Final Thoughts
Here we have another Taichi motherboard from ASRock and I have to say once again I am very impressed, although there were a couple of things I would change. Being a Taichi board you are going to get everything you would expect from the Z590 platform and nothing is really left out on this board. You are going to get Thunderbolt 4, PCI-Express 4.0, and USB 3.2 gen 2×2. Thunderbolt 4 is more of a future-proof thing at this point as there are not many TB4/USB 4 devices out there right now. Also keep in mind that if you do plug in a USB device to the Type-C connections on the rear I/O you are only going to get a max of 10 GBps (USB 3.2 gen 2 speeds, not 2×2). If you want 2×2 speeds you’ll need to use the front header on the board. PCI-Express is going to be great for that top M.2 slot to take advantage of super-fast NVMe solid state drives.
When it comes to connectivity ASRock has outfitted this board with Killer networking for both the 2.5G LAN and WiFi 6E. So not matter if you are plugging in or going wireless you have great performance. There is also a backup 1G LAN provided by the chipset.
The overall design of the board is just OK in my opinion, I really did like the Z490 Taichi design better. ASRock is still one of the best when it comes to RGB lighting though, you have RGB lighting along the edge of the board, on the chipset heatsink, and on the rear I/O cover. Also on the rear I/O cover is a gear that actually moves! Such a cool thing and something we’ve wanted on a Taichi board for so long!
Another thing I really like about ASRock motherboards is the BIOS, it is extremely easy to navigate and find settings. ASRock’s APP Shop makes it so simple to download all of your drivers and software for the board and unlike other solutions we’ve seen it actually works!
The one thing I would change about this board is the location of the CPU fan and CPU optional fan headers. On most boards they sit towards the top of the board, but here they are above the top M.2 slot. This location not only is hard to reach if you have your GPU installed but does not add a whole lot of room if you have something like a Y cable for your fans. Some large CPU coolers will actually cover the fan headers.
When it is all said and done ASRock has another great Taichi motherboard. It really is hard to find things not to like about these boards. Right now you can pick up this board for $459.99 at our favorite online retailer, which is a bit on the higher side, but this is a fully-featured board. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ASRock Z590 Taichi Motherboard a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 gen 2×2 & PCIe
– Great performance
– Easy to navigate BIOS
– A gear that MOVES!
– Killer LAN and WiFi
– No weird power limits like we saw on other Z590 boards
Cons:
– Location of CPU fan headers
– Price premium over the previous generation
