The ASRock Z87E-ITX is another one of those board products I just want to tell everyone about. It definitely makes no compromises in what it offers, and as I go down my own personal list of capabilities I want for my family's mITX rigs, the ASRock Z87E-ITX gets a checkmark in every box. It seems as though Valve feels the same way too, now that they have sent out their demo STEAMBox units.

There is something to be said about Valve using the ASRock Z87E-ITX in their STEAMBox machines, so much so that when I got word of Valve having made that choice, I very purposely set this board aside on my shelf to build with later, and I eagerly set to making sure I got this review finished quickly so you guys could see why that choice was made. ASRock really did a great job getting this board designed and fully featured, and including that little mSATA port on the board's rear is a neat little feature gamers with large game libraries, like myself, cannot ignore. Literally everything I want for a tiny gaming box is here, and heck, it overclocks well too!

Having spent many many months with this board on my desk, ready to fire up STEAM for some Big Picture gaming with my wife, I have been pleasantly amazed time and again at how truly useful this board is, even though it just costs a mere $139. Its low price, fully fledged feature-set, and general ease of use that is nearly second to none really left an impression on me. Yet there was another thing that left an impression on me, though not in a good way: The ASRock Z87E-ITX is only fitted with two single fan headers, which leaves users looking to use AIO watercoolers to cool their CPU, like myself, with a rat's nest of wires in their case as other fan connectors are going to be needed for case fans, etc., while most AIO coolers will make use of the two included fan connectors to power the radiator's pump and fan. That said, I was not willing to dig out additional wires, so I ran this board without any case fans, which really pushed the thermal limits I am comfortable with. While doing so, the ASRock Z87E-ITX barely batted an eyelash and kept on running through it all, not even a slight moment of throttle noticed. This board not only meets my needs, but is tough too, so do not hesitate to pick one up for your own mITX build; you will definitely be as impressed as I am.