ASRock H81TM-ITX R2.0 LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: I bought this to use with the LG all in one chassis 22AM33NB. I am using the i5 4690S processor. It worked with the BIOS version that came on the board, which was version 1.2. I did not have to update the BIOS in order to get it working. Very satisfied with the overall performance with this hardware combination.

Cons: None

Pros: Good tweaking options, seems to run solid. Good driver and tweaking software. Comes with two I/O plates for thin and mini ITX. Supported my E3 Xeon no problems. Supports MCE which was a useful tweak for locked chips. Seems to be quite efficient: I'm able to run a 84W Xeon under prime 95+graphics benchmark, dual ram, wifi USB and 2.5" HDD with 90W.

Cons: One of the SATA cables corrupted my windows installation - took me awhile to work out it was the cable. Lost a lot of time: lost confidence in the board for awhile, but otherwise it seems ok for now. After the cheap cable problem, not sure what else they have cheaped on. Doesnt seem to be able to memory overclock. Doesnt have onboard wifi/bluetooth. No M.2 port or VGA. If it wasnt for the software, this would be a pretty basic board.

Pros: Without good advertising you will find out the hard way that this board needs 19 volts to power up. Not many atx power supplies offer this. Ordered this when the normal h81 asrock entry level board went out of stock at newegg. Ordered this thinking that it would be the next logical step up. Wrong. HAd to order special memory and then I find out that the 150 watt 19volt power adapter is needed to operate the board. Would not turn on with standard atx power supply. Thanks for the good advertising and stock levels newegg, now I am stuck with hardware I cant use and am out over 150 as a result. Think I'll buy from elsewhere going forward. More forward facing, less click bait.

Cons: It needs 19 volts of power to work. Does not start up with standard atx power supply.

Overall Review: Do not buy this unless you want to be stuck in an endless ordering loop.

Pros: Small form factor - low height. Already designed to work with an external power source - eliminates the need for a DC-DC power converter module. SPDIF coaxial header.

Cons: Despite extensive research all the Linux drivers for this board could not be found. Many things could not be set in the bios. With an external linear power supply you could not shut down through software - the only way to turn off this board is holding the on/off button as would be done for a "hard boot." The connector that mates the board to an external power supply is non-standard and ridiculous - VERY hard to find. The only reason a company would do this would be to lock customers into using their power supply. The setup manual was a joke - the type of half-hearted translation to English we used to expect in the '80s but far from what we've grown to expect. They would have done just as well to put their incomplete and poorly written manual that was done in their native Asian language through Google Translate. We had to take an excessive amount of time on the internet to learn how to properly set this board up.

Overall Review: We are a manufacturer of ultrahigh-end HTPC servers. We auditioned this board for use in small HD Plex fanless chassis. the low profile rear I/O panel was required. The SPDIF audio out header was an important feature. The external 19V power supply saves us using an ATX DC-DC converter (such as the PICO ATX or HD Plex). This board had all the features we were looking for, but due to lack of proper drivers, buggy bios, and ridiculous documentation we would never buy another one of these boards.

Pros: Installed quickly and with a few roadblocks. This replaced the stock HP Pavilion 110-023w Motherboard that died, because the socket LGA-1155 pins were bent on it while I was cleaning that computer.

Cons: This board installs upside down in the case. How do they expect me to run a Power Connector 9 in. across from the motherboard to the first device (e.g. hard drive) to the DVD Superdrive if I have just a 6 in. cable?

Overall Review: While I did get this to replace a broken motherboard, because my Mother uses this PC for Facebook and nothing else, I had to select one that only ran off of this power brick, since this is how the original machine intended it. I had to make a significant change to the main power cable so that it can reach across from the power connector on the motherboard to the first device it can connect to. This board was intended for AIO and HTPCs, but for this special exception, it would make a suitable replacement to that broken Socket LGA-1155 board. I selected a good Haswell chip for it and some exceptionally good memory (items# N82E16819117618; N82E16820231703), but in addition to the DC-DC power conversion I don't have to rely on running it on a big, beefy power supply either. Aside from the fact that the motherboard installs upside-down in the case, it's still a decent board for building a low-power computer with. Assuming that you can still find any boards left. Seems as though I had gotten the last one off the shelf though, sorry about that. Cable management was a pain to do, because I had some cables that barely reached to mate with their connections on the mainboard. While I did inspect the socket for any bent pins, there were none, fortunately. I had already planned ahead with getting the accidental-damage handling coverage in case there was damage to the socket or the rest of the board. There were no other problems, except that I had to turn off the LVDS in the UEFI setup for any monitors connected in the rear panel to be used. Unfortunately, convincing my mother that she needs a new copy of Windows 10 (item# N82E16832588528) is going to be a chore in itself.