in the Gleam-powered Giveaway page. You can increase your chances of winning something by sharing the Giveaway across your social media, or following the various social media accounts of FSP, Palit, ASRock, and V-Color. Entries close on November 5, 2021. All the best!

For more details and to participate, visit the FSP LightUp Giveaway page.

AMD is expected to announce their Radeon RX 6600 graphics card on October 13th according to leaked documents. The graphics card will feature a cut-down Navi 23 GPU with 28 Compute Units and 1,792 stream processors compared to 32 and 2,048 on the RX 6600 XT. The card has also been revealed to feature 8 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gbps on a 128-bit memory bus. The first images of cards from board partners including XFX, ASRock, and PowerColor have been published by VideoCardz covering 5 different RX 6600 models.

The XFX Speedster SWFT 210 features a unique shorter PCB design with a relocated 8-pin power connector in addition to a redesigned backplate which differs from the RX 6600 XT model. PowerColor appears to be releasing Hellhound and Fighter models with identical designs as their RX 6600 XT counterparts featuring 2-slot cooling and single 8-pin power connectors. ASRock is preparing two Challenger series models both sharing the same PCB with the single-fan Challenger ITX and dual-fan Challenger D. These new cards will reportedly match the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 according to a leaked internal benchmark.

A list of upcoming ASUS motherboards based on the Intel Z690 chipset hit the radar on the Euasian Economic Commission (EEC) website, and it's telling. Intel's upcoming "Alder Lake-S" 12th Gen Core desktop processors support both DDR5 and DDR4 memory, as they form a point of transition between the two memory standards. The company's 6th Gen Core "Skylake" technically supported DDR3, helping people move between it and the then new DDR4, but motherboard vendors mostly avoided DDR3 slots. This time, the stakes are different, as component prices are on the boil, and the company would want to avoid placing the additional burden of new memory on people with DDR4 memory kits. This reflects on the ASUS motherboard lineup.

The lineup consists of the usual, predictable list of ROG Maximus, ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, Prime, and ProArt series SKUs, but what's noteworthy is that many of these come with the extension "D4," denoting DDR4 memory slots. For example, something like the Prime Z690-A comes in two variants, the standard one with DDR5 slots, and the "D4" variant with DDR4. It's interesting to note here, that the top-of-the-line ROG Maximus XIV series lacks any D4 variant, which means they'll remain DDR5-exclusive. We can't tell just from the names whether any of these models features both DDR5 and DDR4 slots; but one can definitely expect other brands such as ASRock to come up with such crazy contraptions.