asrock z590 taichui ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

A few months ago, ASRock released their latest motherboard under the Taichi series. Here, their flagship model is the Z590 Taichi. Today in our ASRock Z590 Taichi review, we’ll discuss the different aspects that make the Z590 one of the best.

It’s technically produced for the premium market, and with its excellent performance, the Z590 Taichi takes the latest USB-4 standard. This is with the Thunderbolt 4 technology that offers a great transfer rate of 40Gb/s. It’s a transfer rate that’s ideal for ultra-high-speed external storage devices.

ASRock Z590 Taichi Packaging

Let’s begin our ASRock Z590 Taichi review by looking at its packaging and contents.

Asrock Z590 Taichi review 01 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 02 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

The ASRock Z590 Taichi came in a premium-looking box that’s sturdy and durable enough to protect the product inside. The front displays a huge neon logo of the Taichi series at the centre, which is quite eye-catching. ASRock is written on the upper-left corner of the box, while Z590 Taichi can be seen below the logo.

ASRock’s packaging is unique since it’s a pull-out box that has a flip-open portion that’s similar to a book. Flipping this part, the left portion reveals the features of the motherboard and other vital details about it. You’ll even find several images present to make it easier to understand its functions.

The right side of the package gives you a sneak peek of the ASRock Z590 Taichi motherboard. There’s a transparent section right at the centre that allows you to see the product.

Asrock Z590 Taichi review 13 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

Once you open the package, you’ll notice that there are two separate boxes inside. One houses the Z590 Taichi, while the other keeps the additional item included in the package.

After pulling out the first box, you’ll find the board fully protected by thick foam lining each side. You won’t have to worry about it getting damaged while being delivered to your home or office.

The other box is divided into two sections. One part is where you’ll find the quick installation guide, software installation guide, plus ASRock Taichi’s sticker sheet and postcard. The other is where you’ll find all the necessary accessories for running the system right out of the box.

These items include two Killer AX-1675x antennas, three black SATA 6Gbps cables, and two USB 2.0 type-A expansion cards. Also, there’s the ASRock Torx screwdriver, two M.2 screw kits, two ASRock velcro cable-ties, and an ASRock GPU holder. Of course, the company included their ASRock bracket kit and 3cm VRM fan as well.

Next up, our ASRock Z590 Taichi review will take a look at its functionality and design.

ASRock Z590 Taichi Review – Design and Functionality

The Taichi series’ overall design followed a continuous curve over the last years. Now considered as a part of ASRock’s premium series, its aesthetics have focused on utilising cogwheels. The company uses this as a way to express its “Philosophy of Infinite Potential”.

Our ASRock Z590 Taichi review will first focus on the board’s aesthetics.

The Z590 Taichi has a predominantly black theme that complements its sleek design. It comes with a PCB, heatsinks, and PCIe slot armour which are all primarily black.

Asrock Z590 Taichi review 03 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 04 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 05 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 06 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 07 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 08 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 09 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 10 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 11 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Asrock Z590 Taichi review 12 ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

Taichi goes for the usual cogwheel-inspired style on the heatsink and rear panel cover that both feature RGB LED lights. The other cogwheel that’s on the rear IO cover is a moving mechanical portion.

The motherboard has a ton of customisable RGB LEDs with four zones. There are two located in the plastic rear panel cover, while the other is in the chipset heatsink. The last zone is along the right-hand portion of the board that gives off an underglow effect.

The lower section of the Z590 Taichi is dominated by the PCIe slot area. It includes two PCIe 4.0 slots that work at x16 and x8/x8.

There’s another full-length slot that’s electronically locked down to the PCIe 3.0 x4. Lastly, you’ll find one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot as well.

All of the full-length slots on the board include the company’s Steel Slot reinforcement. For the PCIe armour, it blends nicely with the board’s M.2 heatsinks.

The Z590 Taichi has one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot. It also comes with two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots that support SATA.

ASRock included a total of eight SATA connectors. Six of these are powered by the chipset, and two by the ASMedia ASM-1061 SATA controller. Just as expected, the chipset SATA ports support RAID 0, 1, 5, & 10 arrays.

The board’s base, specifically on its right, has a little overclocker toolkit. It consists of a power & reset button, 2-digit LED debugger, plus a clear CMOS button.

The board’s edge has eight 4-pin headers. This includes one for the CPU fan and another that also works as a water-pump header and CPU fan. The other six are for the chassis fans.

Its rear panel cover has an integrated mechanical cogwheel that can spin clockwise and counterclockwise using a stepping motor. This motor is necessary to provide rotation and power to the cog.

Via the firmware, you can adjust the time intervals between rotations. These include 5, 10, 30, and 60-minute pauses.

The board’s rear panel also has a great set of outputs and inputs, including the 40Gbps Type-C dual Thunderbolt 4. These offer support for compatible and compliant Thunderbolt monitors.

Other Available USB Connectivity

To note, other USB connections include the following:

  • Two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A and x4 USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports
  • Five 3.5mm audio jacks
  • An S/PDIF optical output

These are all powered via the ESS Sabre 9218-DAC and Realtek ALC-1220 HD audio codec pairing. There’s even an HDMI 2.0 video output that offers access to the Intel UHD built-in graphics.

For networking, ASRock included two RJ-45 ports. One is powered via an Intel I219V Gigabit controller, while the other is by a Killer E-3100G 2.5 GbE. Lastly, the rear panel consists of the BIOS Flashback button as well.

The Type-A USB 3.2 G1 ports are set between the audio and HDMI 2.0 connectors. These are called the Lightning Gaming ports by ASRock.

Backplate

The Z590 Tachi’s rear features a half-covered backplate that includes additional thermal properties to the power delivery’s rear. In addition, it provides additional rigidity across the motherboard.

The metal backplate helps strengthen the board, preventing any instances of bending due to heavy graphics cards or coolers. Aside from this, it optimises airflow and improves stability.

Key Features of the ASRock Z590 Taichi

This time on our ASRock Z590 Taichi review, we’ll discuss the motherboard’s key features.

Customised MOS FAN

The Z590 Taichi’s optimised fan offers better heat dissipation. You can utilise the bundled 3CM high-performance fan or upgrade to a 4CM fan that quietly and efficiently provides cooling.

Smart Power Stage

The newest SPS or Smart Power Stage technology is optimised for monitoring each of the motherboard’s phases’ temperature and current. As a result, it offers enhanced performance and OC capability, delivering smoother power for the CPU.

Lightning Gaming Ports

The Lightning Gaming Ports are designed for enthusiasts and gamers. These ports are sourced from two different controller interfaces that let gamers connect high-speed peripherals with the lowest jitter latency. With that, you can bring out your best, show exceptional performance, and win competitions.

Premium 90A Power Choke

The premium 90A power chokes are better than traditional chokes. These enhance the saturation current by three times, providing the motherboard better Vcore voltage.

PCIe 4.0 High-Speed M.2 Solution

The ASRock Z590 Taichi can accommodate multiple M.2 storage devices. Plus, one of these supports the next-gen PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD. Its performing speed is higher by twice of the previous generation, making data transfer a lightning-fast experience.

Thunderbolt 4 Technology

Thunderbolt 4 or USB 4.0 offers versatility and speed to the most advanced USB-C. With that, it provides a simple yet fast connection level for work or home.

This technology also allows for high-speed data transfer up to 40Gbps. Plus, it enables you to connect up to five Thunderbolt devices with a single cable.

Nahimic Audio and WIMA Audio Caps

Nahimic Audio is a feature that offers a superior listening experience with rich and vibrant detail. Whether you use a headset, headphones, internal or external speakers, you’ll enjoy high-quality audio.

WIMA Audio Caps is optimised for high-end audio apps and delivers balanced audio to satisfy the most demanding audiophiles.

Killer Ethernet E-3100 and Wi-Fi 6E Combined

The Killer Ethernet controller is specifically designed for competitive gamers and performance-hungry users. For the Z590 Taichi, it’s equipped with Killer E-3100 2.5G Ethernet with Wi-Fi 6E solution. These technologies work together, allowing the detection and prioritisation engine to provide the ultimate networking experience.

These features make the Z590 Taichi excellent for gaming and multimedia applications.

Killer DoubleShot Pro

Killer DoubleShot Pro enables Killer Ethernet and Killer Wireless interfaces to operate simultaneously. As a result, it gives you maximum throughput that reaches up to 4.9 Gbps.

This technology automatically uses the fastest network connection for high priority traffic. It ensures the prioritisation of the fastest and most reliable link. With the Killer DoubleShot Pro’s prioritisation engine, your system can prioritise handling high priority traffic like streaming and gaming.

Polychrome RGB

The RGB LEDs of motherboards from ASRock deliver superior aesthetics that you can manage via the Polychrome RGB software. Here, you can synchronise other Polychrome RGB Sync-certified peripherals and accessories to customise your entire PC build.

Wireless Dongle USB Bracket

Like selected motherboards, the Z590 Taichi comes with a wireless dongle USB bracket. Having this piece of hardware prevents interference when building your PC.

Flexible I/O Shield

ASRock’s I/O shield is adjustable during installation since the company provided more tolerance space on the motherboard. With that, you can fit the chassis perfectly without dealing with mechanical issues.

Water Pump Header

Z590 Taichi’s CPU fan header provides a maximum of 2A power to support the most popular water pumps. You can also adjust the water pump’s voltage for better cooling performance and less noise.

Full Spike Protection

Sometimes, motherboards have sensitive digital components that are prone to power surges. When this happens, the excess current may cause your system to malfunction.

ASRock Full Spike Protection has numerous technologies that protect your motherboard’s components from damages caused by unexpected voltage spikes.

Let us now discuss the product’s specifications.

Specifications

The board’s specifications is what we’ll discuss in our ASRock Z590 Taichi review.

It supports the 10th and 11th Generation Intel Core processors, uses Intel’s Z590 chipset, and works on Windows 10 64-bit. The ATX measures 12″ x 9.6″ and has a DDR-4 5000 – 2133MHz non-EEC, un-buffered 11th Generation memory that’s 128GB.

For its Ethernet, it has x1 2.5 Gigabit LAN 10|100|1000|2500 MB/s for the Killer E-3100. For the Intel 1219V, it’s x1 Gigabit LAN 10|100|1000 Mb/s.

Continue reading through our ASRock Z590 Taichi review to know how the motherboard performed during our tests.

Hands-on with the ASRock Z590 Taichi


This is where we get hands on with the ASRock Z590 Taichi and see how well it performed. Before we look into how it operated during our tests, let’s first check out its UEFI and software.

From the Z490 firmware to the newest Z590, ASRock didn’t make any notable changes to the UI. This isn’t an issue since their Taichi UEFI works adequately. Plus, it’s even pleasing to the eyes with its black-themed background accompanied by their cogwheel motifs.

The GUI features yellow main menu texts with white variable texts. There are grey highlights when the variables are hovered over or selected to let you know that it’s currently selected.

Aside from this, the Taichi UEFI is easy to navigate, which is mostly down to the OC Tweaker portion’s organisation. The three primary variables for overclocking are all set in their own areas, making them user-friendly and easy to navigate.

You can easily overclock the memory or gain from Intel’s current improvements on memory overclocking. Simply access the memory configuration submenu to find all the essential settings you need.

With a click of a button, you can easily enable the XMP 2.0 memory profiles with compatible memory kits. However, if you want to manually tweak the memory, you’ll need to adjust the DRAM voltage. You can do this by accessing the voltage submenu.

The ASRock Z590 Taichi comes with a set of highly functional software and applications. These include the A-Tuning software, Polychrome RGB, Live Update & App Store, Nahimic 3, and the XFast LAN utility.

The ASRock A-Tuning software is where you overclock the CPU and the BCLK or base clock frequency. Here, you will find different customisable voltage options like the DRAM voltage adjustment. It also includes the ASRock FAN-Tastic Tuning utility for managing fan curve profiles for each of the board’s 4-pin headers.

The A-Tuning software’s System Info section shows a list of real-time and current fan speeds, voltages, and frequencies. It uses its integrated sensors to provide these essential data.

The ASRock Polychrome RGB software is where you customise the look of your compatible components and peripherals. It provides multiple functionalities like providing preset profiles based on various auditory scenarios like music, gaming, and movies. Not only that, but it has a digital static suppressor for microphones that pick up too much background noise.

Another application is the ASRock XFast LAN utility which lets you keep track of internet traffic bandwidth. Here, you can also provide comparative ping statistics and create online budgets.

When it comes to its performance, the Z590 Taichi gave us excellent results. During our gaming and CPU tests, the board displayed competitive numbers all round.

2021 04 19 13 22 21 Untitled chart Infogram ASRock Z590 Taichi Review 2021 04 19 13 21 31 Untitled chart Infogram ASRock Z590 Taichi Review2021 04 19 13 23 55 Untitled chart Infogram ASRock Z590 Taichi Review

ASRock Z590 Taichi Review Summary

The ASRock Z590 Taichi may be an expensive motherboard, but it offers a lot for its price. It has a sleek and clean design with user-customisable elements like RGB LEDs and moving cogwheels. Plus, it comes with various premium features like Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E solution, 2.5 GbE networking, and more.

Aside from that, it has a range of user-friendly applications that have different uses

Most importantly, it performs excellently, so it’s an excellent choice if you’re planning to upgrade your system.

To conclude our ASRock Z590 Taichi review, this motherboard is a comprehensive addition to your PC that’s easy to recommend. If you want to purchase this item, you can check out the company’s store locator for local dealers.

So, there you have it. We hope you enjoyed our ASRock Z590 Taichi review!