ASRock AB350 Gaming K4
Impressive performance with value-orientated positioning.
ASRock has delivered a mighty motherboard in the shape of the Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4. With a well-appointed set of features and at a very approachable $159, it undercuts the cheapest B350 boards we saw from Gigabyte and MSI in our May issue round-up by $20, and proves a shining example of both ASRock’s ability to select just the right specs and the power of the AMD B350 chipset.
Testing using our highend Ryzen setup (a Ryzen 7 1800X, 16GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, an Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti FE and Crucial MX300 SATA and Samsung 960 Evo NVMe SSDs), the K4 returned results that were stronger than we expected. In fact, on numerous occasions, this fearsome little ‘ board took on the AM4 king — ASUS’s RoG Crosshair VI Hero (see the May issue). And while we still prefer the $370 Hero overall, there’s no denying the capability demonstrated by the K4 at this massively lower price.
There’s a range of caveats involved in hitting that wallet-friendly mark, however; including the use of a Realtek RTL8111GR NIC to facilitate LAN, rather than the more well-regarded Intel I211-AT (usually found on more expensive boards); or the use of a low-end Realtek ALC892 audio chip instead of the higher-end ALC1220, not to mention this board’s lack of USB 3.1 support. But for many, these ‘alternate’ component selections are going to be peripheral to just having a fast and stable system, and in those cases, many will be quite happily satisfied by this offering.
Aesthetically, the K4 will likely polarise opinions. The strong red-and-black theme may be considered a little tired by some, and the disruption this creates when considering RGB lighting integration into a system build. Additionally, the PCB inking associated with the M.2 slots may render a take-it-or-leave-it approach.
Colour coordination aside, the visual design of the thermal solutions — VRM and PCH heatsinks — is of a nice minimalist style and doesn’t command too much attention beyond the colouring. If red and black are your thing, this board looks the piece.
In our benchmarks, the AB350 Gaming K4 demonstrated its gaming chops with strong results in both the 3DMark synthetic tests and the real world results, such as Far Cry Primal. That said, X370chipset based boards still have an edge up on these B350s when it comes to CPU-based workloads, as you can see from the the PCMark 8, HWBot X265 and Cinebench R15 benchmarks. However, in storage the K4 was neck and neck with ASUS’s Crosshair VI Hero.
The value presented by the ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 is still very impressive on the whole, however, and we’d happily recommend this one for Ryzen builders who are seeking a capable AMD motherboard with reasonable specifications and impressive performance — and which doesn’t get anywhere near breaking the bank. Very capable at a very keen price.