New mATX and Mini-ITX ASRock FM2+ Motherboards Spotted

A casual stroll on ASRock’s product page reveals three new yet to be announced motherboards in addition to their current AMD FM2+ line. The first is a mini-ITX solution dubbed the A88M-ITX/ac and as the name suggests, it comes with a built-in 802.11AC wireless feature (including antenna). The A88M-ITX also comes with three graphics output: D-Sub, HDMI and DVI-D for up to three simultaneous displays, with the HDMI port capable of 4K output via FM2+ APU. A Realtek ALC887 HD audio codec with ELNA audio capacitors handles sound duties and Gigabit Ethernet is handled by a Realtek RTL8111GR controller.

A88M-ITX/ac product page: http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A88M-ITXac/index.us.asp

The A88M-G/3.1 on the other hand is a micro ATX solution that brings many of the features enjoyed by Intel’s Skylake platform such as USB 3.1 and M.2 (PCIe x4) on the FM2+ platform. It has a black PCB with red trim similar to ASRock’s Fatal1ty line so the “G” in the name probably implies that it is aimed for gamers. USB 3.1 is handled by what appears to be an ASMedia controller (hard to confirm from the photo unless we get a sample on hand) and it includes both Type-C and Type-A connectors. The M.2 runs at gen2 PCIe x4 speeds and judging by the switches on the PCB, it shares bandwidth with the second PCIe x16 slot (which is running at x4). This means you cannot use the M.2 if you are planning on running two cards on Crossfire mode but you can use the M.2 slot even if you have a single graphics card installed.

Other expansion slots include a legacy PCI port and a gen 2 PCIe x1 slot. Audio is handled by a Realtek ALC1150 and similar to the A88M-ITX/ac, it also uses ELNA audio capacitors. Gigabit ethernet is handled by a Realtek RTL8111GR and the built-in display outputs are similar as well with a DVI-D, D-sub and HDMI.

A88M-G/3.1 product page: http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A88M-G3.1/index.us.asp

The third FM2+ board is the FM2A88M-HD+ R3.0, fully decked out in black and is more conservative feature-wise compared to the A88M-G/3.1. It shares the same D-sub, HDMI and DVI-D triple display output as the other two boards as well as their Realtek 8111GR Gigabit ethernet controller but a Realtek ALC662 HD audio codec is used instead. Expansion slots include a PCIe x16 gen 3, PCIe x1 gen 2 and PCI slot. Since it does not have a lot of extra features, this board is aimed for budget users.

FM2A88M-HD+ R3.0 product page: http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A88M-HD+%20R3.0/index.us.asp