The mother of all motherboards is here. Say hello to the AsRock Z170M-PIO2 Motherboard. It has everything including a rather unique feature. An angled PCI-Express gen 3.0 x16 slot that lets you install a graphics card parallel to the plane of the motherboard. AsRock took the dial from 1 to 10 and cranked it up to a 11. And that clearly shows here. Everything from the box to the actual motherboard convinced us that this might jut be the best motherboard out there.
AsRock Z170M-PIO2 Motherboard features
uDTX, supports PIO and Micro ATX
1 – ASRock Super Alloy
2 – Supports 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3/Pentium®/Celeron®Processors (Socket 1151)
3 – Digi Power, 5 Power Phase design
4 – Supports Dual Channel DDR4 3466+(OC)
5 – 1 Right Angle PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 M.2 (Key E)
6 – Graphic Output: D-Sub, HDMI
7 – 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC887 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps
8 – 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)
9 – 4 USB 3.0 (2 Front, 2 Rear)
10 – Realtek Gigabit LAN
11 – Supports Full Spike Protection, ASRock Live Update & APP Shop
You can check out the AsRock Z170M-PIO2 Motherboard on the AsRock website where it is also available to purchase. A right-angled PCIe slot means you can fit this baby into the back of a LED widescreen and then fit a graphic card right into it while it is still parallel to the motherboard and screen as well. Kind of like the Aura which is a 34 inch 4K display monitor with a GTX 1080 mounted on its back.
“High Density Glass Fabric PCB
What you’ve never understood about your computer is that it is scared to death of water, H2O, humidity or whatever you’d like to name it. And even though you do not see the water, actually there may be lots of excessive moist in the air killing your motherboard silently and slowly. No, your motherboard doesn’t melt when in contact with water like the wicked witch of the west, but it dies of short circuit. Luckily, ASRock has a new High Density Glass Fabric PCB design that reduces the gaps between the PCB layers to protect the motherboard against electrical shorts caused by humidity.”
Let us know whether you’ll be buying the new AsRock Z170M-PIO2 Motherboard.