The ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac Motherboard Review

The ASRock Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac Review

Software

The driver DVD comes with a very basic automated installer software with five tabs. The first tab lists all of the drivers and software that are compatible with this motherboard, plus Google’s Chrome Browser and Toolbar, even though these have their own tab. There is an “Install all” option that automatically installs everything, without leaving any room for the user to select what should be installed and what not. The Sound Blaster Cinema 3 utility and Adobe’s reader can be installed via the Utilities tab, manuals and guides can be found under the Information tab and, finally, the company’s contact information is all that can be seen under the Contact tab.

The core software package that accompanies the Z270 Gaming-ITX/ac is the ASRock App Shop, which doubles as a software and as an updates installer. Extra software packages that can enhance the system’s devices, offer more options, and even games can be downloaded and installed. Some software packages such as the “Fatal1ty Mouse Port” cannot be found in the supplied DVD but can be downloaded through the App Shop for free.

ASRock’s F-Stream utility is the single software package that allows almost full control of the motherboard’s BIOS options via the OS. In its “OC Tweaker” tab we found most of the settings that are accessible via the BIOS screen, allowing for casual overclockers to experiment with minimal risk, as the settings reset when the system restarts. It is also handy for people who do not want a permanent overclock forced via the BIOS but prefer to boot with stock settings and force an overclock whenever they want or after the OS has booted.

The ASRock XFast LAN technically is the well-known cFos software with ASRock’s skin. This software allows the user to prioritize network traffic according to his/her needs. For example, it can be set to prioritize the traffic of a specific game/application over a downloading/file sharing app or server. This is particularly useful for applications where seamless network traffic can be vital, such as, for example, when there are IP security cameras connected to the computer and they should not be disturbed by the downloading of a large OS update or other files.

Finally, the Sound Blaster Cinema 3 application offers very limited extra audio control for audiophiles and HTPC enthusiasts. Technically, it can only control the SBX Surround technology setting that enhances the audio surround. It has four preprogrammed profiles, music, film, game, and voice, plus a custom profile that allows the user to program SBX surround as he/she sees fit. Regardless of it including virtually only one tweakable option, the SBX Surround is rather effective, especially in the case of limiting 2.0 and 2.1 speaker configurations.