Verdict and Conclusion
The Z690 Taichi is one of ASRock’s flagship Z690 motherboards. And believe me, they didn’t hold back. Everything about it screams “enthusiast”. It comes packed with some great features, and performs as good as it looks. The build quality is excellent and the aesthetics is fantastic too. I love the way the Tachi logo on the I/O hood (clock cog/gear) actually moves while the system is booting up.
The board features several large heatsinks to cool the VRMs/Mosfets. It even has a built-in active cooling fan inside the I/O hood. It also comes with full cover heatsinks for the hyper M.2 SSD slots, as well as a metal backplate that helps with the cooling. All 3 PCIE x16 steel slots feature surface-mount tech, while the DDR5 DIMM slots come with steel reinforcements. Fantastic!
Using the Intel Core i9-12900KF processor, we managed to get excellent scores in all of our benchmarks. Mind you, this chip is the top-of-the-line processor Intel has to offer. It produced Cinebench R23 scores of 26,997 (multi core) and 2,011 (single core). For PCMark 10, we got a score of 7,919, and a score of 10,470 for PassMark9.
For UL’s latest Procyon Photo Editing Benchmark, we got a score of 8,525 and 3,784 for the video editing suite. And finally, for Timespy and Firestrike, we got decent scores of 5,432 and 13,517 respectively.
When it comes to expansion, the ASRock Z690 Taichi has plenty. There’s 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 3.0 x1. For storage, there’s a total of 6 x SATA3, 1 x Independent SATA3, 2 x Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4), 1 x M.2 (PCIe Gen3) for SSDs.
For connectivity, you get ASRock’s Lightning Gaming Ports, 2 x Thunderbolt™ 4/USB4 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Front Type-C, 2 x Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A, 8 x USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Rear, 4 Front), and 1 x Independent USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A Port. And finally, for LAN and WiFi … you get the Killer E3100 2.5G LAN, Intel Gigabit LAN and Killer AX1675 802.11ax (WiFi 6E) + Bluetooth.
I haven’t finished … how about ASRock’s new 20 Phase SPS Dr.MOS Power Design, Digi Power, Dr. MOS, 2oz copper PCB and of course, the 7.1 CH HD Audio WIMA Audio Caps, as well as ASRock’s PolyChrome RGB.
You can buy the ASRock Z690 Taichi motherboard
$575 $375 (reduced) from Amazon – https://amzn.to/3rSRd65. At this price, it’s quite an investment. Mind you, similar “enthusiast” Z690 boards from other major manufacturers costs about the same, if not more.
Pros:
- Excellent performance
- Intel Z690 Chipset
- Supports Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processor
- Supports PCIE 5.0
- Supports DDR5-6400 (O.C.)
- Feature-rich
- Killer 2.5G LAN
- Killer WiFi 6e support
Cons:
- A bit pricey. Other than that – None.
Final Words:
If you’re thinking of building or upgrading to an Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake processor, and you’re planning to switch to DDR5 ram, then the ASRock Z690 Taichi is the motherboard to go for. It has everything you need, and will satisfy even the most hardcore of enthusiasts with its abundance of features and outstanding performance.
You can buy the ASRock Z690 Taichi motherboard for around USD $575 $375 (reduced) from Amazon – https://amzn.to/3rSRd65
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