ASRock Unveils Motherboards For Ryzen 9000 At Computex 2024: X870E Taichi and X870E Taichi Lite
by Gavin Bonshor on June 6, 2024 10:20 AM EST
During Computex 2024, ASRock held an event to unveil some of its upcoming X870E motherboards, designed for AMD's Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series processors. ASRock's announcement includes a pair of Taichi-branded boards, the X870E Taichi and the lighter X870E Taichi lite, which uses AMD's X870E (Promontory 21) chipset for AM5.
The current flagship model announced from ASRock's X870E line-up for Ryzen 9000 is the ASRock X870E Taichi. ASRock is advertising a large 27-phase power delivery through 110A SPS, suggesting this board is designed for overclockers and all-around power users. Two PCIe 5.0 x16 slots (operating in either x16/x0 or x8/x8) provide high-speed bandwidth for cutting-edge graphics cards and other devices. Meanwhile, ASRock has gone with 4 DIMM slots on this board, so system builders will be able to max out the board's memory capacity at the cost of bandwidth.
The storage offering is impressive; besides the obligatory PCIe Gen5 x4 M.2 slot (Blazing M.2), ASRock has outfit the board with another three PCIe Gen4 x4 (Hyper) M.2 slots. Also present are two USB4 Type-C ports for high-bandwidth external I/O, while networking support is a solid pairing of a discrete Wi-Fi 7 controller with a Realtek 5Gb Ethernet controller (and the first AM5 board we've come across with something faster than a 2.5GbE controller).
The audio setup includes a Realtek ALC4082 codec and ESS SABRE9218 DAC supporting high-fidelity sound. The BIOS flashback feature is also a nice touch, and we believe this should be a feature on all mid-range to high-end motherboards, which provides an easy way to update the firmware without installing a CPU. And, as no high-end board would be complete without it, ASRock has put RGB lighting on the X870E Taichi as well.
Ultimately, as ASRock's high-end X870E board, the X870E Taichi comes with pretty much every last cutting-edge technology that ASRock can fit on the board.
Comparatively, the ASRock X870E Taichi Lite is a more streamlined and functional version of the X870E Taichi. The Lite retaining all of the latter's key features, including the 27-phase power delivery with 110A smart power stages, dual PCIe 5.0 x16 slots operating at x16 or x8/x8, four DDR5 DIMM slots, and four M.2 slots (1x Gen5 + 3x Gen4). The only significant difference is aesthetics: the Taichi Lite features a simpler silver-themed design without the RGB lighting, while the standard Taichi has a more intricate gold-accented and fanciful aesthetics.
In terms of availability, ASRock is not disclosing a release date for the board at the show. And, checking around with other tech journalists, Andreas Schilling from HawrdwareLUXX has heard that X870E and X870 motherboards aren't expected to be available in time for the Ryzen 9000 series launch. We will investigate this and contact the motherboard vendors to confirm the situation. Though as X870E/X870 boards barely differ from the current crop of X670E/B650E boards to begin with, the Ryzen 9000 series won't be fazed by a lack of slightly newer motherboards.
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nfriedly - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
LOL, at that janky power connection just so they can light up the RGB!Silver5urfer - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
Waste of all those VRMs, the Ryzen 9000 processors got a huge TDP reduction for the 8C part and the reduced clock speeds, the 12 and 16C parts did not get that but they got Clockspeed reduction for base clocks. And since its AMD the max limit on these will be 250W, that is puny wattage for those big power stages, like wtf, any Z490 board can handle that light power load.Only PCIe and other components require VRMs but those are not even part of the CPU and RAM power stages. Next is AMD has no OCing past 250W Socket. All that money is down the drain.
AMD should have added a 50W extra power on the 16C part and let it rip. Shame. Also I noticed they are still using that ALC408x that was plagued with issues all over and what not. I wonder what's the LAN controller if it's Intel i226V then expect nothing but issues.
So far it's a mediocre launch in my book.
Zen 5 does not have significant SMT advantage like how Zen 4 did over Zen 3 along with high clockspeeds. Infact it got a base clock reduction and TDP reduction for 8C part. Maybe AMD thought lets have Zen 6 as a Zen 4 again..I hope so.
X870 does not add anything new for the chipset bus link the X670 and X870 are capped by PCIex4 4.0 BUS link speed unlike Intel DMI which has PCIex8 4.0 lanes for the BUS since Z790.
Only added benefits are USB4 controllers and Wifi7.
Also the clowns at ASRock made Aqua board with all USB C connectors on the rear I/O. They think this is an Apple wannabe machine or what ?
shabby - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
This must be Pat's account, he's so mad...GeoffreyA - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
It's become a marketing circus, the VRMs.ballsystemlord - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
I agree. 4-6 phases used to be common with the B550 X570 series. I don't see how more than double that number will help things.Also, why no M.2 on the back of the board? Like to help cool it?
True, it might not be compatible with all cases, but then if you're custom building your own PC, which is where this board is aimed, then picking out a particular case or modding a case isn't that big of a deal.
GeoffreyA - Friday, June 7, 2024 - link
I think what happened is a reaction taken too far. In the old days, VRMs were often neglected and poor. Then in the 2010s, motherboards and VRMs got better. Ryzen motherboards were often graded on the strength of their VRM and its cooling, and the higher-end boards had more phases. Instead of stopping when "it was enough," they've been adding more and more.Good point about the M.2.
meacupla - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
The number of VRM phases on this mobo is overkill for a threadripper.Unless AMD intends to release a 64 core for AM5...
Phiro69 - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
I realize the challenge in writing even a quickie-quick article off a puff piece press release, and I realize this wholly-owned site beneath tom's hardware is just a shell of its original incarnation, but this article nothing but a load of journalistic garbage.> The four DDR5 DIMM slots allow users to experience the most advanced memory technology for faster and more powerful configurations.
and
> The X870E Taichi is a premium motherboard with a slew of features to help attain superior performance and be future-proof for emerging technologies.
This whole article smells like a generative ai prompt. JFC. You're better off just posting a link to ASRock's press release and saving the generative ai butthole licking.
PeachNCream - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
For one, Future owns THG and AT so it's more of the neglected, low-traffic parallel to Tom's Hardware and less a subsidiary. Most of the writers publish at THG where there is literally 6x the traffic.As for the article content, Future obviously relies on free samples sent before release by companies so they cannot afford to burn bridges. Reviews still seem pretty fair when you look at the data and results, but fluff articles are a great way to keep the samples incoming and can toe to company line without calling into question the unfortunate position all but the most powerful tech journalists find themselves in these days - acting as minimal-cost advertisers for the assembly line output.
Also, AT's articles seem to be templates in a lot of cases (or at least were which was obvious when copy-paste errors and leftover data from previous articles shows up in new ones and we reader-editors point it out in the comments section heh!) so a writer is coping with structured formatting, possibly word count requirements, and other limitations including deadlines for publication. It might be a popular accusation to call a piece of written work AI generated, but I'm confidant that isn't the case here yet. You're just looking at a writer working within a set of constraints and the output demonstrates those limits. Honestly after YEARS of pushing out articles, you'd be pretty uninspired and look to things like the DDR5 line to fill word count.
Just give them a break and be happy the site still exists. The more we cheer for their success, the less likely AT's URL will end up redirecting to Tom's Hardware someday.
Koenig168 - Thursday, June 6, 2024 - link
Both Taichis do not have "three Hyper M.2 slots (PCIe Gen5 x4)". It's one Gen5 and three Gen4.