Here we see ASRock have changed the colour scheme of their range of motherboards. While we are not overt to the metallic sky blue theme on this particular example we fail to see the reasoning behind changing from the previous black and gold theme we adored on the X79 varient which, in our opinion was infinitely more pleasing to the eye. As it stands this new blue theme is hard to describe as anything other than 'basic'. It neither repulses or engages you, instead it is forgetable which is a great shame considering how good looking their previous incarnation was.

Aside from the aesthetics, the motherboard is well laid out with pretty much everything where you would expect to find it with ASROCK sticking closely to the Intel specification. You will note that there is no I/O shielding which appears to be the latest fad in motherboard design. This we can forgive ASROCK for as we see little point in such extravagances other than for looks. EMI shielding is all good and well but can you honestly say any of you I/O devices have suffered due to electrical interference? Thought not!


The back of the mainboard has very few components which we liked. From this view we can see that ASROCK have opted for a black PCB but instead of the preferred matt black, the motherboard is very glossy in appearance. We can also see that the PCIe layout is a (top to bottom) 16x, 4x, 16x, 1x, 8x.


Overall we neither liked nor disliked the looks of the motherboard. It certainly pales in comparison to the previous version and perhaps more pertinently, against the current crop of motherboards on the market. If blue isn't you thing though, ASROCK do over two alternatives in the Fatality range (red/black) and OC Formula (Yellow/Black), the latter of which we think looks very interesting.