Asrock has announced the Z170M-PIO2, a uDTX motherboard which allows the graphics card to be installed horizontally rather than vertically in compatible PIO and micro-ATX cases.
Designed primarily for the PIO all-in-one case standard, Asrock's Z170M-PIO2 is designed around Intel's LGA1151 socket with support for sixth-generation Core and Pentium processors. It's the board's PCI Express slot which stands out, however - or rather how it doesn't stand out: rather than being installed at 90 degrees to the motherboard, it's installed such that it sits sticking out from the right-hand edge.
The result: while the footprint of the system is increased, its height is vastly decreased and the connectors for the graphics card put in the same plane as those for the motherboard itself. For installation where height is king, such as behind a large-screen display mounted to VESA brackets, this layout provides the ability to squeeze a high-performance graphics card where previously only integrated graphics would have been available. The slot also supports any other type of PCI Express card, such as accelerator boards or TV capture cards.
The motherboard includes two RAM slots for dual-channel DDR4, the angled PCI Express socket hits the 3.0 standard with the full 16 lanes available, comes with VGA D-Sub and HDMI video outputs, 7.1-channel Realtek ALC886 audio, and includes four SATA 6Gbps ports, an Ultra M.2 slot for storage and a M.2 E-keyed connector for an optional Wi-Fi card, along with two USB 3.0 ports at the front and rear and an additional two USB 2.0 ports at the rear. An onboard Realtek network chip provides gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
While Asrock has yet to confirm UK pricing and availability, more details of the board are available on the official product page.
Designed primarily for the PIO all-in-one case standard, Asrock's Z170M-PIO2 is designed around Intel's LGA1151 socket with support for sixth-generation Core and Pentium processors. It's the board's PCI Express slot which stands out, however - or rather how it doesn't stand out: rather than being installed at 90 degrees to the motherboard, it's installed such that it sits sticking out from the right-hand edge.
The result: while the footprint of the system is increased, its height is vastly decreased and the connectors for the graphics card put in the same plane as those for the motherboard itself. For installation where height is king, such as behind a large-screen display mounted to VESA brackets, this layout provides the ability to squeeze a high-performance graphics card where previously only integrated graphics would have been available. The slot also supports any other type of PCI Express card, such as accelerator boards or TV capture cards.
The motherboard includes two RAM slots for dual-channel DDR4, the angled PCI Express socket hits the 3.0 standard with the full 16 lanes available, comes with VGA D-Sub and HDMI video outputs, 7.1-channel Realtek ALC886 audio, and includes four SATA 6Gbps ports, an Ultra M.2 slot for storage and a M.2 E-keyed connector for an optional Wi-Fi card, along with two USB 3.0 ports at the front and rear and an additional two USB 2.0 ports at the rear. An onboard Realtek network chip provides gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
While Asrock has yet to confirm UK pricing and availability, more details of the board are available on the official product page.
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