ASRock X299 Taichi CLX ‘$400 US’ Motherboard Review With Intel Core i9-10980XE CPU – Taichi Rebuilt For 10th Gen X-Series

Four years ago, Intel was the undisputed leader of the high-end desktop market. Intel's Extreme Edition processors were the top of the line chips that people could buy and their accompanying platform was unrivaled in the industry.

However, we can't say the same in 2019. Intel's HEDT has seen no major change in the last two years. We get the same platform and the same underlying architecture with no increase in core and thread count. Even the platform remains unchanged and Intel's AIB partners are to take credit for their efforts to make the X299 platform still feel refreshing.

Technically, Intel's 10th Gen X-series lineup isn't anything to get excited about aside from a slight clock speed bump but what's noteworthy is the pricing. Intel's latest pricing strategy was to make 10th Gen X-series processors more competitive in performance per dollar by slashing off major $$$ from their lineup. Intel claimed up to 2.09x better performance per dollar on the new X-series line compared to Skylake-X. Here, Intel is simply comparing their Core i9-7980XE, a $1999 US CPU with their $979 US Core i9-10980XE.

But since Intel announced their 10th Gen X-series parts, AMD introduced the Ryzen 9 3950X. A 16 core chip with Zen 2 cores for a price of $749 US. The processor is supported by the mainstream AM4 platform which means that the cost of building a 16 core PC is now cheaper than Intel's line. That may also explain why the lineup launching today is missing a 16 core part, but existed in the previous 7th Gen and 9th Gen X-series lineup.

AMD Threadripper vs Intel Core - More Than Just Core Wars

Before I start this review, let's take a quick recap of the core wars that's been going on since the beginning of 2017 between AMD and Intel. Prior to 2017, the industry was used to the annual 4 core mainstream and 8/10 core high-end desktop refreshes that Intel produced. Intel was also on top of the game since AMD's Bulldozer (and its various iterations) didn't pose a major threat and Zen was still under development.

So how did Intel go from the leader of the HEDT space to being crushed by AMD's mainstream chip platform? You are expecting me to blame Intel's reliance on 14nm for this issue and while it is a factor, it isn't as big as some other bad decisions that went into Intel's HEDT lineup, starting with the 7th Generation Core-X series. You see, back in 2017, there was no AMD HEDT lineup and Intel was considered to be the bleeding-edge HEDT offerer in the market space. While AMD had started pushing Intel to offer more cores in the mainstream segment (e.g. four cores flagship on Kaby Lake vs 6 cores flagship on Coffee Lake), they weren't expecting or rightly put, weren't in the mood to innovate their HEDT lineup any time soon.

Then 1st Gen Threadripper happened and we all know how AMD caught Intel with their pants down. The problem wasn't that Intel didn't have the platform to compete against AMD, it's more to do with their laziness on how they wanted to continue offering 10 cores / 20 thread chips as flagship HEDT parts for years to come. You see, Intel had the technology to offer 12 cores and 24 threads back in their Ivy Bridge generation, 18 cores and 36 threads in the Haswell generation and same in the Skylake generation. However, knowing they dominated the market, the didn't see the reason to innovate the HEDT space anytime soon.

HEDT & Mainstream Segment Core/Thread Count Race:

Year	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
AMD HEDT	N/A	16 / 32	32 / 64	32 / 64	64 / 128
Intel HEDT	10 / 20	18 / 36	18 / 36	18 / 36 28 / 56 (Xeon W-3175X)	18 / 36 28 / 56 (Xeon W-3175X)
AMD Mainstream	8 / 8	8 / 16	8 / 16	16 / 32	16 /32
Intel Mainstream	4/8	6 / 12	8 / 16	8 / 16	10 / 20

So what do you when your darkest nightmare comes true? Rush to rebadge Xeon parts which could've been done early on and don't give partners enough time to evaluate your new chips on their products, resulting in a botched launch. Intel's first Core-X lineup was a mess and that is why it took Intel 3 generations just to fix the problems of their first X-series lineup.

The 3 years of Threadrippers have also been building up to this moment. While Intel was fixing their X-series lineup, AMD was gaining on both fronts, the market and mind share. You have to sacrifice margins for market share gains and word of mouth to spread before you start hiking up prices for higher profits.

AMD's Threadrippers are repurposed EPYC chips just like how Intel's Core X processors are repurposed Xeon chips that couldn't pass the server-level qualifications. This was another factor, which if Intel could've considered earlier on, wouldn't get their HEDT lineup into so much trouble. AMD was willing to cut the profit margins offering the same core counts of their EPYC lineup on the Threadripper parts. Intel might have downplayed the fact that in the coming years, AMD's Ryzen Threadripper core count would match the EPYC lineup. This is a superb game played by AMD where their first-generation Threadripper had half the core count of EPYC Naples and only the second generation that launched a year later offered the full 32 cores. This is changing with 3rd generation as the Threadripper 3990X will be carrying 64 cores, same as the top-end EPYC chip.

Intel HEDT/Workstation Processor Families:

Intel HEDT Family	Granite Rapids	Sapphire Rapids Refresh	Sapphire Rapids	Cascade Lake	Skylake	Skylake	Skylake	Broadwell	Haswell	Ivy Bridge	Sandy Bridge	Gulftown
Process Node	Intel 3	10nm ESF	10nm ESF	14nm++	14nm+	14nm+	14nm+	14nm	22nm	22nm	32nm	32nm
Flagship SKU	TBD	Xeon W9-3595X Xeon W7-2595X	Xeon W9-3495X Xeon W7-2495X	Core i9-10980XE	Xeon W-3175X	Core i9-9980XE	Core i9-7980XE	Core i7-6950X	Core i7-5960X	Core i7-4960X	Core i7-3960X	Core i7-980X
Max Cores/Threads	86/172?	60/120 26/52	56/112 24/48	18/36	28/56	18/36	18/36	10/20	8/16	6/12	6/12	6/12
Clock Speeds	TBD	4.8 GHz	4.8 GHz	3.00 / 4.80 GHz	3.10/4.30 GHz	3.00/4.50 GHz	2.60/4.20 GHz	3.00/3.50 GHz	3.00/3.50 GHz	3.60/4.00 GHz	3.30/3.90 GHz	3.33/3,60 GHz
Max Cache	TBD	105 MB L3	105 MB L3	24.75 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	24.75 MB L3	24.75 MB L3	25 MB L3	20 MB L3	15 MB L3	15 MB L3	12 MB L3
Max PCI-Express Lanes (CPU)	128 Gen 5	112 Gen 5	112 Gen 5	44 Gen3	44 Gen3	44 Gen3	44 Gen3	40 Gen3	40 Gen3	40 Gen3	40 Gen2	32 Gen2
Chipset Compatiblity	W890	W790	W790	X299	C612E	X299	X299	X99 Chipset	X99 Chipset	X79 Chipset	X79 Chipset	X58 Chipset
Socket Compatiblity	LGA 4710?	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	LGA 2066	LGA 3647	LGA 2066	LGA 2066	LGA 2011-3	LGA 2011-3	LGA 2011	LGA 2011	LGA 1366
Memory Compatiblity	DDR5-6000?	DDR5-4800	DDR5-4800	DDR4-2933	DDR4-2666	DDR4-2800	DDR4-2666	DDR4-2400	DDR4-2133	DDR3-1866	DDR3-1600	DDR3-1066
Max TDP	350W?	350W	350W	165W	255W	165W	165W	140W	140W	130W	130W	130W
Launch	2025?	2024	2023	Q4 2019	Q4 2018	Q4 2018	Q3 2017	Q2 2016	Q3 2014	Q3 2013	Q4 2011	Q1 2010
Launch Price (Top SKU)	TBD	TBD	$5889	$979 US	~$4000 US	$1979 US	$1999 US	$1700 US	$1059 US	$999 US	$999 US	$999 US

AMD is also taking Intel's position, becoming the leader of the HEDT market but at the same time, not let this platform become stagnant. AMD is aware that eventually, Intel will have a response which is the next topic I want to shed light on, so they want to stay on the high-ground whenever Intel tackles them, but also try to maximize profits when there is no competition which we can get a slight hint of from the 3rd Gen Threadripper prices. AMD is easing up on the prices and only Intel themselves is to blame. You can read our review of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X here.

As for this review, I will be taking a look at the Intel Core i9-10980XE on ASRock's brand new X299 Taichi CLX motherboard. The Core i9-10980XE retails for $979 US as of today while the ASRock X299 Taichi CLX has a retail price of $399 US. This is a slightly higher price than the $289.99 US X299 Taichi and the $299.99 US X299 Taichi XE which we have also reviewed previously in their respective links listed below:

• ASRock X299 Taichi Motherboard Review
• ASRock X299 Taichi XE Motherboard Review

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

The ASRock X299 Taichi CLX is the third and last revision to ASRock's X299 Taichi family and its the best one yet. Offering modern aesthetics, the latest feature set which includes USB 3.2 Gen 2 / Gen 1, 2.5GbE LAN, 10 SATA ports, lots of expansion options and a solid VRM which offers up to 720A to the 10th Gen X-series processors, the X299 Taichi CLX is a worthy option to consider if you're building an Intel HEDT setup for yourself.

Pros

• Modern aesthetics and design on 3rd Taichi X299 revision
• Solid 13 Phase Digi Power PWM Design
• Excellent Overclocking Capabilities
• Proper XXL Aluminum heatsinks placed over PWM system
• Good Cooling Design With heatpipe implementation
• Dual 8 Pin power connectors for the CPU Socket
• Dual LAN ports including 2.5GbE connectivity
• Wireless module for WIFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.0
• Dual x16 PCIe slots when running a 48/44 Lane CPU
• Triple M.2 Slots
• 10 SATA Ports
• Metal Shielded PCIe slots
• Dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 Ports
• Lots of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Ports
• Purity Sound 4 Audio System
• Subtle and not too flashy RGB LEDs

Cons

• Very high price ($399.99 US)
• Not the most optimized Software Stack
• M.2 slots share lanes with PCIe slots
• Intel's 10th Gen X-series not that impressive

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