Asrock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 Motherboard (Ryzen)

Asrock Webpage

Features

• ASRock Super Alloy
• Supports AMD Socket AM4 A-Series APUs (Bristol Ridge) and Ryzen Series CPUs (Summit Ridge)
• Supports DDR4 2933+ (OC) (Ryzen CPU) / 2400 (A-series APU)
• 2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 M.2 (Key E)
• NVIDIA^® Quad SLI™, AMD Quad CrossFireX™
• Graphics Output:HDMI
• 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Supports Creative SoundBlaster Cinema3
• 6 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3), 1 M.2 (PCIe Gen2 x2 & SATA3)
• 2 USB 3.1 (1 Type-A, 1 Type-C), 10 USB 3.0 (4 Front, 5 Rear, 1 Fatal1ty Mouse Port)
• Intel^® Gigabit LAN

Packaging

Bright red and black glitzy box with a huge G (for Gaming) announcing the intent of this model. This model's naming is spot on, it is definitely a gaming mobo with flashy LED lighting. Yet, it has nice overclocking features thrown in eg. debug LED display, detailed BIOS with overclocking options etc...

Unboxing

Mobo colours of red and black matching the packaging. All heatsinks are firmly anchored with proper metal screws.

Bundled Accessories

New look Asrock case badge, HB SLI bridge (~40USD value) etc...

Fatal1ty Heatsinks

Stylised chunky discrete pieces of red finely brushed anodised aluminium.

Ports

Array of i/o - HDMI, gold plated audio (latest 7.1 Realtek ALC1220), SPDIF and even PS/2 ports (easier Win 7 installs).

Debug LED on a gaming model (nice!), RGB headers

6 x SATA3, 1 x M.2 ports

Provision for stock AMD HSF with its LED header

2 x front USB3 ports

2 x CPU fan headers

2 x metal reinforced x16 sized PCI-e slots

1 x Ultra M.2 port

Foxconn AM4 socket mechanism

SoundBlaster Cinema3 Support, note factory stock P1.50 BIOS (definitely needs updating)

M.2 WIFI port

IR digital VRM Controller

UEFI

This sample came with UEFI BIOS P1.50 which is one revision without Instant Flash thus requiring DOS flashing which is a PITA. You will need a bootable USB stick (use Rufus FreeDOS option) to achieve this.

Great that Asrock seems to be the 1st maker out with the latest AGESA code from AMD so this sample jumped from P1.50 to P2.00 which features Instant Flash, no more need for bootable USB sticks, hurray!

The UEFI options glaringly reminds tinkerers of its gaming heritage rather than much overclocking leaning eg. any increase to the Vsoc is soon displayed in scary red warning numbers, even at 0.900V. lol


POST time is incredibly fast for a HEDT setup, a single POST from cold and you are at the Windows desktop within seconds. There is no double POST or long startup delays even when both the CPU and RAM were overclocked. Superb!

 

 

 

 P-state Overclocking Support

Benches & Overclocking

A few notes:

• AM4 CPU mounting brackets are locally non-existent at this time of writing (3 April 17)
• Antec Kuhler 920 was makeshift mounted with zip ties, handled with caution... hence no vcore or overclock heroics attempted

Test Setup

AMD ES Ryzen 7 1700x@3.8GHz | Asrock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming K4 | 2 x 4GB Corsair DDR4-2666 |
Crucial MX300 SSD | WD Black HDD | Antec Kuhler 920 | Win 10 x64 Anniversary

Open air caseless, SG ambient 27C

hwinfo64

A few notes:

• proper downvolt and downclocks observed with P-state overclocking
• AMD Tctl is likely offset +20C as stated by AMD
• mobo CPU and Kuhler 920 liquid temps also useful as additional guides
• certain hwinfo64 readings can be wacky on this mobo viz. crazy low vcore readings

Update
hwinfo64 v5.50 update has been released on 4/4/17, addresses many shortcomings of the earlier version almost perfectly. Definitely use this new version for any future monitoring instead.

 

CPU-Z Bench

Cinebench R15

 

 

 

 

Geekbench 4

 

 

 

 

WinRAR

Really good numbers.

 

 

 

7Zip

 

 

 

AIDA64 Bench

Latest version now supports Ryzen.

 

 

 

Fritz 9 Chess Benchmark

 

 

Speedtest.net

Nice numbers!

DPC Latency

This test was done with Windows Power Options at High Performance settings which is the actual AMD recommendation for Ryzen systems.

 

 

 

 

Initial Impressions

For its mid-range pricing, the X370K4 is a nice friendly gaming model with overclocking features added in generous measures. It has a straightforward no nonsense approach to the new Ryzen platform making the overclocking experience a breeze, almost quirk free.

Hardware components are pretty much spot on at its price niche eg. latest Realtek audio, Intel GLAN, digital VRM controller etc.

The latest P2.00 UEFI is usefully detailed enough for gamers and ambient overclockers, complete with P-state controls too. The interface is responsive and it is not burdened with arcane options.

Thus, definitely recommended for those who want a pleasingly smooth welcome to the Ryzen HEDT platform on a budget ticket.