Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional

Five $160 To $240 990FX-Based Socket AM3+ Motherboards
By

A trio of USB 3.0 controllers, a pair of high-performance BCM57781 network controllers, and a sharp-looking red-on-black color scheme all set ASRock’s Fatal1ty 990FX Professional apart from similarly-priced competitors. Meanwhile, a large “clear CMOS” button on the I/O panel professes this model’s high-end overclocking intentions.

Spread three spaces apart for better GPU cooling, the top two PCIe x16 slots are both fixed with true x16 pathways to assure the best possible performance in two-way SLI or CrossFire. We didn’t really expect three-way SLI support from a sub-$200 motherboard, so the bottom slot’s four-lane limitation is only a minor disappointment. The slot could potentially be used in a three-way CrossFire configuration, though its modest bandwidth is better suited to high-end storage controllers, network devices, an dedicated GeForce graphics card for independent PhysX calculations, or additional 2D-only displays.

AMD’s SB950 southbridge feeds all six of the Fatal1ty 990FX Professional’s internal SATA 6Gb/s ports. Rather than give us a bunch of extra internal SATA controllers that most builders probably wouldn't use anyway, ASRock decided to try something different by adding a second internal header for a total of four front-panel USB 3.0 ports. Because USB 3.0 cables are notoriously thick and stiff, ASRock smartly places them above the add-in card slots for better clearance.

The Fatal1ty 990FX layout is very good overall, though we did notice a few small issues. For example, the single-sided DIMM latches originally designed to let you pull memory sticks without popping your graphics card out first face the wrong way, and some older case designs lack drive cage clearance for the forward-facing SATA ports. Overall, the port design makes sense because you're more likely to need vertical card clearance, but the potential for conflict still exists.

The most pleasing part of the Fatal1ty 990FX Professional motherboard’s bundle is its inclusion of a full set of six SATA cables, though we also really like the fact that ASRock adds a 3.5” bay adapter for cases that lack a front-panel USB 3.0 connector. Barely visible atop the installation manual are a single SLI bridge and audio patch cable.

ASRock offers a three-year warranty on specific high-end models, including the Fatal1ty 990FX Professional, but has not yet added a list of applicable models to its RMA policy page. We mention that only because we prefer to see our warranty coverage in writing!

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the Reviews comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 67 comments.
This thread is closed for comments
Top Comments
  • 14 Hide
    ta152h , November 7, 2011 6:08 AM
    What a bunch of pretzel logic we have in this article.
    Quote:
    Of course, a fan of Intel's work could argue against the need for 42 lanes of second-gen PCIe when the 36 native to X58 Express support multi-card graphics configurations just as capably. But such a comparison really isn't necessary. After all, we've known for almost a year that Intel’s lower-cost Sandy Bridge-based part outperform the pricey six-core Gulftown-based processors in many desktop benchmarks, including pretty much every gaming scenario we throw at the two platforms.


    So, x58 is irrelevant, because SB beats it. Except AMD's offering is somehow relevant even though both x58 and SB beat it. What?????

    If you ignore x58 because SB offers better performance, you ignore anything AMD has because a SB setup offers better performance. If you want 36 or less lanes, x58 still offers better processors than you can hope to get from AMD. Bizarre logic.

    Not that AMD is irrelevant, just the logic is badly flawed.
  • 14 Hide
    _Pez_ , November 7, 2011 5:09 AM
    Yeah If were to buy this boards would be with a Phenom real 6 core CPU 1100T :D  that is the smartest choice. I think.
  • 11 Hide
    ellmondo , November 7, 2011 4:56 AM
    let the amd bashing begin...
Other Comments
  • 2 Hide
    julianbautista87 , November 7, 2011 4:23 AM
    thanks for this article. I was waiting for it since some guy said that the 8150 was performing badly because of the mainboard used, but now I see that that was not correct.
  • 4 Hide
    mayankleoboy1 , November 7, 2011 4:36 AM
    nice thorough review.
    but great chipsets cant offset poor CPU's.
  • 11 Hide
    ellmondo , November 7, 2011 4:56 AM
    let the amd bashing begin...
  • 14 Hide
    _Pez_ , November 7, 2011 5:09 AM
    Yeah If were to buy this boards would be with a Phenom real 6 core CPU 1100T :D  that is the smartest choice. I think.
  • 5 Hide
    theuniquegamer , November 7, 2011 5:23 AM
    What about asus 990fx crosshair v formula motherboard?
  • -2 Hide
    frostweaver , November 7, 2011 5:30 AM
    I would wait till next year to decide. I still feel that windows 7 aint optimized for BD.
  • 9 Hide
    Tijok , November 7, 2011 5:34 AM
    First off, thanks for the great article, good to see Tom's is keeping up the top notch quality!

    Secondly, I would really like to see a piece on extreme CFX/SLI configurations on rigs like this. It seems an article with reliable information on this would be beneficial to gaming enthusiasts, IT professionals, and HPC builders alike!

    Hope to see an article along these lines soon!
  • 4 Hide
    palladin9479 , November 7, 2011 5:58 AM
    I bought the Sabertooth during the summer and I can attest to how amazing that board is. It's really nice, lots of features and high quality. I'm running a Phenom II X4 970BE @ 4.3Ghz on water right now. Absolutely wonderful system.
  • 14 Hide
    ta152h , November 7, 2011 6:08 AM
    What a bunch of pretzel logic we have in this article.
    Quote:
    Of course, a fan of Intel's work could argue against the need for 42 lanes of second-gen PCIe when the 36 native to X58 Express support multi-card graphics configurations just as capably. But such a comparison really isn't necessary. After all, we've known for almost a year that Intel’s lower-cost Sandy Bridge-based part outperform the pricey six-core Gulftown-based processors in many desktop benchmarks, including pretty much every gaming scenario we throw at the two platforms.


    So, x58 is irrelevant, because SB beats it. Except AMD's offering is somehow relevant even though both x58 and SB beat it. What?????

    If you ignore x58 because SB offers better performance, you ignore anything AMD has because a SB setup offers better performance. If you want 36 or less lanes, x58 still offers better processors than you can hope to get from AMD. Bizarre logic.

    Not that AMD is irrelevant, just the logic is badly flawed.
  • 6 Hide
    we_san , November 7, 2011 6:32 AM
    Want to know if 990's abundant pci lane give significant benefit over z68 in gpu bottleneck scenario (SLI or crosfire off course).
  • 1 Hide
    Crashman , November 7, 2011 6:32 AM
    TA152HWhat a bunch of pretzel logic we have in this article.So, x58 is irrelevant, because SB beats it. Except AMD's offering is somehow relevant even though both x58 and SB beat it. What????? If you ignore x58 because SB offers better performance, you ignore anything AMD has because a SB setup offers better performance. If you want 36 or less lanes, x58 still offers better processors than you can hope to get from AMD. Bizarre logic. Not that AMD is irrelevant, just the logic is badly flawed.
    That's what it looks like after copy-edit.

    Originally it referred to AMD's insistence of comparing its FX-8150 to the 990X to prove that the FX-8150 had far better value. The original version of the paragraph referred to that comparison method a sham, and THEN referred to the SB vs BD debate. I guess it's neither nice nor necessary to call the 8150/990X price/performance comparison a sham, so the paragraph was altered to improve it's tone :) 
  • 0 Hide
    Device Unknown , November 7, 2011 7:21 AM
    Fantastic guys! I have been researching which mobo to get the last 2 days for our mod... this saved me a lot of trouble. Asus it is :) 
  • 2 Hide
    jdwii , November 7, 2011 7:33 AM
    The Sabertooth is such a good board i love it so much. I even think its the best bang for buck out of the 990FX boards. To bad i could not give such positivism for the Bulldozer.
  • 1 Hide
    masterofevil22 , November 7, 2011 7:51 AM
    Hey, that my board :D  Sabertooth 990FX with 1055t @4.1Ghz on a Noctua D-14. Waitin around for better AM3+ chips..
  • 0 Hide
    kg2010 , November 7, 2011 8:24 AM
    Dear Tom's,

    Please do a Tri-Sli review with 580's in it.

    Compare the 8150 @ $279 vs the 2500K @ $215, who would you recommend?

    Hint: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/03/amd_fx8150_multigpu_gameplay_performance_review/1
  • 0 Hide
    g00ey , November 7, 2011 9:36 AM
    I have read that the Gigabyte UD5 and UD7 motherboards have vdroop issues due to lack of an LLC unit. There has been a lot of talk about this in different forums with a lot of people getting disappointed about it. When I wrote to the Gigabyte support team they said that they have added the LLC in revision 1.1 of the UD7 motherboard in the review. According to your review you have the rev 1.1 of this motherboard and yet LLC features are missing in the BIOS, so there are still vdroop issues with this motherboard, am I to understand that this is correct?
  • 4 Hide
    tmk221 , November 7, 2011 9:47 AM
    you use radeon hd 6950 while there is radeon 6970 on a picture :) 
  • 0 Hide
    nikorr , November 7, 2011 10:48 AM
    Not bad at all!
  • -3 Hide
    dkraptor , November 7, 2011 11:00 AM
    Hmmm. So where is the most important of them all? Asus Crosshair V Formula?
Display more comments