NO, THE COGS DON’T MOVE. We were
disappointed, too. Straight out the box,
the X570 Taichi from ASRock looks as
though it would be just as comfortable
behind the control panel of a 1900s steam
locomotive as it would inside a new PC
build. It’s a solid piece, with a full metal
backplate and heavy heatsink armor
covering much of the board. We dig it.
Refusing to be disillusioned by the lack
of a piercing steam whistle when we first
powered it up, we pressed on.
This is part of the vanguard of X570
motherboards introducing NVMe Gen4
support, which promises insane transfer
speeds with M.2 drives. With a compatible
SSD plugged in, the numbers speak for
themselves. Our benchmark figure is an
amalgamated score from several tests,
but be assured that the transfer speeds
did hit the legendary 5000MB/s on more
than one run. These boards are designed
to support the new AMD Ryzen 3000
series of CPUs, which promise better
performance than ever before.
The further in we got with testing this
board, the more pleased we became.
Coupled with AMD’s new high-end
processor, the Ryzen 9 3900X, the Taichi
sailed through our benchmarks with ease.
ASRock has got the memory frequency
nailed this time around; a simple trip into
the BIOS to switch on the included XMP
profile, and our RAM was instantly up and
running at the proper 3,200MHz. It was a
slick setup process, only delayed by the
Steampunk style on a thoroughly modern mobo
ASRock X570 Taichi
9
VERDICT ASRock X570 TaichiNUCLEAR POWER Almighty
M.2 transfer speeds; sturdy
and attractive design; great
I/O support.
STEAM ENGINE High idle power draw;
expensive relative to X470 boards; the
cogs don’t turn!
$300, http://www.asrock.comSPECIFICATIONSChipset/Socket X570/AM
Form Factor ATX
Memory Support 128GB DDR4 @ 4,666MT/s
M.2/U.2 Support 3x M.2
SATA Support 8x SATA 6Gb/s
Max PCIe Support 3x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x8x8)
Rear I/O
6x USB 3.2 Gen1, 1x USB
3.2 Gen2, 1x USB 3.2
Type-C, HDMI, PS/2 port,
Intel Gigabit Ethernet,
Wireless A/C, 5.1 audio-
out, optical audio-outASRock X570 Taichi Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming
Tech ARP’s X264 (fps) 61.07 61.84
Cinebench R15 Multi (Index) 2,999 2,994
Fry Render (m:s) 01:26 01:32
AIDA64 Memory Latency (ns) 76 78
CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Read (MB/s) 4,996 1,741
CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Write (MB/s) 4,272 1,716
Power Draw Idle/Load (Watts) 63/ 155 47 /162
Total War: Warhammer II (fps) 58 58
Lowest Voltage @ 4.2GHz (Volts) 1.17 1.17
Maximum OC Achieved (GHz @ Volts) 4.2 @ 1.17 4.2 @ 1.17BENCHMARKSBest scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an AMD Ryzen 3900X, 32GB of Corsair Dominator RGB Pro, an
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and a 2TB Gigabyte Aorus NVMe Gen4 SSD. Benchmark tests were performed with
auto-overclocking turned off. Total War: Warhammer II was tested at the ultra preset at 1440p.need to remove the heat shield from our
M.2 SSD in order to install it underneath
the board’s hefty heatsink plate.
Like most of the newly available X570
motherboards, the Taichi has its own
active cooling solution: a dinky 36.8mm
fan fitted under the armor, spinning at
5,000rpm, and promising up to 50,000
hours of operating time. There’s passive
cooling, too, with a large aluminum alloy
heatsink on the opposite corner of the
board. It’s a necessary addition, because
the PCIe 4.0 slots on the Taichi demand a
significant amount of power when fully
equipped; about a third more while idling
than previous X470 boards. A 60-Amp
power choke and ASRock’s smart power
phase technology mean that wattage at
maximum CPU load is actually lower than
on older boards.CORE STABILITY
Overclocking headroom on the new
Ryzen 3000 series chips is pretty limited,
though. We weren’t able to push the 3900X
any further than 4.2GHz across all cores,
despite our best efforts. Individual cores
can be pushed as high as 4.5GHz, but even
that is unreliable and prone to crashes.
That’s not a reflection on the board,
however; the support is there, the chip
simply can’t handle higher frequencies.
When it comes to I/O support, this
motherboard comes prepared. The rear
I/O supports HDMI output for CPUs with
integrated graphics, six USB 3.2 ports,and a USB Type-C port. There’s still a
trusty old PS/2 connector, too, although
we can’t imagine it will see too much
use on this mobo. The board itself has
headers for USB 3.2, Type-C, and even
Thunderbolt 3 ports from the front I/O,
although the latter does require an AIC
R2.0 adapter. PCIe 4.0 is included as
well, with twice the potential speed of
the previous generation. The PCIe slots
are stainless steel with additional anchor
points, ensuring that even heavy GPUs
can be safely installed.
Simply put, the Taichi has more in
common with a bullet train than a steam
engine. The clockwork stylings on the
board only run skin deep; underneath,
this is a brilliantly adaptive and powerful
centerpiece for any new build. ASRock’s
Polychrome RGB lighting clashes a little
with the chrome and dark metal on the
board when in its default rainbow mode,
but set it to a bright orange or yellow,
and this mobo looks awesome. At $300,
it isn’t a cheap option, but if you’re
contemplating a high-end new Ryzen
processor, this is the board you want
supporting it. –CHRISTIAN GUYTONmaximumpc.com OCT 2019 MAXIMUMPC 83