ASRock releases W790 WS R2.0 motherboard

Last year, Intel unveiled the Sapphire Rapids HEDT/workstation processors, encompassing both the Xeon WX-3400 and WX-2400 series, shortly after which ASRock introduced the W790 WS motherboard. ASRock announced the launch of the W790 WS R2.0 motherboard, a refined iteration of its predecessor, streamlined by reducing some I/O features.

The W790 WS R2.0 motherboard retains its sleek, black aesthetic with an E-ATX form factor, measuring 30.5 x 27.7 cm. It features a robust 20+2 phase power design on a 14-layer PCB, where the cooling armor in the power region has been notably simplified, omitting heat pipes and cooling fans. It supports quad-channel memory with eight DDR5 memory slots, EEC error correction, and a maximum capacity of up to 2TB; it offers five full-length PCIe slots—two PCIe 5.0 x16, two PCIe 5.0 x8, and one PCIe 4.0 x16, with the PCIe 5.0 slots directly connected to the processor and the PCIe 4.0 slot provided by the PCH. Additionally, there are four PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots, one of which supports M.2 2230/2242/2260/2280 specifications, while the other three accommodate M.2 2260/2280, all equipped with heatsinks; it also provides eight SATA 3.0 interfaces and one PCIe 4.0 x4 U.2 interface.

ASRock has eliminated the integrated I/O backplate in the new motherboard, also reducing the interface options, no longer supporting Thunderbolt 4 or Wi-Fi 6E. The rear I/O interface includes two USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, three USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports, a 10G Ethernet port (Marvell AQC113CS), a 2.5G Ethernet port (Intel I226LM), an SPDIF output, and audio ports, with the sound card being a Realtek ALC897. However, it retains the BIOS FlashBack button, simplifying the BIOS updating process. Furthermore, the front I/O still features a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C socket, along with USB 3.2 Gen1 and USB 2.0 sockets.