ASRock X570 Taichi Motherboard Review

ASRock X570 Taichi It's no secret that ASRock Taichi series has given us some of the best-looking motherboards in the world. Not only that but with ASRocks inability to build something poorly, they're often some of the best made and performing solutions on the market too. Of course, with so many new motherboards launching today (all the links are below), we're spoilt for choice, but without a doubt, the ASRock X570 Taichi is stunning, possibly even more so than any other in the office today. There is the infamous Taichi clock work design featured on the front of the board, with a massive heatsink that covers more than half of the motherboard. There are more graphics on the I/O cover, and even on the massive heatsink backplate on the rear of the board. So, not only does it look amazing, but it's also got more heatsinks and armour on it than a space shuttle (slight over exaggeration). Albeit the shuttle wouldn't feature Polychrome ARGB lighting options, but that's their loss, not ASRocks. It's not all show and no go though. The "XXL Aluminium Alloy" VRM heatsink and heatpipe combo offer big cooling performance for the motherboards overclocking abilities. There's an impressive 14 Power Phase setup under there, running a bank of 60A power chokes, with an 8+4 12v power delivery. Not the most extreme we've seen, but it's certainly enough to class it as enthusiast overclocking ready. With PCIe 4.0 throughout, robust M.2 Gen 4 options with huge heatsinks, triple 16x PCIe lanes, and 2 x 4x lanes, WiFi 6, Gigabit LAN and DTS audio through the ALC1220 chipset. Seriously, you're not left wanting for more when it comes to connectivity. The Taichi has a little bit of everything thrown in. Features Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000 and 3000 Series processorsIntel® Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.0Supports DDR4 4666+ (OC)3 PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 PCIe 4.0 x1NVIDIA® NVLink™, Quad SLI™, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Supports Purity Sound™ 4 & DTS Connect8 SATA3, 2 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA3), 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4)3 USB 3.2 Gen2 (Rear Type A+C, Front Type-C), 8 USB 3.2 Gen1 (2 Front, 6 Rear)Intel® Gigabit LANASRock Polychrome SYNC CPU Support Please keep in mind that Ryzen X570 motherboards only support Ryzen 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen CPUs. Despite being AM4 sockets, they do not currently work with Ryzen 1st Gen processors. Furthermore, for those wanting to use the full PCIe 4.0 functionality, you'll also need to use the latest 3rd Gen CPUs. Show me More We've got a LOT of new reviews to show you today, check out the entire list of motherboards, CPUs and graphics cards below; Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard ReviewASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review ReviewMSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard ReviewASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard ReviewASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard ReviewMSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard ReviewASRock X570 Motherboard ReviewASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard ReviewAMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards ReviewAMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review Photo Gallery How We Test Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Testing Your Own System Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with. Intel Testbenches Z390 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Intel Core i9-9900KRAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua D15SGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Z370 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Intel Core i7-8700KRAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua D15SGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X299 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Intel Core i9-7900XRAM – Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit B360 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Intel Core i7-8700KRAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua D15SGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AMD Testbenches X399 (Threadripper) Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Threadripper 1950XRAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Noctua D15SGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X570 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Ryzen 9 3900XRAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X470 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Ryzen 7 2700XRAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X370 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Ryzen 7 1800XRAM – GeIL DDR4 2977MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit B450 Motherboard – Changes Per ReviewCPU – Ryzen 7 2700XRAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Games and Settings Used All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)DX12 Medium PresetPure Hair OffDeus Ex (Steam)DX12 Medium PresetGhost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay)Medium PresetTurf Effects OffFar Cry Primal (Uplay)Normal Preset Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download)FireStrike (1080p) BenchmarkUnigine Superposition (download)1080p Extreme BenchmarkPCMark 10 Professional (download)Express BenchmarkWPrime (download)32M and 1024MPower usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% completeCineBench R15 (download)CPU MultiCPU SingleCineBench R20 (download)CPU MultiCPU SingleHandbrake (download)Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below)AIDA64 Engineer (download)CPU-Z (download)HWMonitor (download) Handbrake To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps, and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the “normal” profile. Other Notes A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection. Updates All games, graphics card drivers, BIOS, Windows and everything else is always kept up to date with the latest available. Older benchmarks may not be retested until stated otherwise. However, all hardware will be tested with the best and latest firmware and software available to that hardware at the time of review. As of 1st of May 2018, all hardware was retested on their latest drivers. Anything after this date will again be using their most recent versions available to them. Thanks Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible! Synthetic Benchmarks Scores 3DMark – 24083Unigine – 5834PCMark 10 – 7512WPrime – 2.523Cinebench R15 – 203/3181Cinebench R20 – 511/7215Handbrake – 80.6 3DMark Firestrike Unigine Superposition PCMark 10 Express WPrime Cinebench R15 CineBench R20 Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K Gaming Performance Scores Rise of the Tomb Raider – 207.52Deus Ex – 95.2/130.1Ghost Recon – 121.1/133.1Far Cry – 104/133 Rise of the Tomb Raider Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Ghost Recon Far Cry Overclocking With X570 being a brand new platform, we have chosen to put the overclocking testing on hold. We've tested around ten motherboards with the overclocked CPU settings and honest, the results were broadly the same. For now, I refer you to our CPU reviews, which feature the overclocking results of the X570 chipset. I'll also include the links on the first and last pages of each motherboard review. AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review We're waiting for the platform to mature, get the launch out of the way, and we'll then take a deeper dive into overclocking on X570 with Ryzen 3rd Gen. Not only do we think this will be more useful to you, we think we'll also be able to get even better results to differentiate the motherboards when we do. Sit tight, it's coming, and we're sure it'll be worth the wait. Power ConsumptionS How Much Does it Cost? Unfortunately, at the time of writing we didn't have any pricing information. However, you can check the latest prices in the UK here or in the US here. However, we're not expecting this to be a particularly affordable, as it's a very high-end enthusiast solution, packed with impressive features. Overview ASRock has always impressed with their Taichi series of motherboards. However, I think they've finally exceeded my expectations with their new X570 models. Not only is this one of the absolutely best-looking motherboards on the market today, it's also one of the fastest X570 motherboards we've tested. Good looks and great performance? What more do you really desire! Build Quality Again, the motherboard is up there with the best any of their rivals has to offer on this launch. ASRocks 14 Power Phase Design, combined with premium components should allow you to unleash the full overclocking potential of any of the flagship Ryzen CPUs. Even if you're not using it to overclock though, the power and stability are something we can all appreciate. Then you have those massive VRM heatsinks with a thick heatpipe dealing with the heat. Plus, almost the entire lower section of the motherboard is one huge heatsink, providing armour and cooling for the three built-in Gen4 M.2 mounts. If that wasn't enough, the back of the motherboard has a huge metal plate too. Performance Straight away, the Taichi gave us our 3rd fastest 3DMark of all time, sitting just behind two ASUS X570 boards. It's also in the top of Unigine, PCMark 10, and Cinebench. It didn't beat the competition at WPrime, but it's certainly up there with the other X570 boards, so I won't cry about that. The gaming performance is strong too, beating out previous generation chipsets from AMD easily enough, and even giving us our 3rd fastest score for RotTR. Added Value The real value of this motherboard comes from the performance and the stunning aesthetics in my opinion. However, you do get nice features like ARGB using Polychrome Sync, a built-in I/O shield, BIOS Flashback, DTS Connect and much more, that certainly improve the usage experience. Should I Buy One If ASRock can get the pricing just right, this may end up being one of the hottest selling X570 motherboards on the market. It's certainly one of my favourites, and with performance, build quality and style like this, it's easy to see why. Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard ReviewASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review ReviewMSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard ReviewASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard ReviewASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard ReviewMSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard ReviewASRock X570 Motherboard ReviewASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard ReviewAMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards ReviewAMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review