Introduction

While fab shortages have led to some egregious price hikes in certain SKUs, the Ryzen 3000 series has largely lived up to the hype surrounding its launch. There is finally real competition in the mainstream CPU marketplace, and with competition comes greater consumer choice. One of the biggest debates that is still ongoing with this launch is which chipset to buy. Do you need X570?

Unlike Intel, AMD has made a commitment to supporting the AM4 socket over multiple CPU generations. So far, the team in red has held to that promise, and the new Zen 2 processors are widely supported on older-generation motherboards. While this is great for consumers, it also creates more complexity as more choice inevitably must. Do you need a new X570 motherboard? Due to the cost of the new chipset, the new generation of boards is more expensive feature for feature than the last two generations. This is largely due to PCIe 4.0, a costly and complex feature to implement.

In the graphics department, no card on the market has saturated even PCIe 3.0 yet, at least in the x16 configuration. The largest immediate benefit is with high-speed storage. NVMe drives in RAID configurations can and will take advantage of the extra bandwidth to push never before seen sequential read and write speeds. With your average game, even the switch from SATA to NVMe can be hard to notice, let alone to an even faster and more expensive RAID array. This is more relevant for content creation and media production, where high-speed storage can save significant time and therefore money, which is further bolstered by the near-HEDT core counts on the high-end Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Of course, graphics cards will eventually catch up as well, so for the discerning gamer who only upgrades every three to five years, the new standard could prove a good investment still.

ASRock introduced the Phantom Gaming line last year, as a more aggressively styled alternative to their existing Taichi product lines. The Phantom Gaming family covers a broad range of components, from motherboards all the way to cases. In the motherboard space, the first iteration of Phantom Gaming shared a lot of design and parts with the award-winning Taichi boards. In an update to their Z390 Phantom Gaming line up, ASRock introduced a more modern look to their product stack with the Z390 Phantom Gaming 7 and Z390 Phantom Gaming X.

The X570 Phantom Gaming ITX is ASRock's answer for those who want to jump on the AMD bandwagon and achieve entry-level workstation status, but desire a smaller package. The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 boasts an ultra efficient VRM design to accommodate the top end Ryzen 3000 CPUs in an ultra dense Mini-ITX form factor. Featuring WiFi 6, Thunderbolt 3, and even Intel pattern cooler mounting to further maximize space, the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 has a lot to offer.

So, it has the looks and features, but it still needs to answer one question: does size matter?

Specifications

Packaging and Contents

The front of the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 box is dominated by a highly stylized "PG" in metallic silver and red over a sleek gloss black background. ASRock has gone with a premium minimalist design for the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3. There are brand badges in the bottom left, and "ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3" is in the bottom right.

The back of the box hits all the standard points: a top-down shot of the board, several panels detailing prominent features, a diagram outlining the rear I/O, and the specifications list. ASRock is pushing the WiFi feature as well as Polychrome Sync. The box design is simple on front and informative on the back.


Opening the inner box, the board sits encased in an antistatic bag inside a cardboard tray with the accessories hidden underneath.


The accessories are pretty standard. Notably absent is any kind of rear I/O shield. That's because the shield is integrated into the board. ASRock gets big points from me for this feature, and frankly, I am disappointed that it hasn't become an industry standard by now.

The full list of accessories includes:

• Manual and support DVD
• Post card and software setup guide
• 2x SATA 6 Gb/s cables
• 1x M.2 mounting screws

Board Layout

The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 follows the theme of its larger counterpart: a matte black PCB along with a rear I/O cover and integrated I/O shield in the Phantom Gaming colors.

The back of the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 is a similar black, but not empty as ASRock has stashed the M.2 slot on the back to make room for the chipset on the front of the board. The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX is very sharp and modern-looking, with a great level of detail.


The CPU socket is not as open as on full-size boards; in fact, ASRock has used the Intel pattern of mounting holes to save space. You will need Intel mounting hardware to mount a cooler to this board. This rules out the stock AMD cooler, but just about any aftermarket cooler will come with socket 115x mounting hardware.


There is just one M.2 slot on the back of the board. The chipset is in an unusual spot, just above the PCIe x16 slot in the center of the board. It is quite tall and may interfere with some CPU coolers. The chipset heatsink is connected to the VRM heatsink with a short heatpipe.


The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX only has one PCI Express 4.0 x16 slot, encased in steel armor at the very bottom of the board. The board has a total of four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and all are angled 90 degrees from the board.


The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX has a controversial rear I/O offering. At first glance, the back panel seems very sparse, especially when it comes to USB. ASRock did not have a lot of space to work with, and instead of compromising board performance to cram more USB into the design, ASRock integrated a Thunderbolt 3 controller into the USB Type-C port. While some may begrudge the need for a dongle to add USB ports, it is a sensible compromise that offers the end user more flexibility.

• 2x Antenna ports
• 1x HDMI port
• 1x DisplayPort 1.4 input
• 1x PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo connector
• 2x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports
• 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports
• 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
• 1x RJ-45 LAN ports
• 1x Optical SPDIF out port
• 5x 3.5 mm audio jacks
• 1x Clear CMOS button

Networking on the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming ITX is handled by an Intel I211AT. Unfortunately, the tiny size ruled out a second 2.5 Gb/s controller on the Phantom Gaming ITX. WiFi 6 is provided by an Intel 802.11ax module.