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ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer mATX Motherboard Review

Rating: 8.5.

ASRock is aiming to offer gamers an uncompromising set of features with its micro-ATX X99M Fatal1ty Killer motherboard. Doing so will require integration of the X99 chipset's features and the plentiful PCIe connectivity of Haswell-E CPUs. How does ASRock's gaming-series mATX offering stack up to the tough competition that is Gigabyte's X99M-Gaming 5?

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By utilising the PCIe connectivity of Haswell-E processors, ASRock is able to provide its X99M Killer with two-card SLI/CrossFire capabilities, in addition to support for a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 SSD. Other gaming-related features come in the form of a Killer E2200 series NIC and ASRock's enhanced Purity Sound 2 audio system.

Understanding that the core concepts of Intel's enthusiast platform are equally important to gamers, the X99M Fatal1ty Killer features 10 SATA 6Gbps, support for up to 32Gb of DDR4 memory, and a power delivery system built for the hungry Haswell-E chips.

Can ASRock's X99M Fatal1ty Killer go head-to-head with Gigabyte's X99M-Gaming 5 and prove that it is the mATX X99 motherboard that gamers are looking for?

Features:

  • ASRock Super Alloy
  • Gaming Armor
  • Digi Power, 12 Power Phase design
  • 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec), Supports Purity Sound™ 2 & DTS Connect
  • Intel® Gigabit LAN + Qualcomm® Atheros® Killer LAN
  • 10 SATA3, 1 eSATA, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)
  • Supports ASRock HDD Saver Technology, Full Spike Protection, ASRock Cloud, APP Shop, F-Stream, Key Master, XSplit

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4 comments

  1. Did you ever get the RAM issue with reboots with high speeds sorted? I am having the same issue, although when my PC reboots it doesn’t fail to start up, but with tight timings on my current 16GB set (CL12@2666) or high speed (CL14@3200Mhz) I can’t get the PC to stay turned off, but other than that the RAM runs fine for day to day use if I keep the computer turned on. I am on the latest 3.30 BIOS revision as well.

    Thanks

  2. You’d probably be better off with the newer USB 3.1 revision of the board, it has the OC Socket with extra pins and is way better for RAM, especially overclocking.

  3. Thanks for the reply! I may look into that, but not really in a position to replace the motherboard. It’s been a little over a year since buying. Wonder if they could offer some form of trade-in for this issue since it does look like a BIOS bug/glitch? Or I would probably assume this would fall under a clause of, “Not officially supported RAM, so nothing we can do”. Anyone have any experience working with ASRock on these kind of issues?

  4. I bought exactly the same setup 2 years ago. The the Asrock F-Streaming overclocking software could not get a stable result. Not even at 4.0ghz. Read the article and emulated your 4.6ghz settings at 1.36v. Stable as a rock. Ended up at 1.33v. Below that it becomes unstable. Aircooled (noctua NH-D14) never get’s above 60c under load and idles around 25-30c. Was thinking about getting a 7700k but there’s no need for that now. Thanks.