ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Professional LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Gaming Motherboard

Pros: It's like a super cheap substitute for a much higher-end board. Also, I find it to be aesthetically pleasing. Good color-scheme. Had issues with sound (see below) but now that it's working, it's fantastic quality. Ten internal SATA ports, eight USB 3.0 ports (four are from internal connections), four USB 2.0 ports and one of them you can set a rather high polling for say a gaming mouse. Having two LAN ports is great. UEFI was extremely helpful in debugging my initial build attempt... told me exactly which RAM stick to re-seat, allowing me to boot up one the second attempt. Also, the drivers/utilities ASRock provides allows for all sorts of things you'd normally get on the high-end expensive mobos, such as USB 3.0 acceleration, USB port always-on charging (and super-charging), teaming LAN connections, and tons of fan headers. What really sold me was the shear number of accessories it comes with -- truly fantastic. Comes with an adapter of 2 extra USB 3.0, which can either be mounted in a 5.25/3.5 bay or in a rear expansion slot (my pref) -- just check... very few mobos have this accessory flexibility.

Cons: Lots of minor issues. So first is that the optional 4-pin molex power connection at the bottom of the mobo is mounted parallel to the PCB, so it points down instead of out/perpendicular. This is a big problem because in cases where the PSU is located on the bottom (typical and desirable IMO), that connection is like 2mm away form the PSU -- completely blocked and unusable. But this is not a problem if you don't have a power hunger graphics card or planning to SLI. VRM heat spreader does not double as a water block like in higher-end mobos, not that I was planning on using such a thing. Just a nifty feature to have. I had a lot of issue getting the CPU closed-loop water pump (Thermaltake Extreme 2.0) to be recognized, but this might be an issue with their drivers. Took some time, but I finally got it to work. mSATA drive does not fit in the slot below the first PCI6 16x slot. I hit the CMOS battery. Turns out the slot is only meant to handle a shorter mini-PCIe card (say for wifi support). I wonder why they don't just make those slots perpendicular (stability I guess). It is also likely that even if my mSATA drive did fit, the mobo could not support it (because it was not designed to). Bummer cuz my old low-end mobo could support it. Getting the sound to work! I may have done something odd on initial build attempt. I plugged in the front audio connector and later unplugged after it boot up. But that shouldn't be an issue -- I don't know. I had no sound out the rear green plug. I tried a bunch of stuff and it took a day to get it working. SoundBlaster drivers looked fine, and the volume mixer showed activity when I playback music, but I got nothing out of my earphones. I thought there may be a mobo jumper I missed to switch between rear panel and front panel, but there wasn't. I'm not even sure how I finally resolved it, but it works fine now. Minor con: the rear-IO shield does not have that cushion on the inside like the high-end ones do. Darn! Another minor con: SATA ports feel flimsy. They could have used harder/denser/thicker plastic here.

Overall Review: I was initially set on the ASUS ROG Formula VI. Then I compared the features and considered the price difference. The value here was just too good to pass up! Plus I'm a sucker for accessories. Could have gone without the PS/2 port. I wish the 24-pin power connector was parallel to the PCB -- that way the cable-management would be more tidy. But I can see why a large majority of mobo manufacturers do not do this: physical stability. That mounting takes a lot of force (both on insertion and removal). ASRock's choice of positioning on the optional 4-pin molex power connector is just stupid and ill-conceived. Just one more fan header would have helped me. Also having ones near the middle of the right edge would be a good idea (for the two in the front). Having them be 4-pin variety is would have been another plus. Again, sound quality is fantastic! UEFI is excellent. However it's important to note that a lot of features are disabled by default. The most obvious being the RAM speed. Remember to set the RAM profile as one of the first things on initial boot-up. And disable things you don't need.

Pros: My system has been running stable for 3 months. I am running the i7 4770k @4.4Ghz using 1.2V and temps max at 80C using Prime95! I am using a Noctua NH-D14 cooler. I think I can push my CPU higher but I don't want to kill it.

Cons: The only downside is that the Game Blaster driver is very unstable. Hey ASRock, can you please PRESSURE Creative to make better drivers and software! Realtek makes more stable drivers than them and we are paying premium to get their sound chips! The SB control panel keeps on crashing when I change settings! I don't know why Creative can't ever get their drivers and software right!

Pros: Everything I really cant find anything wrong with this board. Ill Break it down a little The board looks amazing. Onboard Sound is surprisingly Great. 3 PCIE 3.0 Slots Bios is fun and informative Onboard PWM fan headers that actually work!! Overclocking is a Breeze 4670K @4.4ghz with barely a voltage bump. Very Very stable I love the caps although mine arent gold, they are more like chrome with gold writing but still very nice.

Cons: Z97 comes out a few months later :(

Overall Review: I was a long time Asus user. i took a leap of faith with this board and i am so thrilled with it. I love asrock!!

Pros: It looks nice

Cons: Bought the board 40 days ago; received video card 5 days ago to finish build; Board not working properly. ASRock will only provide 1 warranty service to seller (Newegg) and not end-user. Newegg will only provide 30 day RMA policy. I'm out $170 because neither Newegg nor ASRock will honor the 1 year warranty.

Overall Review: Don't buy ASRock products. You'll only regret it if you have problems.

Pros: 10 SATA 6GB ports. Dual LAN. GREAT UEFI. Blazing fast boot. Worked excellently right out of the box...no concerns others have written about.

Cons: Now here comes what merits the 1 star deduction....the physical layout of the board is crazy stupid. The design team evidently just tried to cram as many features onto the board without ever building when finished. The way ports and slots are lined up is just crazy...In top PCI-E slot, the video card covers both CMOS battery and a couple SATA ports, if you need to change a battery or swap a cable....you'll have to remove you vid card first. 20 power connector is acceptably placed at middle left of board, yet 8-pin power is top right...too much to ask to have them NEAR each other? Your cables will be stretched one way, then another across this board. Seeing how most cases have power supply on the bottom these days, having all power connector on bottom would be nice. HD Audio pins are at very left edge...be VERY careful when installing your board or you might bend a couple prongs when putting the board in.

Overall Review: This is an excellent board at a mid-price range that I try to stay in....I'll NEVER pay $300+ for a board that will be feature lacking in 6 months. Board designers need to start spending an actual minute or two about how placement of one feature affects another....having bought Asus, Gigabyte and MSI boards also in the past, I have to say the layout of this board is by far the worst. Hence the 1 star deduction. Layout is my only complaint about this otherwise stellar board.

Pros: Does everything OK so far.

Cons: Could OC a bit better but I guess it's hasswell limited.

Overall Review: Bought it for $249 a while back as I needed a PCI32 slot... Now it's $80 cheaper - what the hell?

Pros: No problems other than no sound...

Cons: Asked from support, received no response.

Pros: +Boot time is super-fast. POST is relatively short and the board also supports Windows 8 Secure Boot, eliminating POST altogether. +Awesome sound. Pairing the on-board audio with my Razer Tiamat 7.1, I found this board to be perfect. The audio software really helps you customize your sound settings. Mic features, such as the automatic outbound volume increase/decrease for the audio levels of your voice, are pretty neat additions as well. Noise cancellation and echo reduction are also useful. + Quick, painless setup. The board worked right out of the box. While it was necessary to install the proper drivers, you don't even need a DVD drive. Just go into the UEFI and get them that way if you'd like. Really useful for those who've gone fully digital! + Dual LAN Ports. While this isn't exactly a useful feature for me, it can surely come in handy. Not to mention they're both Intel ports, and not just a mix of two different manufacturers. + Plenty of SATA 6Gb/s ports. They make for fast SSD support and leave plenty of room for expansion if needed. + Two USB 3.0 headers. Something I didn't notice before ordering the board is that there's actually two on-board headers for adding 4 more USB 3.0 ports. The board comes with a USB 3.0 front-panel out of the box, but also leaves room for any front-panel case USB 3.0 ports. + Clear CMOS button / on-board power & reset buttons. While this is practically standard on most of these enthusiast boards, it's definitely something useful for overclocking or troubleshooting. + 1155 Heatsink Support. While this is across the board for all 1150 motherboards, it's worth mentioning that 1150 motherboards use the same mounting solution as 1155 motherboards.

Cons: - Price. For the price of the board, it would have been better to see the Wireless ac support like the Extreme6/ac has for $50 cheaper. I guess the price can be justified by the added sound feature, but I'd have been more satisfied with the added ac support. - Heatsink space. While my cooler fit pretty well, anything much larger would likely run into problems with spacing. Not a huge problem for me, just something for those looking to use larger heatsinks to keep an eye out for.

Overall Review: Paired with the Intel 4770K and a GTX 680, this board rips. Sound is crystal clear, boot times are low, and overall setup is a breeze. If you're looking to eliminate your audio card, this is certainly the board for you and was the main driver behind my purchase. If not, I'd probably just recommend going with the Extreme6 if you're looking to stick with ASRock. Coming from the Extreme4 and a 2600K, this was certainly an improvement!