ASRock Z590 Taichi (Intel 1200)

Das ASRock Z490 Taichi hatten wir natürlich im Test und unterm Strich war die Platine trotz der suboptimalen VRM-Auswahl für Overclocker geeignet. Jetzt, für die Rocket-Lake-S-Prozessoren wechselt ASRock auf deutlich leistungsstärkere Wandler und dann ist da auch noch ein neues optisches Gimmick vertreten. In unserem Test klären wir, für wen das ASRock Z590 Taichi interessant ist.

The ASRock Z590 Taichi is the best model from Asrock’s Z590 family. With an integrated I/O shield, solid RGB implementation, PCIe 4.0 compatibility with future CPU generations (both for the GPU and the NVMe drives), the ASRock Z590 Taichi has all the things you need. It looks excellent – with this metal gear mechanism on the IO area. Also, it’s rigid (including the backside metal cover), has a great feature set, and performs well. The Z590 Taichi should handle even the 8-core Intel Core i9 11900K (14 phase VRM with 90A MOSFETs) without reaching high temperatures of the power delivery section. The price is about 460 USD, so a lot, but you get two ethernet ports (one of them is 2.5 Gbit), an 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E Module, 14-phase power, very nice audio performance (although it would be suitable to see something fresher than ALC1220), as well as 3x NVMe ports and 8 SATA ports (but there are dependencies and you can’t use all of them – I mean NVMe and SATA at once). It’s good that there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectors on the motherboard (for me, as a user of Phanteks 719, it’s a must). The buttons for power/reset/clear CMOS can also come in handy when overclocking. Additionally, you get Asrock’s GPU Holder solution, which should help prevent the graphics card from sagging. RGB lovers can enjoy two regular and two addressable RGB headers for the bling. In the bundle, there is also a graphics card holder that attaches directly to the motherboard. On the other side, there are some drawbacks. You get only six “regular” USB ports at the back panel, yeah – you get two Thunderbolt 4.0, but still. You can always install the USB 2.0 bracket, but this may not satisfy the customer. Also – the location of the CPU fan headers is… very strange. It’s harder to route the fan cables with that location than the usual top-right corner of the motherboard. What was the idea here? As mentioned earlier – “only” ALC1220 is provided here (competition can offer more, like ALC4082), but luckily there’s a DAC for the front panel output. Last but not least, the post time is rather long, it’s over 20 seconds, and competition can do it faster. The Asrock Z590 Taichi deserves the Recommended award for all that it delivers, but you need to remember the 460 USD price tag, and the competition is robust. In the end, ASRock’s Taichi is a solid upper-mid-range/high-end option for your 10th (or better 11th) generation Intel system.

The ASRock Z590 Taichi is available at Newegg (at the time of writing) for $430 which is a very good price considering all of the board's available features. It has a subtle and clean design, with plenty of user-customizable elements such as RGB LEDs and the new moving cogwheel which adds a new dimension to motherboards in general. We highlighted in our previous Z490 Taichi review that more metal instead of plastic could be used, and despite the rear panel cover remaining plastic, the PCIe slot armor is now metal and has a more overall premium feel to it. The ASRock Z590 Taichi despite its high price tag offers lots of premium features such as Thunderbolt 4, 2.5 GbE networking, and the new Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. This makes it a very attractive model to users looking for a comprehensive and usable package, without paying the price of a $1000 flagship.