ASRock X870E Taichi Lite

[Combatus]

With the Taichi Lite, ASRock aims to offer a cost-optimized, RGB-less, trimmed version of the popular X870E Taichi. The result is a price that's $50 lower than the big Taichi. Is it a no-brainer if you want the same basic package, or did ASRock cut away too much?

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[Deleted member 245263]

"efi feels dated"

what is wrong with you, its beautiful, its classic, its an asset. I hope they wont change it to some kitsh gigabyte/msi type

 

[Heiro78]

I know it's not you who will do the testing, Combatus, but I fervently await the Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 review.

 

[teamtd11]

Good to see plenty of temperature sensor hookups. I was looking at a few X870E boards and a MSI board I looked at had none.
Only need 1 in the end so I can run all the fans from the water temperature, but nice to have some extra.

 

[_roman_]

Nice board I'd like to own. I prefer DP over HDMI for the CPU monitor connection. the temperature probes and the m2 slot near the dram makes this board very interesting. I prefer an easy exchangeable wifi module slot.

 

[Space Lynx]

"efi feels dated"

what is wrong with you, its beautiful, its classic, its an asset. I hope they wont change it to some kitsh gigabyte/msi type

I 100% agree with you. I love my ASRock BIOS.

 

[A Computer Guy]

"efi feels dated"

what is wrong with you, its beautiful, its classic, its an asset. I hope they wont change it to some kitsh gigabyte/msi type

The Asrock X570 Taichi Razor UEFI/BIOS is exceptionally wonderful. I keep being surprised every time I go in there.

 

[Cheeseball]

One of the best ASRock boards I've used in years. Excellent power management on stock Windows Balanced:

This is with DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76 memory too.

 

[Space Lynx]

One of the best ASRock boards I've used in years. Excellent power management on stock Windows Balanced:

View attachment 395761

This is with DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76 memory too.

doesn't this mean you don't get full performance in gaming though? i always set windows to performance mode from balanced

 

[Cheeseball]

doesn't this mean you don't get full performance in gaming though? i always set windows to performance mode from balanced

Hmm, I haven't noticed any performance regression on Balanced. I've never changed the Windows plan since Zen 2, especially with the newer AMD Chipset drivers. The 9800X3D reports around ~5.7 GHz (-30 CO all cores, +200MHz PBO2) on a couple of cores when I play at 1440p480 (Apex stuck at 300 FPS with drops to ~240 in certain maps, Valorant is up there in the sky somewhere, etc.). On either of my 4K displays I still notice it boosting to ~5.7GHz sometimes, especially in modded CP2077 and MH Wilds.

 

[Space Lynx]

Hmm, I haven't noticed any performance regression on Balanced. I've never changed the Windows plan since Zen 2, especially with the newer AMD Chipset drivers. The 9800X3D reports around ~5.7 GHz (-30 CO all cores, +200MHz PBO2) on a couple of cores when I play at 1440p480 (Apex stuck at 300 FPS with drops to ~240 in certain maps, Valorant is up there in the sky somewhere, etc.). On either of my 4K displays I still notice it boosting to ~5.7GHz sometimes, especially in modded CP2077 and MH Wilds.

impressive. i guess it doesn't matter then either way, because my chip idles perfectly fine and adjusts based on app usage...

makes me wonder if there is even a difference between the two power plans honestly. @lexluthermiester thoughts?

 

[Cheeseball]

impressive. i guess it doesn't matter then either way, because my chip idles perfectly fine and adjusts based on app usage...

makes me wonder if there is even a difference between the two power plans honestly. @lexluthermiester thoughts?

To be honest, I remember seeing somewhere while researching on late Zen 2 tuning that with the newer AMD chipset drivers its best to just leave Windows on the Balanced power plan and let it sort itself out. It should be able to boost high and idle properly (taking into account the SoC voltage on the chiplet design).

Yes, there are times when Windows 10 (and even Windows 11 now) are ass with scheduling, but when it works, it does kind of work well.

 

[lexluthermiester]

doesn't this mean you don't get full performance in gaming though? i always set windows to performance mode from balanced

So do I. Windows "balanced" has settings I find unacceptable. So that's my input there.

Hmm, I haven't noticed any performance regression on Balanced.

You really shouldn't when the game in question requires max power. It's mostly the idle situations that the "balanced" profile shows it's merits.

makes me wonder if there is even a difference between the two power plans honestly. @lexluthermiester thoughts?

Yup, there is. See just above. Under load, the differences don't exist. Idle however, yeah. Core scheduling changes, down-clocking is more frequent and more extensive. How much benefit that will render will depend greatly on usage situations and prices for electricity.

 

[Cheeseball]

Yup, there is. See just above. Under load, the differences don't exist. Idle however, yeah. Core scheduling changes, down-clocking is more frequent and more extensive. How much benefit that will render will depend greatly on usage situations and prices for electricity.

This is true. There is a noticeable difference between the Balanced and Performance power plans when benching in Cinebench. Last time I tried it with a 5800X and 5950X (a couple of years ago, I don't really benchmark anymore) it was a good 500+ point lead in the Performance plan for each CPU. I'm sure that difference is quantifiable with heavy, stacked workloads, like with rendering 3D scenes which is what Cinebench is simulating with multiple passes.

 

[Redwoodz]

There is some strange readings I'm seeing in the performance comparison charts. The 870 boards seem to be using the same RAM and CPU, but the 870 Crosshair's memory performance seems quite a bit better than anything else.

When I look at the full review I see in the AIDA screens cpu clocked at 16400 MHz with a FSB of 164.

 

[W1zzard]

doesn't this mean you don't get full performance in gaming though? i always set windows to performance mode from balanced

This hasn't been required for many years, I think it helps in some idle/light load scenarios, at the cost of using more power

 

[bogardandy]

What were the temps on the Mb chipsets during testing ? They get high very fast even at idle. Also "minimal lane sharing" what it means?

 

[azrael]

It takes something to release a top-spec X870E motherboard with 2 (*two*) PCIe slots. I wonder where all the lanes went (rhetorical question btw).

 

[Space Lynx]

It takes something to release a top-spec X870E motherboard with 2 (*two*) PCIe slots. I wonder where all the lanes went (rhetorical question btw).

I disagree, most of the high end market is more interested in those gen5 nvme slots, very very few people would ever use more than two pci-e slots. I know you said rhetorical, but still, you are criticizing a really well designed motherboard imo anyway.

 

[Chrispy_]

@W1zzard, @Combatus if you have more than one 9800X3D, would you be willing to try a bunch of different RAM in the board?

There's still very little information about the Asrock boards melting 9800X3D processors and apart from an official acknowledgement from AMD and that they're working with the board partners, all we really know is that it's a fault during memory training, or to do with memory compatibility.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This hasn't been required for many years, I think it helps in some idle/light load scenarios, at the cost of using more power

My reason is desktop lag, it irritates the living daylights out of me. There is no excuse for a laggy desktop and I will not tolerate it. So for me, the High Performance profile is the only way to fly as it prevents desktop lag. I otherwise wouldn't care. For modern motherboards like the one subject of the article, I don't think it'll matter much which profile is used, for various reasons.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

While I like the overall aesthetics of the board, I'm not sure a -$50 difference between it and the full fatty Taichi would be reason enough for me to buy it. Now, it'd be different if it was, say, $70 or even $100 dollars cheaper than the regular Taichi. But with only $50 separating the Lite from its showier sibling, I'd just go with the flashier Taichi. But that's just me.

 

[azrael]

I disagree, most of the high end market is more interested in those gen5 nvme slots, very very few people would ever use more than two pci-e slots. I know you said rhetorical, but still, you are criticizing a really well designed motherboard imo anyway.

I know I'm in the minority, but I will at all times prefer more PCIe slots than M.2 slots. The former are just more versatile. And from my point of view I feel the criticism is warranted. The number of truly versatile motherboards is dwindling. I have a feeling that at some point I *will* have to look at something "ThreadRipper" even though I only require more PCIe slots (and few more lanes wouldn't hurt either). Alas, the trend is definitely not in my favour.

 

[Space Lynx]

While I like the overall aesthetics of the board, I'm not sure a -$50 difference between it and the full fatty Taichi would be reason enough for me to buy it. Now, it'd be different if it was, say, $70 or even $100 dollars cheaper than the regular Taichi. But with only $50 separating the Lite from its showier sibling, I'd just go with the flashier Taichi. But that's just me.

just fyi, it is the exact same mobo in every way, the full taichi just has rgb and this one doesn't. as far as I am aware, that is the only difference, and some minor aesthetics.

I think it only exists because they know some people don't want RGB

 

[GreenReaper]

"minimal lane sharing" what it means?

Sometimes there aren't enough PCIe lanes to run all the slots at once. Normally this means if you have an M.2 installed, the paired PCIe x4 slot won't work (specified in the manual). But usually you don't use them all anyway.