Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer Motherboard Review: The Last of Its Kind?
Final Thoughts about the Asrock 990FX Fatal1ty Killer Motherboard
Unlike other 990FX motherboards, the Asrock 990FX Fatal1ty Killer is designed to deliver gaming creature comforts rather than prioritize overclockability. The power delivery system is only fit for minor FX processors tweaking but the Fatal1ty Killer shows its strength in other areas such as having superior audio solutions compared to its 990FX peers. It may not be able to run an FX-9590 or FX-9370 24/7, but it is more than sufficient for running FX-8000 series or the new power efficient “E” variants of FX processors with their modest power requirements. The Fatal1ty 990FX Killer’s weakest point is definitely its VRM. Not that it is a mandatory requirement for 990FX mainboards but it is odd for a motherboard released so late in the AM3+ lifetime. It is not even a VRM I would want to run an FX-8350 overclocked 24/7 in unless you are comfortable with having a fan actively cooling there as the non-heatpiped aluminum heatsinks are definitely not up to par.
Other than that, I somewhat agree with ASRock’s design move however to prioritize the budget on putting in forward-thinking features such as M.2 and incorporating gaming specific bonuses such as extra spaced PCI-E, X-Stream gift certificate, mouse polling rate control and superior audio. Very few games require users to overclock their CPU to reach minimum requirements anymore, even the ones that are so poorly ported from consoles so this is I believe is a sensible move. As for the AM3+ platform’s relevance, as I have mentioned before in my FX-9590 review, it does not fall behind as far as people think against Intel builds in the same price range when it comes to gaming. PCI-E 3.0 vs. PCI-E 2.0 bottleneck at this point is nothing but fear mongering in part of the shills who do not think twice about parroting its gaming relevance as long as they get a sample for free from the manufacturer.
Overall the ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer is a decent board with some well-thought of gaming-specific features for the AM3+ platform, bringing M.2 and great audio support compared to its aging competitors. Introductory price on this board was around $149 but can be had for as low as $109 or $119 in most places. Though I would not advise using it if you are the type of user that runs their systems overclocked or buys a motherboard for that sole reason, as Asrock chose to focus on more practical features instead. It is kind of weird that it is most likely the last of its kind, being a 990FX mainboard but it is also the only one of its kind because of its features. At its core, the 990FX Fatal1ty Killer is a gaming platform and it lives up to this claim not just through its aesthetic styling but in other functional aspects as well such as thoughtfully spaced PCI-E x16 slots for multi-video card use, M.2 slot, Killer LAN and bundled 3-month X-Split premium license.
