Test System

Initial Setup

Getting all my gear installed on the ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 GAMING K6+ was as easy as could be. I spent a bit of time playing with both BIOS chips and noted that both BIOS chips and the jumper to switch between them were easily accessible with a single VGA installed. You can still reach the jumper with two VGAs installed, but my stubby fingers did struggle to reach past the second VGA.


When I first applied power to the board, the Power and Reset switches lit up with a faint red glow, but once the boot process was complete, the lights shut off. After recently playing with so many boards with LEDs all over the place, it was nice to see a more "normal" board without all that "bling".


Even the POST display blinked off. That really impressed me, oddly enough. Pro gamers usually aren't as interested in their hardware, so having a light show in your case isn't something many of them need. Many even play with the minimal detail levels games offer in order to increase FPS. Fancy graphics and low latency don't often mix. I can understand that mindset too, since, like many other guitar players, I myself can play the guitar pretty well, but ask me about wood or pedals and amps and such, and I will have no answers. I blast peoples ears with music, and pro gamers blast pixels on a screen, not lights in their cases.