Pros: ASRock brand, excellent (using Z68 board in my HTPC). Small footprint. Runs on 19 Volt power supply. No fans needed. VGA and HDMI ports. USB 2 and 3 ports. Good Memory options up 16 gB. Boots up fast in Win7.

Cons: Wish it had more SATA ports: 4, instead of 2.

Other Thoughts: I am using this board in a high-end audio only computer. It fits perfectly in a Cooler Master ITX case. My PS is a lab grade linear power supply. Running 1 SSD for the OS and 1 SSD for the music catalog (AIFF files). I am using a SOtm USB card powered by the SOtm battery pack. With OS tweaks my computer sounds wonderful. Check out Computer Audiophile on the Net to learn more about these computers.

Pros: Size (compact), built in DC connector, fan-less (silent w/SSD), streams 1080p flawlessly, plenty powerful for average everyday use, built in safety/protection features, quality components, has essentials i.e. USB 3.0, front side USB (2.0), VGA, HDMI, audio out, microphone in, Ethernet port etc).

Cons: DC adapter not included. Slightly discouraging trying to figure out what adapter plug was compatible with this board. Also, the downloadable manual provides adapter head/tip dimensions ( dual plug tip with inner diameter of 5.1mm and outer of 7.4mm) . The following adapter sold on Newegg will work with this board: 1ST PC CORP. ACDC-19UFX90 Universal 19V/90W single output Laptop Charger.

Other Thoughts: Overall this is an excellent board from a company that builds overall solid/reliable boards with quality components (i.e. all solid capacitors, MOSFETs-surge protection, etc). I was hesitant to use them at first considering I was not familiar with Asrock. However after having experienced them for myself over the last year or so (I'm on my third motherboard from them; all have worked flawlessly with great bios/features) I'm much more confident with the brand/quality. Previously my go to mobo brands were EVGA, MSI, Asus and Gigabyte depending on system build and budget restraints.

Out of my ten-plus years of experience building mostly gaming and fanless PCs (and even fan-less gaming PCs), I wanted something compact and fan-less (like Apple’s Mac Mini). That's where this board paired with the SilverStone PT13 case comes into play. Also, the motherboard comes with an I/O shield that's compatible with the SilverStone PT13 case, which fits like a glove with ideal/adequate ventilation in all the right places (i.e. CPU cooler located just below ventilation.

This mother board excels at everyday use with minimal power usage and is dead silent. It runs multiple tasks fairly well, but can be overtaxed when pushed. I wouldn't recommend it for some who needs raw processing power with converting media, etc on a daily basis; once in a while is fine.

For my personal use, it serves well streaming media, typing up papers (using Microsoft Suite i.e. Word, Excel, PP etc.), Facebook, browsing the web with Google Chrome and 20+ tabs open, iTunes (video/music etc.), and watching television i.e. CWTV, youtube, Netflix, iTunes (podcasts) etc (I sometimes have many of these things running at once or at least open in the background nearly using up the 8GB of RAM). I also stream video to a 1080p 55" television on occasion (audio and video through HDMI).

My overall goal when building this system was to have something aesthetically appealing, compact and functional. This build is just that.

The following are the components I used in my build if you are interested in pursuing a similar build for yourself:

Hard Drive: Crucial M500 480GB SSD (I recommend you use a Samsung SSD); crucial gives me random errors on occasion and is a moody SSD with new computer builds. It's solid overall once up and running though.

Motherboard: Asrock Q1900TM-ITX

DC power adapter: 1ST PC CORP. ACDC-19UFX90 Universal 19V/90W single output Laptop Charger

Memory: 8GB (2 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance

Wifi module: TRENDnet mini wireless N USB adapter

OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit

Enclosure/case: SilverStone PT13 (Newegg does not offer this case at the moment but it can be purchased through the other online retailor…the largest one in the U.S. at the moment).

Also worth nothing for those new to these types of boards is that the power connector for the hard drive is built into this motherboard and it does come with the needed wiring as demonstrated in the product photos.

Pros: This is an excellent board to pair with the Silverstone PT13B and it was the only passive cooled quad core system I could find in this form factor.

Cons: Unfortunately, my board had a bad LAN port and I had to request an RMA. The ACTIVE light is on but there is no traffic on the port. I could not connect to any of the available servers through the "Internet Flash" option in the UEFI BIOS. When I installed Ubuntu 14.04.1, the LAN could not establish a connection. The Atheros alx driver was recognized (through dmesg) but there was no outgoing traffic. Since cleared the BIOS but still could not get a connection through UEFI so it does seem the port is dead. Also, a bright red light is visible through the green output audio jack. I'm sure this can be fixed through a BIOS setting but it would nice if the manual mentioned this as it must be common. I'm assuming that light is trying to tell me something is wrong with the audio as well but could not determine exactly what.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear ASRock Customer

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Plese turn the power off, clear the CMOS.
Set the UEFI BIOS default.
Check the router, LAN cable and internet connection.
Enter UEFI BIOS, Tools, Internet Flash, to test the connection.
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