ASRock Z590 Taichi Review: An Intel Motherboard with Moving Parts (and Thunderbolt 4)
by Gavin Bonshor on April 1, 2021 11:00 AM ESTBIOS
Going from its Z490 firmware to the latest Z590 firmware, ASRock hasn't made any noticeable changes to the user interface. This isn't a negative as ASRock's Taichi UEFI firmware is aesthetically pleasing, with a subtle black background with ASRock's cogwheel motifs. The GUI includes yellow primary menu text, with white variable text, a grey highlight when each variable is selected or hovered over to denote what is currently selected.
The ASRock Taichi firmware has two primary modes in which users can make changes, basic and advanced. The basic section includes relevant information about the CPU, DRAM, fan status, and boot priority. A CPU temperature graph t that monitors how hot the CPU is running sits along the top, with an option below it to select between different CPU Fan settings. Users can also access more intricate functions, including Instant Flash, to update the board's firmware and an option to flash the firmware over the internet. The FAN-Tastic tuning section allows users to customize fan profiles via pre-defined presets or manually adjust fan curves for each of the board's eight 4-pin headers.
Pressing the F6 key will cycle between the basic and advanced modes, and while the basic mode offers what it says on the tin, the advanced mode is where all of the board's customizable settings are located. The main menus, which are located along the top, include the OC Tweaker, the Advanced section, a Tool menu, an integrated H/W Monitor, Security options, Boot menu customizer, and the Exit menu. The OC Tweaker is where all of the board's power-related and overclocking settings are located. With new refinements to Intel's 14 nm ported Rocket Lake processors, including VF Curve adjustment, as well as new memory controller ratio settings. Users can also overclock the memory and make voltage adjustments, with the CPU, memory, and voltage settings featuring their own individual menus.
Other notable elements within the ASRock Z590 Taichi firmware include the Polychrome RGB tool, allowing users to customize the board's integrated RGB LEDs. However, the included ASRock Polychrome RGB software offers much better customization options. The Tool I/O Cover Gear Rotating option allows users to customize the mechanical stepping cogwheel built into the rear panel cover, a nice aesthetic feature. Overall the ASRock Z590 Taichi firmware is responsive and stable. However, we experienced a couple of memory-related issues on an earlier firmware version, which we hope will be rectified going forward.
Software
Included with the ASRock Z590 Taichi is a basic yet highly functional set of software and applications. The most prominent of these is the ASRock A-Tuning software. Also included is ASRock's Polychrome RGB, where users can customize the look of the system and components such as graphics cards, peripherals, and RGB memory. The ASRock Live Update & App Store software allows users to update the board's drivers and software, although it is plagued with gambling app downloads which we aren't particularly keen on seeing.
The ASRock A-Tuning software allows users to overclock the CPU and the base clock (BCLK) frequency. It includes various customizable voltage options, including DRAM voltage adjustment, although the software doesn't allow alterations to the memory frequency or latency timings. The A-Tuning software also includes the ASRock FAN-Tastic Tuning utility, allowing users to customize the fan curve profiles for each of the board's eight 4-pin headers. The System Info section displays a list of current and real-time frequencies, voltages, and fan speeds using its own integrated sensors to provide data.
Other software suite applications include the ASRock XFast LAN utility, which allows users to monitor internet traffic bandwidth, create online budgets, and provide comparative ping statistics. Taking care of the audio software, ASRock uses the Nahimic 3 software, which provides multiple functionalities, including preset profiles based on different auditory scenarios such as music, movies, and gaming, with a digital static suppressor for microphones that pick up a lot of background noise. The ASRock Restart to UEFI software allows users to enter the board's firmware at the click of a button.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
50 Comments
View All Comments
Operandi - Thursday, April 1, 2021 - link
What?I was replying to the comment comparing a mechanical visual embellishment to fan that serves a function. If you bring up one thing in relation to another that typically means drawing a comparison or in this case a likeness between them. However in the case one of them is functional and does something while the other is pointless and stupid, thus making it an unfair comparison.
idimitro - Thursday, April 1, 2021 - link
Taichi - from "we give you only the necessary and meaningful features..." to "have a turning cog just because".tizio - Thursday, April 1, 2021 - link
This is the beginning of the end for sensible looking hardware. By 2023 motherboards will be 50% greebles by weight.Oxford Guy - Thursday, April 1, 2021 - link
‘Although PCIe 4.0 has been seen on AMD platforms for over a year, it's a solid statement from Intel as they look to regain its position as the king in the processor market.’The king of 14nm.
abufrejoval - Thursday, April 1, 2021 - link
I find 2.5Gbit Ethernet at these price levels more than a bit disappointing. I think the RealTek 2.5Gbit would sell at rather similar cost to their Gbit offerings as BOM, so "premium" isn't what comes to mind at this speed.Currently you have to either sacrifice an entire PCIe 4x (or greater) slot or a Thunderbolt port to get 10Gbit via Aquantia/Marvell, 8x for Intel 10Gbit (which might not be NBase-T but 1/10GBaseT, only), when a single PCIe 4.0 lane should suffice.
Surely 3 Watts for a 10GBase-T PHY aren't too much to ask when the CPU gobles 400 and the GPU not much less!
rolfaalto - Friday, April 2, 2021 - link
As of 30th March they've posted a new BIOS/Firmware that fixes a bunch of CPU issues. What version were you testing?sonny73n - Friday, April 2, 2021 - link
If I pay more than $400 for a motherboard, I will definitely get one with 12 or more REAL power phase, not ones that using doublers.Oxford Guy - Saturday, April 3, 2021 - link
I don’t think doublers are necessarily bad. It’s in the implementation.In the bigger picture, just get Zen 3 and don’t worry about overclocking and VRMs.
TheinsanegamerN - Sunday, April 4, 2021 - link
So you'll pay more for something that functions identically? Arguably doublers have the benefit of being easier to sync since they only use 6-8 controllers instead of 12-16, which allows for better voltage control.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, April 6, 2021 - link
Not all doubler implementations are as good as implementations without them. Some are particularly poor. It comes down to the implementation but, in the simplest example a doubler is not as good as having separate phases. There are a lot of variables involved, though. Separate low-quality phases are going to be worse than high-quality phases using a doubler.Buildzoid explained all of the details in his videos. I don't remember all of the specifics but some VRM implementations are full of fakery, like adding lots of chokes or something to fool people into thinking they're getting something more powerful.