ASRock AB350M Pro4 AM4 MATX Motherboard Review

minervx · October 9, 2017

This is the USB 3.0 version.

Pros:

$60-70 Price
It works. No major performance or functionality issues at all.
BIOS is easy to navigate and updating it via USB Flash is easy.
After the update, you can control the motherboard with software.
It overclocks fairly well (RAM up to 3000 MHz) with reasonable temperatures.
Magnetized holes make mounting screws to it simple.
Variety of ports: Ethernet, KB/M, and several USB 2 and 3 ports.
Good build quality, for the most part.

Cons:

Only supports 2 case fans (you will need fan splitters for more)
Only supports fan controlling for one chassis fan input
No integrated wifi or bluetooth (factor that into the cost)
Generic vanilla IO Shield (I don't even use it)
Prior to update, literally any adjustment to the OC settings makes the system crash.
Video card obscures a lot of necessary pins, making upgrades difficult.

Overall, I think this is a good motherboard for people who are on a budget or want to spend their money on other parts. It's a fine board for performance builds. Of course, it only supports 2 RAM sticks, 4 SATA cables and 1 video card, but that's expected for Micro ATX and more than enough for many performance users. The software experience is good (once its updated at least). Is it worth the $60? Yes. None of the cons are significant enough to make me regret this purchase, though perhaps I would've paid a bit more for a board with more controllable fan inputs, wifi/bluetooth integrated and a better IO Shield.

Rating: 7/10