Pros: Looks nice. Good performance and tuning options.

Cons: Hot Northbridge.

This board cannot exceed 2400MHz CPUNB and HT. BSOD, total power shutdown, freeze with looping audio sample. The board and my CPU are both spec'd to handle 2600MHz. Already went through an RMA of both this board and my RAM to no avail. I'm disappointed about not getting to hit max advertised spec numbers.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Colin,

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
For this issue, please load the BIOS setting default.
Check the CPU is not overheating.
Test with single memory module, switching another memory if problem still persist.

If you have any technical support inquiry, please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp

Thank you

ASRock Support
Tech Support Email: http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp

Pros: Worked.

Cons: When I downloaded and ran the company's bios update tool (ASrock AppShop or something), it literally destroyed my install. The automatic bios updater rebooted my system, and from that point on the computer was unusable (drivers not loading, BSOD, Windows Boot failures). I had to reinstall windows. Best of all, when I contacted their customer support, they basically told me I was full of it, that my computer that ran perfectly prior to running THEIR updater is now broken due to "software" problems, that I should just resinstall windows.

Other Thoughts: There are a lot of good MOBO companies out there. I recommend choosing another one, and I will never buy a product from this company again.

*UPDATE 4/6/16*

It turns out that the ultimate issue with my system, which their insulting, rude, and hostile tech support adamantly denied, was indeed a hardware issue with this MOBO. This was discovered from breadboarding my system, isolating the Mobo. Mobo has been replaced and my system is working perfectly. Given the problem, it is likely the mobo failed due to tiny fractures across a key logic pathway, as the board would not work when cold, but did work when hot.

The irony here is how insulting and unhelpful their tech support was, given that the problem was indeed a faulty Mobo. I reiterate how bad this company's tech support is. Gigabyte and Asus are fine - use them and let this company fade back into obscurity.

Pros: This is my second gaming PC build and I must say I am very impressed with this MB. Runs strong and has had no issues since Install (February 2014). Comes with excellent Monitoring software, which you can also you to overclock if that's your desire. BIOS is very easy to navigate, with clear understanding and tips on the side for us rookies when making changes. PRICE PRICE PRICE a very fair price if you are looking for a really nice budget gaming board. **Update** Going on two years and still running strong. It has accepted anything I have thrown at it!

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I have owned this product for well over a year with no issues at all. I have seen people complain about the mobo burning up but this is a GAMING MOTHERBOARD and needs to be treated as such. If you want to put this in a poorly cooled case then suffer the consequences.

Pros: Lots of options in the bios. Alot of room for overclocking. The fatility programs add a plethora of easy tweaking options. Good price for a 990fx chipset.

Cons: I do not like the layout of ASROCKS website for driver support. Very oldschool looking myspace looking page imo. The northbridge heatsink 990fx gets pretty hot to the touch. I will likely add a copper heatsink to the current chipset heatsink or replace with a unit that has a fan. I have a high airflow corsair air 540 case so airflow is not a problem.

Other Thoughts: Corsair air 540 case, AMD FX8350 @4.4GHZ, 8 gig of corsair xms 1600 ram, coolermaster hyper 212 evo cooler, R9 390 sapphire nitro 8gig.

Pros: Modern board with modern features - probably my last AM3+ board
UEFI BIOS is easy to use and works very well. You can even update the firmware from within the BIOS - it connects to the internet, checks if there is an update, and installs it for you - very nice!

Cons: The chipsets (990FX -right next to CPU socket- and southbridge) have passive coolers. This can cause the board to fail when one of these overheats one too many times. If you don't have good airflow in the case this MB won't last long.

Other Thoughts: I've purchased two of these. The first failed (see my other review below) after being put in a new case with poor airflow - after reading other reviews I'm not even going to bother contacting ASRock.

It literally took 15 minutes playing a game with the case all closed up to fry the 990FX chipset on the board. Taking the heatsink off revealed discoloration where the heatsink contacts the chipset in a radiating pattern outward. For this second board, I purchased a 2-year replacement plan and the Enzotech SLF-40 all-copper heatsink/fan for the 990FX chip. (the southbridge chip doesn't get anywhere near as hot) Unfortunately, the chipset heatsinks are each secured by 2 screws from under the motherboard, which will require me to remove the board from the case in order to access and remove them.

Lastly, I upgraded the cooling in the case. I added two fans blowing out the top and purchased the enormous Thermaltake CL-F016-PL20BU-A 200mm Blue LED Pure Series Quiet High Airflow Case Fan. It's nearly the size of an iron skillet!

If you decided to use this board in your case as-is, make sure you have some serious air cooling!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Dale,

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Due to power design, AMD platform generates more heat.
Please allow better air circulation inside the chassis. Especially, if using liquid/ water cooler due to there will be no air around CPU, VRM and North Bridge chip and potentially built up heat upon usage.
However, the chipset itself bearable for certain heat without problem.

If you have any technical support inquiry, please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp
We will assist you shortly.

Thank you

ASRock Support
Tech Support Email: http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp

Pros: Love the M.2 slot - very modern features.
Board looks great with its red on black scheme
No legacy options to weigh it down (no PCI or IDE)

Cons: Board worked fine for 6 months and then, after being put into a new case, abruptly died a few nights ago.

Just powered down abruptly while gaming.

Other Thoughts: Spent hours diagnosing the issue and, after eliminating the CPU, GPU, RAM, and PSU as possible culprits, was forced to conclude the only thing left to break was the board itself. No beeps, no video. Pretty sad really, cause I really liked the board. I don't overclock anything so it wasn't user error - right now quite the mystery. I suspect one of the main chips on the board - either the south or northbridge chips - burned up somehow. I can't remember the last time I had a motherboard die on me. In fact I have 3-5 old, perfectly-functional motherboards boxed up with nothing to do.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Dale,

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
• Please turn the power off, clear the CMOS.
• Remove all the parts (CPU, memory, VGA card, HDD, etc.).
• Reconnect the 24 + 6 pins ATX power.
• Turn the power on to check if it’s get the power (power supply fan spinning).
• Populate the components one by one to test for screen POST if it gets the power.

If you have any technical support inquiry, please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp
We will assist you shortly.

Thank you

ASRock Support
Tech Support Email: http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp

Pros: Lots of features, very solid and m.2 with a Samsung Evo 850 500GB is great.

Cons: Cannot use my Crucial Ballistix Tracer memory at 1866MHz - even though it's XMP profile is loaded. :(

Other Thoughts: Wish that I could run my memory at the speed it's rated and capable of.

FX-8350
ASRock 990FX Fatal1ty
16GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1866MHz - running at 1600 :(
XFX-R9 290X 8GB
M.2 Samsung Evo 850 500GB
Corsair H100i
Corsair Arctic White 600T

Pros: It has been rock solid so far and runs with the AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-core 4.0 GHz CPU just fine. I would definitely order this again and recommend it to others.

Cons: For some reason the Ethernet port is shown as eth3 while there is only the one port on this mobo.

Pros: All works with no issues for over a year
Love the Tuning software !
Supports my 8350 8core AMD CPU without spending one arm and two legs like Intel
With my M.2 boot drive plugged right into the mother board with no cable, boot is fast
Video editing, rendering, Gaming, this is my daily driver build and it rocks everything I throw at is with ease
With the $$ savings, I was able to install a 512bit 4G graphics card and extra low CAS memory

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: If anyone wants a rockin 8 core build for nearly half the cost of an Intel 8 core & MoBo, look no further
ROCK ON

Pros: None

Cons: Bought Open Box FATAL1TY 990FX KILLER mobo, lasted 6 months and had to pay $50 to get it serviced,

Replacement mobo lasted 8 days and had to send it back.

The replacement for that wont even POST. Called ASROCK to complain and was told problem was my parts. All parts working fine in my other PC and even purchased a new CPU just to make sure that wasnt the problem. Was told to pull memory and listen for POST code.

Hard to do when Mobo wont post. Applied for another RMA and was told to pay another $50 since its no longer under warranty. Like hell I will give these crooks any more money.

DO NOT BUY ASROCK.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear John,

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
The mainboard had been replaced with another (verify with serial number) and fully tested by our technician to assure working fine before shipped to avoid back and forth shipping.
If replacement mainboard does not post, please follow the step below to test with known good components.
• Unplug the ATX power, remove all components from mainboard.
• Remove the mainboard from chassis, place it on mainboard’s box.
• Clear the CMOS.
• Reseat the CPU and heatsink fan.
• Test with single memory module.
• Reseat video card firmly and 6+6 PCIE power (if applied).
• Connect the monitor.
• Plug the 24 + 8 or 4 pins ATX power.
• Connect the chassis power switch to mainboard.
• Turn on the power to check if its post.

If you have any technical support inquiry, please contact us at http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp
We will assist you shortly.

Thank you

ASRock Support
Tech Support Email: http://www.ASRock.com/Support/tsd.asp