ASRock Taichi X870E and Taichi X870E Lite Overview

Two Boards alike, one pretty, one "not".
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Music: "Earth Bound" by Slynk
Edited by Autumn

[@Neonmirrorblack]

The Ez-release GPU bracket is kind of a big deal with how completely sandwiched the retention clip is on modern boards. It's no longer just a matter of removing a CPU heat sink for some boards, you now have to also disassemble the top M.2 slot just to reach the clip. I'm willing to pay an additional $50 for that plus the pretty large backplate the normal Taichi has over the Lite. As far as fan tuning goes...it's nice that there's something useful with this board, but I'll just stick with "Fan Control".

[@opensourcedev22]

It's hard to justify these prices with mediocre PCIe lane configurations and no proper speed 4 dimm support

[@jmazoso]

Applies to 9000 series CPUs too, this whole generation is a pass all around.

[@mddunlap03]

Still better than anything intell offers.

[@mddunlap03]

​@jmazoso if you need that much pcie your already on threadripper

[@MaMuSlol]

@@mddunlap03 It's not just the lack of pcie slots, but also the fact that the second slot shares bandwidth with the main one if you ever dare to use it. Sure, it's fine if what you want to do is run two GPUS, but what if you want to add a much lower bandwidth card like a network card, a video capture card or even a sound card? Then you are compromising the performance of the GPU on the main slot for a pitance of bandwidth actually required to run the second device on the second slot. It would be nice to have an extra pcie x1/x2/x4 slot for those cases, or some kind of solution that allows the second slot to run at an even lower bandwidth without affecting the first slot.

[@hankwest5662]

I don't understand why mother board manufacturers are all obsessed with using all their lanes for all M.2. I love the steel legend x670e. It's the ONLY bother board with dedicated CPU lanes for both PCIE slots. Also, they were smart enough to position the 2nd PCIE slots at the lowest slot height, and the upper slot at the very top. Taichui, and others don't seem to have realized that big HPUs are like 3"+ thick.. and if you have a NIC or a capture card in the bottom slot it's going to suffocate your GPU. But all they seem to care about is "MOAR M.2".

[@ffp3]

Is 5G LAN and Wi-Fi 7 chipset works fine under linux? What is the NIC on this board? I saw MSI heavily advertising support for 320Mhz channel for WiFi 7 **unlike** their competitors, but they are using Qualcomm chip and the stability of that one under linux is still questionable.

[@nal_er]

Experiments for future creator boards. (1.) At what point is the extra 8pin power connector needed? Example: Is it needed for 2x 4070s? Or is it needed when you go over 2x 4080s? What is the threashold? (2.) PCIe lanes; How much of stability issues will creators have filling up all the slots with GPUs and drives? Can we avoid spending twice as much on threadripper builds with the new x870e advancements? (3.) Can we run 128 gigs of ram now with the new architecture at lower speeds with stability. AE artists need that. Thank you!

[@noenken]

Just ordered the X870E Taichi and the only reason for me to get it over the lite is ... the GPU easy release. I don't know why that piece of plastic is not on the lite. Seriously, ASRock? -.-

[@arthur_pd]

nice choice, i preodered the x870e nova wifi for my new personal setup, really like asrock as have top quality with lower prices vs other brands

[@noenken]

@@arthur_pd Unfortunately that's very relative ... The Taichi Ultimate was the MOST expensive X470 board from ASRock at 250,- Euros. The Pro RS is the LEAST expensive X870 board from ASRock at 250,- Euros. And my X870E Taichi is now almost 500,- Euros.

[@arthur_pd]

@@noenken that true if only speaking of 1 product, but if compare to another brands flagship, then it is one of the cheapest with matching features

[@vrealon7738]

Only 2 PCIe slots!? pass

[@LisaSamaritan]

That's because M.2 and USB is all the rage. Not that many is going to need 10+ USB ports and 3-4 M.2 slots. They could have given us more PCIe, but they chose this instead... If they gave us PCIe, then we could have chosen to add a card for extra USB or M.2 if we needed it.

[@hankwest5662]

Not only just 2 PCIE slots, but they are share the same lanes. How lame.

[@nebadon2025]

can we do 128gb ram yet without suffering massive performance loss?? cause if not i find these new boards and CPUs to be useless.

[@kelvinjinxd]

The new UDIMM-pin-compatible CUDIMM memory might solve this issue.

[@gnufied]

I am also curious if this improved 4x48GB support on these MBs + 9000 series.

[@Phynellius]

⁠@@gnufiedanything more than dual sticks will likely still be a challenge, but two 48s at over 8000 is still pretty impressive for AMD

[@nebadon2025]

@@Phynellius its also not enough memory for my 3D models, I am regularly going well over that with Blender, so sadly I am stuck on AM4 for the forseeable future as there is no way im spending 2-3x more for Threadripper build that functions pretty much the same as my current 5950X would with my mostly GPU bound loads.

[@Marin3r101]

I am curious why L1T has not spread out to other content services? Like I hear you guys talk about YT censoring content all the time in sly half-comments but you are not on Rumble or posting to another service.

[@Gelantious]

Really like them, but skip the wifi and give me 10Gbit NIC instead.

[@abavariannormiepleb9470]

AsRock has disqualified itself with that motherboard design cutting away the third PCIe slot, even if it only could have had chipset PCIe there. The ASUS ProArt X870E offers a third, electrically x4 PCIe slot.

[@kiiverkk]

This is serious problem with x600 and 800 boards, literally no choice except the very expensive ASUS ProArt when you just need x16 GPU + NIC that needs x4 (or forbid you need anything more, then totally screwed). GPU-s are fat so the second PCIe needs to be 5 slots down and that eliminates almost all boards from choice. Waiting for Taichi x570 successor but have not found anything as all AM5 boards are nerfed. Could hack something together with riser cables if completely desperate.

[@nal_er]

The problem with that one is it is missing an extra 8 pin power connector for if you are running 2 GPUs. You might be better off with the x870e Hero, but that one doesn't have 10 gig (sorta solved with adapter). One hand giveth and the other taketh away. I wish someone like our main man Wendel would talk about that. Does it matter for lets say running 2x 4070s or is it only and issue for running lets say 2x 4090s? What is the threshold needed for the extra 8 pin power plug?

[@HAM_An1mA]

Prizes are too high for just higher frequency memory support. Specially when x3d cpus dont really care for fast memory. I will probably get a cheap x670/b650 with a 9800x3d. Coming from 5800x3d/x570. For some reason I hope Intel Arrowlake will have cpus that on par with 9800x3d or better. Because the 9k serie and 870 chipsets are just not good enough as generational uplift.

[@r3drumg33k3]

Was the 8200 actually VT3 and memtest stable?

[@xpatrikpvp]

probably not... its a 2dpc mobo... and also its still quite a bit slower compared to my 6400 C30 1:1 on x670 proart with 7950x

[@poocruncha3266]

Man why does all of gigabytes 870, 870e boards have the Debug led and gpu release button, but on Gigabytes 670 boards only the expensive ones {400plus} have the led Debug and gpu button. i Bought a open box Aorus Master X670e Pro x white motherboard for 200 but it retails at 299,no led Debug,🙁or gpu button release button. Msi is getting with the program and its doing the same as gigabyte with more features than Asus and Asrock on cheaper models.

[@Skukkix23]

Man. Will there ever be a brave enough seller to just make a board with just 3x8 slots. All I want. Idc if the nvmes run trhough the chipset.

[@nebojsamamula1444]

Thats all nice but 480 $ in Eu is not what i was expecting .. To pricy .. any other advice for 7950x3d , something maybe less priced????? .... Then i will go lite b650e for 280 $ and forget about usb 4.... or steel legend 870 same price..

[@mddunlap03]

Been on x670e steel legend and it's come way down from launch prices just watch for sales

[@owlmostdead9492]

I don't care about anything until they give us more lanes, 4 channel memory is also kind of needed at the raw CPU powers we're talking about.

[@mddunlap03]

If your constrained you should be on threadeipper. People forget these are boards for gaming not workstations. Like buying a sports car then being mad that it dosent seat 6

[@owlmostdead9492]

@@mddunlap03 Threadripper is a terrible platform, neglected by board partners and AMD

[@naswinger]

we already have usb4? damn...

[@ericthedesigner]

we need more pci express lanes, that is all we've ever really needed.

[@PowellCat745]

The problem is companies want to sell workstation motherboards. Giving you more PCIe lanes defeats that purpose.

[@registeredblindgamer4350]

I am loving Ryzen 9000. My 9700x is running 6400MT/s on the memory with 2133mhz on FCLK and of course IMC is 1 to 1 with memory frequency. I tuned down the timings and I have a 58ns latency. I could maybe get it down to 56-57ns. At that point if I can I will be as low latency as my 5600x but with double the memory bandwidth. Epic stuff. I am loving using AVX512 in handbrake for x265 encodes. 1080p fast preset is on par with Vega 64's hardware encoder in terms of performance while crushing it in terms of quality. I am happy I went with Zen 5 tbh.

[@GlassPup]

Thanks for the early review. Currently, I can do pretty fast RAM speeds on my Gene, but I don’t see any real benefit with zen 4 over 6000C28. Guess I’ll wait until zen 6.

[@mddunlap03]

Lower latency larger dims at faster speeds. Basicly the same stuff you get with every uplift per gen. Again if your not looking for bleeding edge performance no high end board will ever be a must have

[@Bratfalken]

Nice to know my 4 sticks cl16 3600Mhz DDR4 on my 570 board with 5800X3D is flawless, never seen any problem running four sticks on it! The cookie was good! ;)

[@ronnyspanneveld8110]

Remind me again where is the memory controller.. oh yea in the CPU.. But hey i trust AMD i will put my 7800X3D on it and try 8000 FAAAAAAIIIIILLLLLLLL,, BEEP BEEP... YEAH four eyes.. not going to buy one since i have the by you recommended Asus 670e Creator with TB4 :P

[@Mpdarkguy]

> Top of the line most expensive board > Yeah I'd recommend just using 2/4 slots I can't wait for DDR5 to be figured out :(

[@albundy7718]

The Lite concept is a good start but it's still not cheap. Perhaps create a "Tachi even Liter" with 2.5G LAN and Wifi 6, perhaps even drop the USB4.

[@stargeezer8427]

I've been a fan of ASRock for a few years now, particularly their Taichi line (main is a 5800X3D Taichi X570 with a Taichi 7900XTX, that replaced the Taichi 6800 XT still running in another box). What I liked the most about ASRock was the general sense that they not only had good quality and features at a reasonable price, but the also weren't shy about trying new things/going a bit off the beaten path. Ever since PCIe Gen5 though, everything is stagnant and stupid, and it's not just ASRock. What exactly is the point of Gen5 when however many lanes/card slots/DIMM slots are on the board you can only ever use half of them to actually get the full speed? The "5090" is just now the first Gen5 GPU to be showing up, and the consumer M2 market isn't exactly brimming with Gen5 choices either. So not only are there few possibilities anyway, Gen5 board manufacturers might as well drop everything larger than M-ITX anyhow because one slot and two DIMMs is the apparent limit regardless. I'm not a board engineer, maybe I'm the stupid one and just don't understand how any of this works, fine. But I still think that if anyone would figure out a way to make a board with ONE Gen5 GPU slot and ONE Gen5 M2 slot, and populate the rest of it with an actual functional common sense/common use slot & lane arrangement (2-3 PCIe Gen4 x16 slots, maybe 1-2 Gen4 M2, a few front/a few back USB 3-4's, a half dozen SATA ports etc.)...... That manufacturer would likely crush the market. C'mon ASRock, you you can do it, save me from shopping on Alibaba 😁

[@iankester-haney3315]

What is this BS about WiFi being faster than Wired? Surely you understand that you need to halve the Wifi Speed and account for 20% or so Overhead. WiFi can not transmit and receive at the same time after all. Plus ultimately the WiFi has to backhaul to wired anyway.

[@MikeBob2023]

03:51 I *just* did this while building my new (Wendell-inspired) Z690 Taichi-based gaming rig. (Misery loves company. 😆🤣😝)

[@TechRIP]

Lite = no light. Got it. lol I just hope no one gives the $800 Gigabyte AI mobo any attention. Anything with AI should be blacklisted by reviewers.

[@benjaminreynolds3659]

I run 2 x DDR5-6400 48GB on a 650 chipset with a 7950X3D. Glad to see the AM5 supports 4 dimms in certain configs and matching kits as you suggested.

[@rush2489]

on my two threadripper systems.... Microsoft Storage Spaces works quite well as long as you custom configure it to have the correct number of drive striping via creation on powershell. I used 4x 2TB nvme on one of those riser cards with bifurcation enabled. If only AM5 had enough lanes to have 2x 16x slots

[@Elinzar]

Tldr: nobody cares because they cost too much Honestly 300 usd is high midrange cpu money... Why would i pay so much for a board?, these are just insane

[@PT-rg2vo]

Check those faster 8000Mhz RAM modules on X670E with the same CPU and latest AGESA 1.2.0.2 please, if you have the time :)

[@theophilusthistler5885]

I have a 7700, 16GB RAM @1800 and a 2GB GTX 960. Of coarse I came at 720-900p often needing hacks to help me meet min req.

[@KVAR42]

Ty Sir! Greatly enjoy and appreciate your time and channel! All the best to you and your family.

[@MikeBob2023]

Wendellman! With a fresh dose of *Taichi!* My favorite! 🤗 ASRock FTW, baby! 💯

[@Crispy_Steak]

What are the pitfalls of many m.2 nvme drives, i have seen that some of these x870E have 4 or 5 slots. Performance? Reliability?

[@JohnDoe-bm2nu]

Makes me wish I had waited a little bit longer and gotten one of these instead of a SuperMicro B650 board.

[@JimmyChino55]

Should have put pcie quick release on the taichi lite for the X16 main slot given its $400 price.

[@abavariannormiepleb9470]

Why is Wi-Fi 7 support something that needs at least Windows 11 24H2, anything earlier only works as Wi-Fi 6E? Shouldn’t that be a thing handled just by the drivers?

[@Marin3r101]

You could just look up the information like I just did. Instead of being useless....

[@abavariannormiepleb9470]

Could you enlighten us? Nothing I saw so far is an actual technical explanation, just arbitrary limitations.

[@GRCDriver23]

was I dumb to get a X670E Taichi for $379 on clearance?

[@Cyberdeamon]

O god, I wonder what the Razer Editions of those boards (if they have them this time) will cost lol.

[@amigatommy7]

Bought that router but it crashes too fast to connect or update. Work in progress.

[@amigatommy7]

router name is GT-BE98 pro

[@andrewvirtue5048]

This is nice. This is what I would go for; if I didn't want mATX.

[@zofotoziggy]

I'm curious as to why you don't think user needs more than 2 m.2? Genuinely curious

[@SuperMari026]

Again, very impressed with your knowledge of it all. Keep em coming Wendell!

[@ME-cd8pe]

No compromises? I only see 2 gen 4 USB ports. What a shame.

[@thereddog223]

Rumors of 32 core zen 6 you might need the phases

[@ThaexakaMavro]

My x670e had wifi 7 with 320mhz already

[@Phaevryn]

Asrock used to be C tier, now it's easily A tier.

[@MikeBob2023]

Thank you, Wendellman! 🙏🏼👍🏼⭐

[@dangerwr]

22:22 I have to pre-cache, too. You're not alone.

[@caspersmith7112]

the CH341a can do wonders on chipsets

[@romeozor]

Taichi never failed me, might get one from this generation, too.

[@joeykeilholz925]

Pause for blazing M.2 🌳🌳🌳

[@Bratfalken]

But no 5 or 7.1 sound, pass for me...

[@Phynellius]

This is some necessary good news after the unimpressive 9000 launch, perhaps this platform will help clear part of what’s bottlenecking these chips with the higher memory throughput at better latency

[@amigatommy7]

So far the Proart x870e is my preference. All M.2s are for gen 5, one to cpu.

[@andr3w1985]

ProArt X870E has 2 Gen 5 M.2 connected to the CPU and 2 Gen 4 M.2 connected via the chipset although the second of those Gen 5 M.2 slots shares bandwidth with the x16 PCIe slots (populating it halves your top slot to x8 and the second slot to x4). The chipset -> CPU link is only PCIe 4.0 x4 anyway so Gen 5 off the chipset would never work. I reckon some future chipset (maybe X970E?) may update the chipset silicon and allow for a PCIe 5.0 x4 link between the CPU and the chipset(s). The onboard 10GbE and extra PCIe 4.0 x4 slot at the bottom of the board are what's making me lean towards the ProArt.

[@huplim]

It’s here, finally!

[@williamarmstrong1050]

yet again stupid prices

[@amigatommy7]

I could use a cookie.

[@Mack_Dingo]

Love Wendell reviews!

[@michubern1444]

beautiful boards

[@MaryannLynch-z9c]

Interesting

[@procedupixel213]

Did you try ECC RAM?

[@Mattscreative]

well MSI is the only one with true wifi 7 support