Asrock's Z170 Gaming K6

Over the past year we have extensively used and tested many Asrock Z97 and X99 motherboards from the Extreme and Gaming serial.

During Computex 2022 four new Z170 motherboards were announced past Asrock, the flagship model being the Z170 Extreme 7, while the Z170 Fatal1ty Gaming K6 and Z170 Fatal1ty Gaming K6 were also unveiled. The 4th was the Z170 Gaming-ITX/AC, a motherboard we'll have to cheque out in the near future.

All Z170 motherboards featured impressive designs and the Z170 Fatal1ty Gaming K6 looked especially hit with its ruby-red and black theme.

As luck would accept it, Asrock has supplied us with the Z170 Fatal1ty Gaming K6. Before we check the lath out a footling closer allow'southward compare the Z170 to the Z97 chipset.

When it comes to storage both chipsets are identical supporting simply vi SATA 6Gb/s ports with Intel'south Rapid Storage Technology.

The Intel Management Engine Firmware has been updated from ix.ane to eleven, while support for the Extreme Tuning Utility remains the same.

The key updates include the DMI interface and PCIe lanes. The DMI iii.0 interface connected the Z1750 to the CPU provides speeds of up to up to 8 GT/southward.

This enables the Z170 to support more than PCI Express slots. Whereas the Z97 features 8 PCIe 2.0 lanes, the Z170 can suit twenty PCIe 3.0 lanes.

Getting dorsum to the Z170 Fatal1ty Gaming K6, the board supports DDR4 retentivity and has eight SATA 6GB/due south ports plus ii SATA Limited ports. Asrock has included a Dual BIOS feature along with a Diagnostic LED. In that location are three PCIe three.0 x16 slots, three PCIe three.0 x1 slots and a unmarried Ultra M.two slot that supports PCIe 3.0 x4 bandwidth.

The I/O panel features viii USB three.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port (supported by the Killer E2200), a 7.1 Channel audio jack, PS/2 port, HDMI and DVI display outputs. Sound is provided past Asrock's Purity Audio 3 which is positioned on an isolated PCB.