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@ 2012/03/02ASRock is working on not one, but two motherboard models based on the Intel Z77 chipset, under its Fatal1ty Professional series. The first of the lot is a standard-ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional, followed by the micro-ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M. The latter is ASRock's first micro-ATX Fatal1ty motherboard. The ATX Z77 Fatal1ty Professional could go on to be ASRock's flagship Z77 motherboard. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 20+ phase digital-PWM power circuitry, and memory by a 5-phase VRM, which make this board as much an overclockers' choice as gamers'.
Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both populated), PCIe 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI; and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH). There are plenty of SATA ports, including six SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, four from additional controllers), four internal SATA 3 Gb/s, and eSATA. ASRock seems to have deployed a PCIe bridge chip to yield more PCIe lanes. USB 3.0 connectivity includes two ports via front-panel header, and possibly four ports (if not more) on the rear-panel. Since users of this board will almost certainly be using discrete graphics, display connectivity is reduced to smaller ports (such as HDMI or DisplayPort).
Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both populated), PCIe 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI; and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the PCH). There are plenty of SATA ports, including six SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, four from additional controllers), four internal SATA 3 Gb/s, and eSATA. ASRock seems to have deployed a PCIe bridge chip to yield more PCIe lanes. USB 3.0 connectivity includes two ports via front-panel header, and possibly four ports (if not more) on the rear-panel. Since users of this board will almost certainly be using discrete graphics, display connectivity is reduced to smaller ports (such as HDMI or DisplayPort).
