ASRock B560M Steel Legend 10th and 11th Gen Micro ATX Motherboard

ASRock B560M Steel Legend Micro ATX Motherboard supports 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors and 11th Gen Intel Core Processors, 10 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design, DDR4 4800MHz (OC), 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 x M.2 Key-E for WiFi, Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort and 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC897 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio. This motherboard comes with 6 SATA3, 1 x Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4), 1 x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3), 1 x Front USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (20 Gb/s)6 x USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 x Rear, 2 x Front), 6 x USB 2.0 (2 x Rear, 4 x Front) and Dragon 2.5 Gigabit LAN. The Steel Legend represents the philosophical state of rock-solid durability and irresistible aesthetics.This motherboard is built around most demanding specs and features, the Steel Legend series aims at daily users and mainstream enthusiasts! Providing a strong array of materials/components to ensure a stable and reliable performance. This motherboard is featuring sturdy components as well as more elaborately styled pieces. The latest USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C delivers up to 20 Gbps data transfer rate which is 2x as fast as previous generation, providing a blazing fast data transfer interface with reversible USB Type-C design that fits the connector either way. Here, Intel LAN provides the best throughput performance, lower CPU utilization, enhanced stability and is able to deliver ultimate network experience to users.For using headphones, a headset, external or internal speakers, via USB, Wi-Fi, analog output or even HDMI, Nahimic Audio offers the most engaging listening experience, vibrant and rich with details. The Sound Tracker is a visual indicator that points out the directions from which predominant sounds are coming so that each sound is properly positioned in 360° on a radar for a full immersion during the game.

Dr. MOS:

Dr.MOS means the integrated power stage solution which is optimized for synchronous buck-set down voltage applications, compared to traditional discrete MOSFETs, it intelligently delivers higher current for each phase, thus providing improved thermal result and superior performance.

Premium 60A Power Choke

ASRock’s premium 60A power chokes effectively make the saturation current up to three times better, Compared to traditional chokes. Thus providing enhanced and improved Vcore voltage to the motherboard.

Base Frequency Boost (BFB) Technology

ASRock BFB (Base Frequency Boost) Technology, you may install their non K series CPUs to ASRock’s selected 500 series motherboards and enjoy the base frequency boost with the hidden power of processors immediately. This ASRock BFB breathes life into non K series CPUs, the boost frequency currently still depends on the cooling system applied on your rig.

6 Layer PCB

In this motherboard, the 6 Layer PCB comes with 3 sets of copper inner layers, providing stable signal traces and power shapes delivering lower temperature and higher energy efficiency for memory overclocking. Thus, it's also able to support the latest DDR4 memory modules with most extreme memory performance.

PCIe 4.0 High Speed M.2 Solution

This ASRock B560M Steel Legend 10th and 11th Gen Micro ATX Motherboard is capable of accomadating multiple M.2 storage devices, one of which can even support next generation PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD and also capable of performing twice the speed compared to previous 3rd generation, giving a lightning fast data transferring experience.

Dragon 2.5 Gb/s LAN:

Here, the intelligent 2.5Gb/s LAN platform is built for maximum networking performance for the demanding requirements of home networking, content creators, online gamers and high-quality streaming media. you can Boost networking performance up to 2.5X the bandwidth compared to the standard gigabit Ethernet and enjoy the faster and uncompromised connectivity experience for gaming, file transfers and backups.

RULE YOUR OWN LIGHTING WAY - POLYCHROME RGB

ASRock motherboards deliver stunning performance and superior aesthetics to rule your own colorful lighting way. They offers a very comprehensive control to perform the built-in RGB LEDs or the connected LED strips, CPU fans, coolers, chassis and any RGB devices smoothly. Devices can be synchronized across the Polychrome RGB Sync-certified accessories as well.

Reinforced Steel Slot [PCIe 4.0 Version]

In this motherboard, the reinforced steel slot comes with the next-generation PCI Express 4.0 standard. The various benefits include, like- Extra anchor points, Stronger latch, Ensure signal stability, Make sure heavy graphics cards to be well-installed.

Water Pump Header & Full Spike Protection

This is supports water pumps. This header provides a maximum of 2A power for supporting the most popular water pumps. You can also adjust the voltage of water pump to get higher cooling performance with lower noise. ASRock Full Spike Protection includes various technologies to prevent your motherboard’s components from being damaged by unexpected voltage spikes. Some sensitive digital components on the motherboard are vulnerable to power surges, the excessive current may cause your system to malfunction immediately.

Post Status Checker

This motherboard comes with an easy troubleshooting tool that shows the CPU / DRAM / VGA / BOOT operation every time you start up the system. Post Status Checker is a fast and easy way to identify the source of the problem.

ASRock B560M Steel Legend Review

ASRock sent us the the B560M Steel Legend for review. This is a Micro-ATX motherboard, featuring the Intel B560 chipset which is a more affordable entry into Intel’s now PCIe 4.0 capable platform – but without CPU overclocking and RAID support.ASRock markets the Steel Legend motherboard as rock-solid models with irresistible aesthetics. The former could be tested but the latter is debatable. Anyway, this one comes with four DIMM slots, a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot. Board supports Wi-Fi too via its third M.2 slot reserved for that purpose. Disclosure: ASRock sent this B560 motherboard together with a retail sample of the Intel Core i9-11900K for the purpose of this review. The company did not pay me to say anything particular about both. That said, all thoughts and opinions are of my own.