With high performance desktop ITX options appearing more frequently with each new generation of chipset, ASRock released a pairing of AM4 offerings to satisfy small form factor enthusiasts. Although the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac is one of the most expensive AMD Ryzen compatible motherboards on the market, it tries to offer more than the standard mini-sized motherboard.

Other AnandTech Reviews for AMD’s Ryzen CPUs and X370/B350

The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X and Ryzen 3 1200 CPU Review: Zen on a Budget
The AMD Ryzen 5 1600X vs Core i5 Review: All Ryzen 5 CPUs Tested
The AMD Zen and Ryzen 7 Review: A Deep Dive on 1800X, 1700X and 1700
The AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G APU Review: Marrying Zen and Vega

To read specifically about the X370/B350 chip/platform and the specifications therein, our deep dive into what it is can be found at this link.

Motherboards Tested

• $260 - ASRock X370 Professional Gaming
• $255 - MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium [review]
• $230 - ASRock X370 Taichi
• $175 - GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming 5 [review]
• $160 - ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac [this review]
• $110 - Biostar X370GTN [review]
• $98 - MSI B350 Tomahawk [review]
• $90 - ASRock B350 Gaming K4 [review]

The ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac Motherboard Review

The X370 Gaming-ITX/ac is marketed towards gamers with the board being associated Fatal1ty branding; ASRock has a branding deal and partnership with the successful early-2000s gamer, Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel. The idea is that being gaming focused - there will be gaming features. This starts with a typical gaming color scheme: an all-black PCB with a pairing of metallic red power delivery chipset heatsinks. 

With a high specification and price tag to match, the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac targets users wanting to maximize the added benefits of the X370 chipset, but without sacrificing on key components such as power delivery that you usually get accustomed to dropping from ATX to ITX. With less PCB space available to fit necessary and vital key components onto, the costs are somewhat higher when comparing ITX boards against quality offerings from the ATX ranges in a similar price range.

There are very few specific 'gaming' hardware features these days, with most brands now driving their gaming philosophy through the software, although the wording can sometimes be used to indicate high-end components. This means that for the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac, there is the high-end Realtek ALC1220 audio codec, which is complimented by a pairing of Nichicon gold audio capacitors, an Intel I211-AT gigabit ethernet controller, and an Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi Wireless AC card. 

The board features dual HDMI 1.4b outputs, and these dominate the rear panel real estate as they are laid out side by side, as opposed to being vertically stacked. For high speed USB connectivity on the rear panel, there are two USB 3.0 Type-A ports (dark blue), two USB 2.0 ports, a single USB 3.1 Type-A port and a single USB 3.1 Type-C port. For users requiring more USB connections, two front panel headers are there to be used, which offer support for an additional two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.1 5GBs ports.

On storage, a total of four SATA 6GBs ports can be found clustered together just below the 24pin ATX power connector. Following the usual trend with ITX motherboards, all of the available SATA connectors feature straight up ports which are cheaper to use and are also easier to implement, although can be a little unsightly. A single M.2 slot can be found on the rear of the PCB with NVMe SSDs being supported as well as traditional and cheaper SATA based M.2 drives

For performance, the system came away with one obvious win so far in our AMD AM4 motherboard testing: POST time. The time from the system starting to the Windows screen loading was the lowest we have seen so far, and by several seconds. This shouldn't be attributed to the size or lack of controllers - other mini-ITX motherboards we have tested fell around the same time as the larger ATX boards, but the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac took a clear lead. The board also has good numbers for power and audio, but doesn't follow the other ASRock boards in having the best DPC latency (it still hits middle of the pack). General CPU and GPU performance were also middle of the pack for the most part, eeking out wins in video encoding but falling slightly behind in Total War, but not by much. It still hit our 3.9 GHz metric on the Ryzen 7 1700 when overclocked.

Overall, the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac is an expensive mini-ITX motherboard, and will be directly compared to ATX boards at the same price. For the most part, ASRock has ensured that this motherboard offers the higher-end components, which most mini-ITX motherboards often skimp on to go for the cheaper market. The high-end Realtek ALC1220 codec, the Intel networking, and USB Type-C are all features that can be removed for a cheaper product, but ASRock here has wanted to ensure that users can still get premium when going for a small form factor build.

Note: BIOS 4.50 or better is required for the Ryzen 2000-series processors.

Ryzen 7 1700 Overclocking

Thanks to the unlocked multipliers on the Ryzen range of desktop processors, getting extra performance through the task of overclocking is easier than ever before. As far as the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard goes, it packs a very hefty power delivery for an ITX offering, which should put it in very good stead for users wanting stability when pushing their processors past the chips boost values. With no automatic overclocking options in the BIOS, aside from the ability to enable XMP, all overclocking has to be done manually. The ASRock UEFI BIOS itself is a relatively easy BIOS to navigate around and doesn’t feature much of the aesthetic fluff found with other manufacturers. All the options needed can be found in the OC Tweaker panel with the multiplier and Core Voltage being made available after selecting the CPU Frequency and Voltage Change option from auto to manual.

AMD’s current best Ryzen 7 processors can push the clock speeds to 4.2 GHz with ambient cooling, whilst our Ryzen 7 1700 sample used for testing can hit up to 4.0 GHz at around the 1.375-1.4 volts mark.

Methodology

Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with POV-Ray and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.

For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100ºC+). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.

Overclocking Results

Our Ryzen 7 1700 CPU does have a limitation between 3.9 GHz and 4.0 GHz; at least on the boards we have tested thus far. This is down to silicon lottery and a combination of a sharp ramp of voltage to temperature when moving up each different step; therefore, cutting out/throttling due to thermal limitations when pushed too far on ambient cooling. 

The testing shows that the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard slightly undervolts the processor when at full load, but not by an excessive amount. A stable overclock of 4.0 GHz was achieved with a set voltage of 1.4 volts within the BIOS, which equated to 1.376 volts under load within Windows. A consistent increase in performance was noted in POV-Ray, and temperatures with our Thermaltake Floe Riing 360mm test bed cooler were not the limiting factor.

Wait a Second, Why Test X370 if X470 is Just Around The Corner?
Section by Ian Cutress

A lot of discussion is about AMD's upcoming launch, which is set to include a new motherboard chipset known as X470. We have had emails about our last B350 review, stating what was the point given that this new AM4-based chipset was around the corner, and I fully expect more comments on this article about it as well. The reasons are multiple. 

One) X470 isn't replacing any of the current motherboard stack. X370, B350 and A320 are still going to be produced and sold alongside X470. There might be fewer new models compared to the latest and greatest, but motherboard vendors are still set to sell all of them side by side.

Two) All of these motherboards will have forwards/backwards compatibilty with the AM4 socket. Dropping in a Bristol Ridge or the latest mainstream Ryzen, with a sufficiently updated BIOS, will be possible. AMD has stated that the AM4 socket, and my extention the chipsets, will be on a long-term support structure. So the motherboard vendors are still set to run updates for the chipsets that exist.

Three) When we started our AM4 reviews, we tested a number of motherboards all at once, and have gone through the process of writing up our analysis one-by-one. The analysis, for current owners or to-be owners (of new or used), is a very important part of that process to help making purchasing decisions. Not everyone is buying the latest, and not everyone is buying new. We believe having that data on hand, especially when enabled through a Google search six months later down the line, is important.

We still have motherboard vendors asking if we can review their current-generation AM4 motherboards, regardless of what is coming around the corner. You might be amazed and how soon after recieving a sample we get emails asking 'when will it be published?'! But the bottom line is that sales do not stop just because something newer is about to come out, and we think that having our analysis online can act as a good reference for those that need it.

For those waiting on X470 reviews, we have one or two waiting in the wings. Stay tuned!

Board Features

The X370 Gaming-ITX/ac has a wide variety of high-end features including a USB 3.0 Type-C port on the rear panel, a Realtek ALC1220 audio codec, and Intel networking. The primary and only PCIe 3.0 x16 slot operates at its full specification, and the rear mounted PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot doesn’t share bandwidth with anything else on board. The PCIe 3.0 x16 slot is reinforced with what ASRock call Steel Slot to minimize damage to the slot with a heavy graphics card installed.

ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac ITX Motherboard
Warranty Period	2 Years
Product Page	Link
Price	$160
Size	ITX
CPU Interface	AM4
Chipset	AMD X370
Memory Slots (DDR4)	Two DDR4 Supporting 32GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-3466
Video Outputs	Two HDMI 1.4b
Network Connectivity	Intel I211AT Gigabit LAN Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC1220
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU)	1 x PCIe 3.0 x16
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH)	N/A
Onboard SATA	Four, RAID 0/1/10
Onboard M.2	1 x PCIe 3.0 x4, on Rear
USB 3.1 (10 Gbps)	N/A
USB 3.0 (5 Gbps)	1 x Type-C Rear Panel 1 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Header
USB 2.0	2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Header
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8pin CPU
Fan Headers	1 x CPU (4-pin, PWM Only) 1 x System (4-pin, PWM & DC) 1 x System/Pump (4-pin)
IO Panel	1 x USB 3.0 Type-C 3 x USB 3.0 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x Network RJ-45 (Intel) 2 x HDMI 1.4b 1 x Combo PS/2 6 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek)

On paper, the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac looks very strong and has a lot of features you would expect from a mid-range to high-end X370 ATX offering. The only downfall to ITX other than lack of PCB real estate is the lack of physical multi-graphics card support through CrossFire and SLI.

Visual Inspection

While the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac conforms to the standards for the miniITX form factor (170 x 170mm), the all-black PCB is pretty stacked with circuitry, components and chips. The general theme of the board itself is all centered around gaming, with the red accented power delivery and chipset heatsinks signifying the 'Fatal1ty' branding. One massively neglected feature in comparison to a lot of other boards in the same price range and segment is built in RGB LEDs; the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac has no LED lighting built-in whatsoever, although a single RGB LED header has been included.

Due to limitations in sizing due to the miniITX form factor, only two DRAM slots have been included, but this very normal for a board considered small form factor. The DRAM slots support up to a maximum of 32GB (2 x 16GB) in capacity, with speeds up to DDR4-3466, which is higher than a lot of other AM4 socket motherboards, mainly due to the latest AGESA firmware updates.

In regards to controllers in addition to the X370 promontory chipset, ASRock has implemented a single Realtek ALC1220 audio codec which is complimented by a pairing of Nichicon gold audio capacitors and also features PCB isolation from the rest of the components and circuitry. The audio inputs associated include six 3.5mm audio jacks supporting up to 7.1 surround sound, with a single S/PDIF optical output. Also featured is the Intel I211AT network controller which is Gigabit compliant and powers the single LAN port on the rear panel. In addition to this, ASRock has included an Intel Wireless AC 2x2 Wi-Fi network card which slots into a specifically created expansion slot on the PCB.

The power delivery on the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac is rather substantial for a Mini-ITX offering in comparison to other AM4 socketed models and a clear emphasis on performance has been put onto this board by ASRock. The power delivery runs in a 6+2 configuration with three CPU phases being doubled up upon giving a total of three Intersil ISL6625A drivers and running a conventional 3+2 design; the two phases allocated for the SoC also feature individual ISL6625A drivers. Controlling the power delivery is a single Intersil ISL95712 PWM regulator and a wave of Sinopower SM7341EHKP MOSFETs can be found under the low-line metallic red heat sink. Finishing off the power delivery is total of eight chokes which is complimentary to the eight phases. Providing power to the CPU is an 8-pin 12V power connector, while a 24-pin ATX power connector is included for the motherboard.

The board has a fairly standard set of storage options available with a total of four straight angled SATA 6Gb/s ports with RAID 0/1 and 10 arrays being supported. Although the X370 chipset can support up to six SATA ports, obvious space penalties have applied due to the Mini-ITX form factor.

On the rear of the motherboard is a single PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot with M.2 form factor drives of up to M key type 2280 being supported; this slot is NVMe capable and doesn’t share bandwidth from the primary full length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

The rear I/O is pretty standard for an ITX motherboard on the AM4 socket, although one major questionable inclusion is the dual HDMI 1.4b ports which are placed side by side. This takes up a considerable amount of the rear panel, which could be ascribed to more USB connectivity - in this case, it is likely that ASRock had a specific customer that needed two HDMI outputs.

USB connectivity coves in the form of two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, three USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a USB 3.0 Type-C port powered via an ASMedia ASM1543 re-driver. Finishing off the rear panel is a combo PS/2 port, a single RJ45 LAN port controlled by the Intel I211AT Gigabit controller, five 3.5mm gold plated audio jacks and S/PDIF output powered by the Realtek ALC1220 audio code,c and two antenna connects for the included Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter.

In the Box

While there isn't much of a bundle included with the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac, everything needed to get connected with hard drives or SSDs, as well as connected to a wireless network is included. We get the following:

• Driver Disk
• Quick Start  & Software Guide
• M.2 Drive Mounting Screw
• Rear I/O Plate
• Two SATA Cables (One right angled and one straight)
• ASRock Postcard
• 2T2R 802.11ac Wi-Fi Antenna

BIOS

ASRock is using its Fatal1ty gaming themed BIOS (version P4.50) which fits in with the same red and black theme as the board. While the BIOS doesn’t have a basic or an advanced mode, everything can be found within one consistent and well laid out UEFI BIOS. Providing information about the different features and functions is a description panel located at the right-hand side, which includes a QR code for further information. The text is white in color and when each setting option, a red highlight is present to signify what’s currently selected.

Upon entering the BIOS, which can be done so by pressing either the F2 or Del keys on POST, the initial splash screen displays key details including the current BIOS version, the motherboard model, the installed processor as well as the speed and current microcode of the CPU. Also displayed is the total amount of installed memory including which memory mode the memoryis operating in: single or dual channel.

The next section across is the OC Tweaker which contains the overclocking options for frequency and voltages. To manually overclock the frequency, changing the CPU Frequency and Voltage Change option from automatic to manual opens up changeable CPU Frequency and CPU voltage options. Aside from this, further below the user can enable the X.M.P 2.0 profile on the memory, as well as offset adjustments on the CPU Vcore and SoC (VDDCR). Further below these options, the option to set memory voltage.

Note: While using this board with a Ryzen 2000 series APU, options to change GFX frequency were not present with the latest BIOS available (version P4.50), although there was an offset to add additional voltage to the SoC. You can however overclock the Vega cores on the iGPU with the AMD Ryzen Master overclocking utility.

The ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac does not feature built-in LEDs, but a single RGB LED header is featured on this board and can be controlled without installing the ASRock software. Under the Tools sub-menu, the single LED channel offers different LED effects including the likes of static, breathing, cycling and even random color flashing.

With the ASRock FAN-Tastic tuning utility integrated into the UEFI BIOS, users can simultaneously customize the fan-temperature respone all of the headers together or individually. There is a manual adjustment option or the included pre-defined profiles such as silent, standard, performance or full speed can be used. The FANTuning function can automatically detect fan speeds when used which helps to optimize the right balance between temperatures and speed, which can help to reduce noise with fans operating in just DC mode. It is worth noting that the 4-pin CPU fan header is only enabled for PWM fans and does not support alternative options.

Just as was noted in the ASRock AB350 Gaming K4 review, ASRock could do more to augment the built-in RGB LED options for the included RGB header to make it easier to select the colors; the addition of a color wheel would be a much better alternative as opposed to defined set numeric values. The BIOS overall is very responsive, is simple to use and features everything (except sufficient iGPU frequency options for Ryzen 2000 series APUs).

Software

As with the rest of the ASRock Fatal1ty range of AM4 socketed motherboards, the software package on offer isn’t as comprehensive as the likes of MSI and ASUS in terms of sheer volume of applications, but what ASRock do offer is sufficient for a number of tasks. The key software on the disc includes the F-Stream overclocking utility, and the ASRock RGB LED software. We do recommended downloading the latest versions direct from the support section from the product page of ASRock website for an improved and better all-around experience.

Most of the following analysis in this section was taken from our ASRock B350 Gaming K4 motherboard review.

Probably the most notable of the supported software applications is the OEM Sound Blaster 3 utility from Creative. The software allows the use of functions such as SBX Surround, which is designed to increase the realistic nature of the audio played. It’s a pretty intuitive feature and aside from the ability to create your own custom sound profiles, they do include pre-sets for things like gaming, music, movies etc. Another smart feature is SBX smart volume which moderates the volume to avoid large spikes which can cause ear discomfort.

Another handy application for providing customizability is the ASRock RGB LED software. It does exactly what it says on the tin and allows the user to customize the single RGB LED strip implemented on the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac (non-addressable). Other than this, there are no other LEDs featured on the board.

While AMD does a fantastic piece of software for overclocking within the operating system (AMD Ryzen Master), ASRock, like most other vendors, has its own version. Options for fine tuning of voltages can be found here as well as increasing the CPU frequency on the fly. ASRock F-Stream is more suited towards overclockers who want to fine tune their overclocks within the operating system, and everything the software does can be done within the BIOS.

Test Bed

As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

Test Setup
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 1700, 65W, $300, 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo)
Motherboard	ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac (BIOS P4.50)
Cooling	Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 360
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU
Memory	2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2400
Video Card	ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost)
Hard Drive	Crucial MX300 1TB
Case	Open Test Bed
Operating System	Windows 10 Pro

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

Many thanks to...

Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs. At the time of release, the STRIX brand from ASUS was aimed at silent running, or to use the marketing term: '0dB Silent Gaming'. This enables the card to disable the fans when the GPU is dealing with low loads well within temperature specifications. These cards equip the GTX 980 silicon with ASUS' Direct CU II cooler and 10-phase digital VRMs, aimed at high-efficiency conversion. Along with the card, ASUS bundles GPU Tweak software for overclocking and streaming assistance.

The GTX 980 uses NVIDIA's GM204 silicon die, built upon their Maxwell architecture. This die is 5.2 billion transistors for a die size of 298 mm2, built on TMSC's 28nm process. A GTX 980 uses the full GM204 core, with 2048 CUDA Cores and 64 ROPs with a 256-bit memory bus to GDDR5. The official power rating for the GTX 980 is 165W.

The ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB (or the full name of STRIX-GTX980-DC2OC-4GD5) runs a reasonable overclock over a reference GTX 980 card, with frequencies in the range of 1178-1279 MHz. The memory runs at stock, in this case 7010 MHz. Video outputs include three DisplayPort connectors, one HDMI 2.0 connector and a DVI-I.

Further Reading: AnandTech's NVIDIA GTX 980 Review

Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200/MX300 SSDs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB units are strong performers. The MX200s are based on Marvell's 88SS9189 controller and using Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC flash, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 100K random read IOPs and 555/500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 320TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.

Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX200 (250 GB, 500 GB & 1TB) Review

Thank you to Corsair for providing us with Vengeance LPX DDR4 Memory

Corsair kindly sent a set of their Vengeance LPX low profile, high-performance memory. The heatsink is made of pure aluminum to help remove heat from the sticks and has an eight-layer PCB. The heatsink is a low profile design to help fit in spaces where there may not be room for a tall heat spreader; think a SFF case or using a large heatsink.

Benchmark Overview

For our testing, depending on the product, we attempt to tailor the presentation of our global benchmark suite down into what users who would buy this hardware might actually want to run. For CPUs, our full test suite is typically used to gather data and all the results are placed into Bench, our benchmark database for users that want to look at non-typical benchmarks or legacy data. For motherboards, we run our short form CPU tests and our system benchmark tests which focus on non-typical and non-obvious performance metrics that are the focal point for specific groups of users.

The benchmarks fall into several areas:

Short Form CPU

Our short form testing script uses a straight run through of a mixture of known apps or workloads, and requires about four hours. These are typically the CPU tests we run in our motherboard suite, to identify any performance anomalies.

CPU Short Form Benchmarks
Three Dimensional Particle Movement v2.1 (3DPM)	3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, derived from my academic research years looking at particle movement parallelism. The coding for this tool was rough, but emulates the real world in being non-CompSci trained code for a scientific endeavor. The code is unoptimized, but the test uses OpenMP to move particles around a field using one of six 3D movement algorithms in turn, each of which is found in the academic literature.
	The second version of this benchmark is similar to the first, however it has been re-written in VS2012 with one major difference: the code has been written to address the issue of false sharing. If data required by multiple threads, say four, is in the same cache line, the software cannot read the cache line once and split the data to each thread - instead it will read four times in a serial fashion. The new software splits the data to new cache lines so reads can be parallelized and stalls minimized.
WinRAR 5.4	WinRAR is a compression based software to reduce file size at the expense of CPU cycles. We use the version that has been a stable part of our benchmark database through 2015, and run the default settings on a 1.52GB directory containing over 2800 files representing a small website with around thirty half-minute videos. We take the average of several runs in this instance.
POV-Ray 3.7.1 b4	POV-Ray is a common ray-tracing tool used to generate realistic looking scenes. We've used POV-Ray in its various guises over the years as a good benchmark for performance, as well as a tool on the march to ray-tracing limited immersive environments. We use the built-in multithreaded benchmark.
HandBrake v1.0.2	HandBrake is a freeware video conversion tool. We use the tool in to process two different videos into x264 in an MP4 container - first a 'low quality' two-hour video at 640x388 resolution to x264, then a 'high quality' ten-minute video at 4320x3840, and finally the second video again but into HEVC. The low-quality video scales at lower performance hardware, whereas the buffers required for high-quality tests can stretch even the biggest processors. At current, this is a CPU only test.
7-Zip 9.2	7-Zip is a freeware compression/decompression tool that is widely deployed across the world. We run the included benchmark tool using a 50MB library and take the average of a set of fixed-time results.
DigiCortex v1.20	The newest benchmark in our suite is DigiCortex, a simulation of biologically plausible neural network circuits, and simulates the activity of neurons and synapses. DigiCortex relies heavily on a mix of DRAM speed and computational throughput, indicating that systems which apply memory profiles properly should benefit and those that play fast and loose with overclocking settings might get some extra speed up.

System Benchmarks

Our system benchmarks are designed to probe motherboard controller performance, particularly any additional USB controllers or the audio controller. As general platform tests we have DPC Latency measurements and system boot time, which can be difficult to optimize for on the board design and manufacturing level.

System Benchmarks
Power Consumption	One of the primary differences between different motherboards is power consumption. Aside from the base defaults that every motherboard needs, things like power delivery, controller choice, routing, and firmware can all contribute to how much power a system can draw. This increases for features such as PLX chips and multi-gigabit ethernet.
Non-UEFI POST Time	The POST sequence of the motherboard becomes before loading the OS, and involves pre-testing of onboard controllers, the CPU, the DRAM and everything else to ensure base stability. The number of controllers, as well as firmware optimizations, affect the POST time a lot. We test the BIOS defaults as well as attempt a stripped POST.
Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5	Testing onboard audio is difficult, especially with the numerous amount of post-processing packages now being bundled with hardware. Nonetheless, manufacturers put time and effort into offering a 'cleaner' sound that is loud and of a high quality. RMAA, with version 6.2.5 (newer versions have issues), under the right settings can be used to test the signal-to-noise ratio, signal crossover, and harmonic distortion with noise.
USB Backup	USB ports can come from a variety of sources: chipsets, controllers or hubs. More often than not, the design of the traces can lead to direct impacts on USB performance as well as firmware level choices relating to signal integrity on the motherboard.
DPC Latency	Another element is deferred procedure call latency, or the ability to handle interrupt servicing. Depending on the motherboard firmware and controller selection, some motherboards handle these interrupts quicker than others. A poor result could lead to delays in performance, or for example with audio, a delayed request can manifest in distinctly audible pauses, pops or clicks.

System Performance

Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, but also the ability for the manufacturer to optimize USB speed, audio quality (based on audio codec), POST time and latency. This can come down to manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single ASUS GTX 980 GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the Thermaltake 1200W power supply. This power supply has ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

From the current trend within our B350/X370 power testing, ASRock boards (with the exclusion of the X370 Pro Gaming) have tended to perform pretty well against other boards on test. The X370 Gaming-ITX/ac shows respectable performance at both idle and long idle power states, with another good showing while at full load.

Non-UEFI POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.)

In a twist to our testing, the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac seems to boot considerably faster than the rest of the pack when the UEFI BIOS defaults are enabled. In our stripped POST time metric, the time was improved upon by around half a second.

Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.2.5

Rightmark:AA indicates how well the sound system is built and isolated from electrical interference (either internally or externally). For this test we connect the Line Out to the Line In using a short six inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm high-quality jack, turn the OS speaker volume to 100%, and run the Rightmark default test suite at 192 kHz, 24-bit. The OS is tuned to 192 kHz/24-bit input and output, and the Line-In volume is adjusted until we have the best RMAA value in the mini-pretest. We look specifically at the Dynamic Range of the audio codec used on the rear panel of the board.

All of the boards equipped with Realtek ALC1220 codecs perform a little bit better than the cheaper ALC892 alternatives. While the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac does include PCB separation, and with ITX boards usually being hit with a slight penalty, it doesn't appear to be the case with this particular model.

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.

If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.

None of the manufacturers boards that have been on test so far have been optimized for DPC latency. The ASRock boards have generally done well in regards to DPC latency compared to other manufacturers like MSI and GIGABYTE, but the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac does fall a little short of its bigger M-ATX and ATX siblings that have been tested so far.

CPU Performance, Short Form

For our motherboard reviews, we use our short form testing method. These tests usually focus on if a motherboard is using MultiCore Turbo (the feature used to have maximum turbo on at all times, giving a frequency advantage), or if there are slight gains to be had from tweaking the firmware. We put the memory settings at the CPU manufacturers suggested frequency, making it very easy to see which motherboards have MCT enabled by default.

Video Conversion – Handbrake v1.0.2: link

Handbrake is a media conversion tool that was initially designed to help DVD ISOs and Video CDs into more common video formats. For HandBrake, we take two videos and convert them to x264 format in an MP4 container: a 2h20 640x266 DVD rip and a 10min double UHD 3840x4320 animation short. We also take the third video and transcode it to HEVC. Results are given in terms of the frames per second processed, and HandBrake uses as many threads as possible.

Compression – WinRAR 5.4: link

Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2017. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second 720p videos.

Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test v2.1: link

3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here. We are using the latest version of 3DPM, which has a significant number of tweaks over the original version to avoid issues with cache management and speeding up some of the algorithms.

Rendering – POV-Ray 3.7.1b4: link

The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, or POV-Ray, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 2-3 minutes on high end platforms.

Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link

As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.

Gaming Performance

Ashes of the Singularity

Seen as the holy child of DirectX12, Ashes of the Singularity (AoTS, or just Ashes) has been the first title to actively go explore as many of DirectX12s features as it possibly can. Stardock, the developer behind the Nitrous engine which powers the game, has ensured that the real-time strategy title takes advantage of multiple cores and multiple graphics cards, in as many configurations as possible.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.

One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.

Thief

Thief has been a long-standing title in PC gamers hearts since the introduction of the very first iteration which was released back in 1998 (Thief: The Dark Project). Thief as it is simply known rebooted the long-standing series and renowned publisher Square Enix took over the task from where Eidos Interactive left off back in 2004. The game itself utilises the fluid Unreal Engine 3 engine and is known for optimised and improved destructible environments, large crowd simulation and soft body dynamics.

Total War: WARHAMMER

Not only is the Total War franchise one of the most popular real-time tactical strategy titles of all time, but Sega delve into multiple worlds such as the Roman Empire, Napoleonic era and even Attila the Hun, but more recently they nosedived into the world of Games Workshop via the WARHAMMER series. Developers Creative Assembly have used their latest RTS battle title with the much talked about DirectX 12 API so that this title can benefit from all the associated features that comes with it. The game itself is very CPU intensive and is capable of pushing any top end system to their limits.

Conclusions

The ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac is primarily aimed at gamers, but it has enough features and the components to take worthwhile considerations for enthusiasts looking to build a small form factor system to harness the power of the AMD Zen CPU architecture. All of AMDs current Ryzen AM4 socketed processors are compatible including the Ryzen 3/5 and 7 desktop ranges, as well as the latest addition to the SKU list with the Ryzen 3 2200G ($99) and Ryzen 5 2400G ($169) APUs.

For performance, the system came away with one obvious win so far in our AMD AM4 motherboard testing: POST time. The time from the system starting to the Windows screen loading was the lowest we have seen so far, and by several seconds. This shouldn't be attributed to the size or lack of controllers - other mini-ITX motherboards we have tested fell around the same time as the larger ATX boards, but the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac took a clear lead. The board also has good numbers for power and audio, but doesn't follow the other ASRock boards in having the best DPC latency (it still hits middle of the pack). General CPU and GPU performance were also middle of the pack for the most part, eeking out wins in video encoding but falling slightly behind in Total War, but not by much. It still hit our 3.9 GHz metric on the Ryzen 7 1700 when overclocked.

For a miniITX motherboard, the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac has a very formidable power delivery for its size. For overclockers who care about making minor tweaks and adjustments, the Gaming-ITX/ac doesn’t come with an external clock generator, making base clock overclocking moot. The power delivery heat sinks in testing did get a little warm to the touch, but nothing that would indicate the board and power delivery couldn’t handle with our 8-core Ryzen 7 1700 ($299) processor bellowing out workloads.

Pulling it back onto the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac itself, the board itself does have a good variety of USB connectivity, a high-end Realtek ALC1220 codec, and Intel-based networking, both wired and wireless. ASRocks decision to add two HDMI 1.4b outputs with the aim in supporting AMDs APU options is a little questionable considering how much rear panel space the connections take up side by side.

While the main advantage of X370 over the B350 chipset is in regards to multi-graphics card setups, specifically SLI support, including the more expensive X370 chipset on a board not physically capable seems a little bit of a waste. In fact, the B350 version of this board is surprising identical in looks and specifications, except the Wi-Fi module on the X370 Gaming-ITX/ac which features 2T2R technology. It is also worth mentioning that the B350 version is around $35 cheaper which does make it seem like a bargain in retrospect, especially with a user planning on using a system featuring this board over a wired LAN.

While performance is consistent and in-line with other models on test, the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac provides good value mixed with some very interesting inclusions such as dual HDMI 1.4b for APU users. For the performance aficionados, overclocking performance is very good for a miniITX offering and for those planning on building a powerful small form factor system with one of the Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 range, it wouldn’t be a bad choice. If you’re looking for something a little more wallet friendly, the ASRock AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac which is essentially the same board with a lower grade Wi-Fi module but at a lower price, seems the better option.

Motherboards Tested

• $260 - ASRock X370 Professional Gaming
• $255 - MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium [review]
• $230 - ASRock X370 Taichi
• $175 - GIGABYTE AX370-Gaming 5 [review]
• $160 - ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac [this review]
• $110 - Biostar X370GTN [review]
• $98 - MSI B350 Tomahawk [review]
• $90 - ASRock B350 Gaming K4 [review]

For those waiting on X470 reviews, we have one or two waiting in the wings. Stay tuned!