Layout
At a first glance the ASRock
X99E-ITX/AC leaves a very good impression with its
good looking design. The manufacturer decided to go for a combination of black and
blue, which suites nicely and in the end you get an aesthetic
looking product. The layout had to be carefully planned even into the last tiny little details. Since the ITX formfactor really doesn't leave a lot of space, this was actually a necessity. Apart from that ASRock had to do compromises on the features side. For instance there are only two DIMM slots and there is a ILM-type socket. ASRock simply had persue new paths since otherwise it would have been impossible to squeeze an X99 chipset into an ITX formfactor. A quick look at the heatspreaders shows, that they're of high quality and the do add some weight to the board, which always leaves a good impression.
ASRock equipped the X99E-ITX/AC with a digital six phase power design. In this case the manufacturer is using DrMOS chokes, which are capable of dealing with up to 60A current. The fact that every single phase supports 60A is a reasonable choice, especially considering that there is an "OC Socket" on this motherboard. Looking for the controller chip, which is taking care of the entire VRM stage of this little board we find a six-phase controller chip. In order to better use the limited space, some of the VRM component have been moved to the backside of the motherbaord.
Due to limited space, this board only features two DIMM-slots. Officially supported is DDR4 with up to 3200+ MHz.
Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0. If you equip both slots with 8 GB modules, rig with up to 16 GB memory can be assembled.
Le southbridge et les VRM sont refroidis par des systèmes séparés. Pour le southbridge on trouve un bloc d'aluminium plus que suffisant. Et les puces situées entre le socket de le premier slot PCIe ont aussi le droit à un radiateur connecté via un caloduc à celui du PCH, tout comme le son les deux blocs recouvrant les VRM. Cette carte est assez haute, en partie à cause des radiateurs. Subjectivement parlant, une carte mère pesante semble être une carte même de qualité.