ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Review: Small Wonder
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How We Test
A lack of Mini-ITX samples for socket AM4 forced us to re-test an earlier ASRock model, the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac, as a direct comparison to the cheaper and more modern B450 Gaming-ITX/ac. Larger ATX models based on the even higher end X470 chipset, the Biostar Racing X470GT8 and Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi, fill out the rest of our comparison roster. We hope that including those top boards will help to prove the worth of today's lower-cost focus.
Sound | Integrated HD audio |
Network | Integrated gigabit networking |
Graphics Driver | GeForce 399.24 |
The same platform that cools the intense heat of our X299 motherboards works equally well with AMD’s AM4 processors, as proven in the overclocking evaluation on the next page.
Comparison Products
Benchmark Settings
Synthetic Benchmarks & Settings | |
PCMark 8 | Version 2.7.613 Home, Creative, Work, Storage, Applications (Adobe & Microsoft) |
3DMark 13 | Version 4.47.597.0 Skydiver, Firestrike, Firestrike Extreme Default Presets |
SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2016.03.22.21 CPU Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth |
DiskSPD | 4K Random Read, 4K Random Write 128K Sequential Read, 128K Sequential Write |
Cinebench R15 | Build RC83328DEMO OpenGL Benchmark |
CompuBench | Version 1.5.8 Face Detection, Optical Flow, Ocean Surface, Ray Tracing |
Application Tests & Settings | |
LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s) |
HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.9.9 Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x265 mp4 |
Blender | Version 2.68a BMW 27 CPU Render Benchmark, BMW 27 GPU Render Benchmark |
7-Zip | Version 16.02 THG-Workload (7.6GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=9" |
Adobe After Effects CC | Release 2015.3.0, Version 13.8.0.144 PCMark-driven routine |
Adobe Photoshop CC | Release 2015.5.0, 20160603.r.88 x64 PCMark-driven routine (light and heavy) |
Adobe InDesign CC | Release 2015.4, Build 11.4.0.90 x64 PCMark-driven routine |
Adobe Illustrator | Release 2015.3.0, Version 20.0.0 (64-bit) PCMark-driven routine |
Game Tests & Settings | |
Ashes of the Singularity | Version 1.31.21360 High Preset - 1920 x 1080, Mid Shadow Quality, 1x MSAA Crazy Preset - 1920 x 1080, High Shadow Quality, 2x MSAA |
F1 2015 | 2015 Season, Abu Dhabi track, Rain Medium Preset, no AF Ultra High Preset, 16x AF |
Metro: Last Light Redux | Version 3.00 x64 High Quality, 1920 x 1080, High Tesselation, 16x AF Very High Quality, 1920 x 1080, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF |
The Talos Principle | Version 267252 Medium Preset, High Quality, High Tesselation, 4x AF Ultra Preset, Very High Quality, Very High Tesselation, 16x AF |
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Onus I've been eyeing this board for months now; it looks like a real winner. If I build another AM4 system (hey, I DO have a 1600X on a shelf right now...), this one is on the Short List.Reply -
Onus Historically, the only expansion cards I have used are video cards, modems, and wireless NICs. Ok, I can add a video card to this board. I don't need a standard modem, and my Brother MFC all-in-one can fax (yes, I've done it quite a few times); and this board has wireless built-in. It's marginally low on SATA ports, but the M.2 takes care of that, so I can have: Data drive, Backup drive, optical drive, and external SATA dock, in addition to the M.2 boot drive.Reply
So, it checks all the boxes. Well, all except current need... -
adamdbz I have it paired with an r5 2600 and UV Vega 56, 4 sata ssd's and one nvme drive boots in 5-6 secs in a cooler master elite 130..Reply
great board, but for the past 3 weeks the Bluetooth started to disconnect every second so i had to disable it in device manger.. ill get to fix it when I have time.. -
hamoo i can't believe that this board is already six years oldReply
the one thing about asrock is its excellent tech and customer support
that is the bare botkin right there
i have never had an issue with this board, and i built several builds with it, at least 4. some of the builds i rebuilt over and over. always had great tech support.
so, the only thing, i was using a non compliant case - a fractal design. the housing for the power supply is not where it is suppose to be. so when i purchased a 3060ti, there was no way to make it fit. i ended up gutting my mini pc and transitioning to a gateway tower. well, there are four usb 2 connectors - two of them 9 pin motherboard connectors. and this b450 has only one. i don't think this will be a problem for most people, however, i've seen a few posts on how to solve this issue since i first encountered it. this is the only issue with this board. and i'm sure there's a workaround; i haven't come across a solution yet