ASRock X870E Taichi Motherboard Review

The Taichi range of motherboards from ASRock has always been a strong contender, offering a unique, premium design, swathes of features, and an affordable price point compared to the competition. With their latest iteration, featuring the X870E chipset, if you’re looking at this board, you’re likely in a position where you want or need the fastest connectivity, mass amounts of storage options, and the most robust power delivery for the latest generation of AMD processors.

The X870E chipset itself is a beast, bringing full PCIe 5.0 support for both your graphics card and cutting-edge NVMe SSDs, ensuring incredible bandwidth for today’s most demanding applications and games. You’ll also find comprehensive DDR5 memory support, pushing speeds to new heights for ultimate system responsiveness. But beyond the raw chipset capabilities, the “E” designation in X870E indicates an even greater focus on connectivity, often doubling the USB and SATA ports compared to a standard X870 board, and adding more PCIe lanes for expanded functionality. This means the X870E Taichi is designed to be the absolute bedrock for a truly high-end system, ready to handle everything from extreme gaming to intensive content creation and beyond.

What sets the ASRock X870E Taichi apart, beyond its impressive specifications, is the “Philosophy of Infinite Potential” that underpins the Taichi series. This isn’t just about raw numbers; it’s about a board that’s built to fulfil every task with style and versatility. We’re talking about a highly optimised VRM design, ensuring incredibly stable and clean power delivery even under heavy load. ASRock also emphasises DIY-friendly features, like toolless M.2 heatsinks and an “EZ Release” for graphics cards, making installation a breeze. Add to that the inclusion of Wi-Fi 7, 5G Ethernet, and multiple USB4 Type-C ports, and you have a motherboard that’s truly pushing the boundaries of connectivity.

Of course, with all these top-tier features, the Taichi has historically managed to hit a sweet spot in pricing. While it’s certainly a premium board, it often undercuts some of its direct competitors while delivering an equivalent, if not superior, feature set. For enthusiasts who demand both performance and a distinctive look without completely breaking the bank, the X870E Taichi aims to be that perfect blend of power and polish.

So, as we dive deep into the ASRock X870E Taichi, we’ll be looking at its design, build quality, extensive feature set, and putting its performance through our rigorous benchmarks. Does this board truly embody its philosophy of infinite potential and deliver the ultimate platform for your next AMD build? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out.

Features

• Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors
• 24+2+1 Phase Power Design, 110A SPS
• 4 x DDR5 DIMMs
  Supports Dual Channel, up to 8200+ (OC)
• 2 PCIe 5.0 x16
• Graphics Output Options: 2 USB4 Type-C, 1 HDMI
• Realtek ALC4082 5.1 CH HD Audio Codec,
  ESS SABRE9219 DAC, WIMA Audio Caps
• 1 Blazing M.2 (PCIe Gen5x4)
  3 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4)
  6 SATA3
• 2 USB4 Type-C (Rear),
  1 USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front),
  5 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A (Rear),
  7 USB 3.2 Gen1 (3 Rear, 4 Front)
• 5G LAN
• 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 + Bluetooth
• Supports Graphics Card EZ Release, Toolless Multi-Layer M.2 Heatsink, M.2 Bottom Heatsink