The Board - A Closer Look

I was rather surprised to see that the ASRock Z87E-ITX utilizes a socketed BIOS chip, so you can replace it should you need to. For what many might consider an entry-level board, this is a nice feature if you, like me, overclock memory and have a habit of corrupting BIOSes.


The ASRock Z87E-ITX uses a Realtek ALC1150 CODEC for audio duties, as do so many boards of this platform. The onboard WiFi/Bluetooth capabilities are provided by a socketed mPCIe card, so should you want to upgrade it or change it out for another, that is easily done too.


With the ASRock Z87E-ITX being so small, there is not a lot of space on the board's front for all the included parts, so many are fitted to the back of the board where more space is available. One of the first things I spotted was an Intel Gigabit LAN controller, a nice touch since I see so many users prefer this controller over a Realtek-based variant.


One of the chips next to the board's rear socket backplate is a Nuvoton Super I/O, which provides monitoring capabilities and support for the PS/2 port the board carries. The other chip, on the opposite side of the socket, is the board's VRM controller.


Speaking of VRM control, the DIMM VRM, shown in the first picture above, is a simple single-phase design. The CPU VRM employs six phases with a rather chunky lump of metal on top to keep the MOSFETs under it cool. The Intel Z87 PCH itself is cooled by a smaller-sized lump of metal, one that got pretty darn hot under my fingers, let me tell you!