ASRock Z97 Anniversary Motherboard

Conclusions

The Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition G3258 is intended to be inexpensive, yet powerful through overclocking; the ASRock Z97 Anniversary follows the same logic. There is no sense in bulding a computer with a USD 70 CPU if you need to buy a USD 300 motherboard to squeeze its potential. So, the ASRock Z97 Anniversary may seem too plain and weak if compared to high-end overclocking-aimed motherboards, but it is a simple, inexpensive motherboard with good overcloking capabilities for an unlocked, dual-core CPU.

That is why the manufacturer saved on several items (such as ports and audio codec), but kept the ones that count for a sucessful overclocking, such as the high-end chipset (the basic ones do not officially support overclocking) and several overclocking options at the BIOS setup. However, we missed some details that should not increase the price tag, such as on-board clear CMOS, power, and reset buttons. Also, a more extreme overclocking will probably demand a voltage regulator circuit with more phases.

Even if you do not plan to overclock your CPU, the ASRock Z97 Anniversary is a decent motherboard with a good cost/benefit ratio, since its price tag is in line with a value motherboard, being far less expensive than a high-end model.