ASRock has demonstrated its new series of A-Style Intel motherboards and their special waterproof qualities. These new motherboards use a “Conformal Coating” to prevent a “not-so-fun sizzling barbeque fest” should you accidentally spill any conductive substance onto them. The coating is also said to help reduce the impact of other hazards on your motherboard; such as dust, corrosion and extreme temperatures.
A press release on ASRock’s site informs us that “The special layer of Conformal Coating makes ASRock's motherboards invulnerable to conductive liquids, so overclockers won't have to worry about accidently spilling liquid nitrogen, liquid helium or even clam chowder over their motherboards while they are overclocking. Along with conductive liquids, Conformal Coating also protects the motherboard against dust, corrosion and extreme temperatures. It is the ultimate armor for the upcoming 8 Series motherboards.”
This sounds good but it was still good to see some proof in the form of the video above, which simply shows a Z87 chipset A-Style motherboard turned on and running what looks like some kind of game graphics demonstration program, while water flows over it. The title of the video, published on YouTube, suggests you should “not try this at home”. Also, of course, some pins on the motherboard need to stay conductive in order to function and these are avoided by the stream of water and remain uncovered by the Conformal Coating.
The motherboard demonstrated in the video is the ASRock Z87 OC Formula. It will be part of the upcoming 8-series motherboards launched to accompany Intel’s Haswell chips. Though waterproofing is a very interesting USP, ASRock’s A-Style series will also come with some other pretty tasty enhancements such as:
- Purity Sound – aimed at satisfying audiophiles with 7.1 channel HD audio with Realtek ALC1150 audio codec, 115dB SNR DAC with Differential Amplifier, TI® 5532 Premium Headset Amplifier which supports up to 600 ohm headphones, cap less Direct Drive technology, EMI shielding cover, PCB isolate shielding and support for DTS Connect.
- HDMI-In – This will allow you to conveniently toggle between the computer's screen and the secondary device's screen with a hotkey, or even use their secondary device without powering on the computer.
- Wireless comms - 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v4.0.
- Home Cloud – this feature is yet to be detailed.
In addition ASRock informs us that selected members of the A-Style motherboard range will come with a free bundled Wi-SD front tray which includes 4 USB 3.0 ports and an SD 3.0 card slot. These new A-Style motherboards are expected to debut at Computex Taipei, just over a week from now.
