Friday, September 29th 2017
ASRock Intros X299 Taichi XE Motherboard
ASRock today introduced its new flagship socket LGA2066 motherboard, the X299 Taichi XE, recommended for Core i9 processors. This board is quite similar to the X299 Taichi, but features a completely redesigned CPU VRM, which is rated for higher current, and draws power from two 8-pin EPS connectors, instead of one 8-pin EPS on the original X299 Taichi. The CPU VRM heatsink is heavier, and offloads some of its heat onto a secondary heatsink that doubles up as a sort of I/O shroud, using a heat-pipe. This is in contrast to the ASUS ROG Strix X299-E vs. X299-XE, which are practically identical, but for a heavier VRM heatsink on the latter.
Everything south of the CPU VRM on the ASRock X299 Taichi XE is identical to the X299 Taichi, including the 4-phase memory VRM, four reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports, networking that includes Intel-made 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, and gigabit Ethernet controllers; and the onboard audio solution. The rear I/O shroud no longer spans the entire length of the board, and shrouds only the I/O, and an aluminium fin-stack heatsink. ASRock could charge a small premium for the X299 Taichi XE, even though the original X299 Taichi can very much run Core i9 "Skylake-X" processors, including the flagship i9-7980XE.
Everything south of the CPU VRM on the ASRock X299 Taichi XE is identical to the X299 Taichi, including the 4-phase memory VRM, four reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports, networking that includes Intel-made 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, and gigabit Ethernet controllers; and the onboard audio solution. The rear I/O shroud no longer spans the entire length of the board, and shrouds only the I/O, and an aluminium fin-stack heatsink. ASRock could charge a small premium for the X299 Taichi XE, even though the original X299 Taichi can very much run Core i9 "Skylake-X" processors, including the flagship i9-7980XE.