ASRock Z68 Pro3-M (Intel Z68) Motherboard Review

Introduction

I'm a really big fan of the mATX platform, even more so over the last few years as we've seen that moving to the mATX platform doesn't mean you need to sacrifice the power that most full size ATX boards bring.

The release of the new Z68 chipset means a bunch of new boards from companies and today we'll be looking at our first mATX version of the new chipset. The Z68 Pro3-M from ASRock carries a very similar name to a board we've already looked at, the ASRock Z68 Pro3. Of course, the M in this case means we're dealing with an mATX version.

So, does moving to a smaller board mean we're going to see less performance? What are we missing with the move to a smaller board? Well, to answer that and more, read on. Let's start by looking at the package ASRock have put together; from then we'll move into the motherboard itself before looking at the BIOS. Once that's done we'll discuss how we went with overclocking before getting into the actual performance side of things to see just what exactly this mATX board from ASRock is able to bring to the table.

Fingers crossed we'll enjoy the same strong performance as the Pro3 version we looked at. Before we find out, though, let's get into the package.

The Package

As far as the box size goes, this is the smallest box we've seen so far when compared to other Z68 boards. That's of course due to the smaller stature of the board itself. Inside the package there's not a whole lot going on; we've got software and motherboard guide, driver CD, two SATA cables and our back I/O plate. As far as what's in the box, it's exactly the same as what we saw in the non -M Z68 Pro3.