ASRock H370M Pro4 Micro ATX Motherboard: Best Cheap 1151?
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Software and Firmware
For support software, the driver disc includes only ASRock App Shop and Restart to UEFI. The former includes ASRock App Charger USB utility, A-Tuning overclocking utility, an ASRock-branded version of cFosSpeed network prioritization called X-Fast Lan, a link to another copy of Restart to UEFI, and a slew of freeware/shareware/trial software that we cropped out of the image. Its second page provides updates for drivers and installed software, while the third page has nothing more than a checkbox for starting with Windows.
ASRock's A-Tuning overclocking software provides access to the voltage settings from firmware, but can’t do much else to alter a locked processor. It also includes a useful fan utility, but this is likewise available in firmware.
Firmware
The H370M Pro4's firmware defaults to ASRock’s EZ Mode GUI, though the default at next entry can be changed within advanced mode. Striking the keyboard’s F6 function key switches between these modes, and both modes include tools for ASRock Instant Flash firmware updating, Internet Flash firmware downloading (to USB flash drive), and Fan-Tastic Tuning manual fan RPM-to-temperature mapping.
Copied from its overclockable boards, ASRock’s OC Tweaker menu includes several registers to store custom firmware settings as user profiles, but overclocking controls are removed.
DRAM frequency is selectable up to DDR4-2666, except for the unlocked Core i3-8350K which imposes an even-lower DDR4-2400 ceiling. A complete set of timing adjustments is also present, and the board is even able to show us XMP values, which poses a problem for us: Intel says it excluded XMP from its lower-cost chipsets, and the XMP setting is missing, but that shouldn’t have prevented any manufacturer from reading XMP tables and applying the timings for, say, low-latency DDR4-2666, since it’s possible for an end user to do the same thing manually.
Voltage control is available, but we hardly see the point in applying over-voltage to a non-overclocked component. The H370M Pro4 also allows users to reduce voltage though, so chasing efficiency is possible.
Two tools available only through the Advanced GUI are a UEFI Tech Service outgoing mail app for support questions, and network configuration to help enable the other tools to work on restricted networks. You’ll still need to access your email from other devices to check for a tech service response.
The H370M Pro4 includes PWM/Voltage fan control mode selection for three of its four fan headers, leaving only the CPU header as PWM-only. That’s a significant upgrade from the Z370M Pro4, which included only one voltage-only header to go with its three PWM-only headers.
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hrafn42 I recently built a system around this MB. The only flaw I found in it was a lack of a front panel 'aggregator clip' (or whatever you want to call it), meaning that I had to plug each of the finicky headers into the MB directly. Otherwise it was a very good (and very good value) MB.Reply
Likewise to TOMASF, lack of light-pollution is a plus to me.