Computex 2018: ASRock demos new B450 motherboards and more

On our last day at Computex 2018, Leo was able to visit ASRock to see a range of new B450 motherboards, ASRock's new family of graphics cards as well as some showcase systems.

Starting with new B450 motherboards, the first model we saw was the B450 Gaming-ITX/AC. This continues ASRock's tradition of creating impressive, fully-featured Mini-ITX motherboards, but obviously in a much smaller form-factor. Not only does it support memory speeds of 3466MHz and beyond, but there's also 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports and support for 4x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, with two of those coming via an internal header. If you are thinking of pairing this motherboard with a Raven Ridge APU, there is also HDMI and DisplayPort graphics outputs, while Intel 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2 is supported natively.

Note: if the above gallery is not displaying properly, you may need to disable your ad block software as they are known to interfere with our display code.

Moving onto the B450M Pro4, this is obviously a slightly larger motherboard in the Micro ATX form factor. Accordingly, it has 2 extra PCIe slots (one PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, and one PCIe 2.0 x1 slot) when compared to the ITX model, which allows for AMD CrossFireX support.There is no WiFi or Bluetooth support, though, while there is also no DisplayPort output. This suggests it would be a good motherboard for those who want the overclocking capabilities of the B450 chipset, without the extra cost of added features likes WiFi and extra display outputs.

The last new motherboard we saw was the B450M-HDV. This is essentially a budget-oriented Micro ATX B450 motherboard, as demonstrated by the more basic cosmetic appearance of the board. The PCIe 2.0 x16 slot of the B450M Pro4 is also missing, while the Realtek audio codec (ALC887) is not of the highest calibre. However, for those with just a single expansion card, the B450M-HDV should be quite reasonably priced.

Leo was also able to get a look at ASRock's Phantom graphics card series. This line consists of various RX 550, 560, 570 and 580 cards, as well as one blower-style Vega56. While the cards don't look like high-end offerings, we have to remember this is ASRocks first foray into the graphics card market, so they are likely playing it safe with the first generation of cards. We will also have a review of a Phantom card coming soon, so stay tuned for that.

Lastly, ASRock was also showing off a couple of custom systems built using ASRock hardware. While we don't have full specs for each, we saw one system from Kevin Chen, Martin Liu and Wu Shi-Min that is built around the Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/AC. There was also a very good-looking rig from Stuart Tonks built around the X399M Taichi complete with Bitspower watercooling hardware.

KitGuru says: B450 is likely to prove a popular chipset for those who want to overclock, without spending extra for X470 motherboards. With the three models we saw today, ASRock is likely to have something for everyone.

Become a Patron!