ASRock X299 Taichi
Needs more time baking in the oven
Price $ 499 www.asrock.com
We make no secret of the fact that we tend to be fans of ASRock products. They tend to deliver performance and features of boards that cost significantly more, but when it comes to their new X299 Taichi, this is definitely a product that needs more time in the labs for testing.
The biggest issue of all is performance. Despite this being one of the few boards that worked properly with Intel’s Turbo Boost Max 3.0, with the software loading properly and allowing us to associate it with certain games, the Taichi placed well behind some of the other boards during the gaming tests. It delivered just 75% of the performance of the MSI board when it came to the Total War Warhammer test, and just 45% of the performance of the Asus ROG Strix X299-E Gaming in the Ghost Recon Wildlands benchmark.
We searched high and low for answers to these dismal numbers, including updating the BIOS, setting the BIOS to default (except the memory speed), installing most of the ASRock tools found on its sight, and reinstalling all of the crucial drivers, such as the Intel inf and Nvidia drivers. We even checked the CPU temp during stress tests to make sure our cooler was mounted correctly, which it was. After hours of troubleshooting we had to give up – it’s obvious there’s something more going on here, and ASRock needs to fix it.
Interestingly, as one of the only boards to support Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, the results from this weren’t exactly mind-blowing. The average framerate in the Total War Warhammer benchmark rose from just 305 to 315, which isn’t exactly exciting. However, it could be an issue with this board, so we’re yet to pass judgement on Intel’s latest Boost technology.
As for the rest of the board, in terms of features it’s actually rather well stocked for the price. There are ten SATA 3 ports, along with three Ultra M.2 ports. Dual Internet Gigabit Ethernet ports are supplemented by integrated 802.11ac WiFi, providing plenty of connectivity options.
13-phase power outdoes most of the competition, yet using the included A-Tune software, we were only able to hit 4.26GHz, which is even less than the 4.3GHz this CPU should run at. Again, we have to emphasise just how important a very powerful cooler is with the i9-7900X, which is what we blame for this poor result. In terms of USB, the rear I/O port includes two USB 3.1 10Gb/s (1 Type-A + 1 Type-C), and four 8 USB 3.0. There’s not
the Taichi placed well behind some of the other boards during the gaming tests
much on the board itself for overclockers, with just a power button and BIOS flashback button. Finally, there are four PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes and one PCIe 2.0 x1.
Given ASRock’s excellent reputation, it was a real shame to see the performance so far behind with the Taichi. At just half the speed of other boards in certain games, there’s obviously something going on that needs to be looked at. Yet knowing ASRock, we’re sure they’ll fix these issues in no time. BENNETT RING