ASRock Z890 Taichi Aqua Motherboard Review – Incredible IO Capabilities With 10 Type-C Ports & Water-Cooling For High-End Enthusiasts

Conclusion - Superb IO, Great Cooling, High-End Design

After my initial review of the Z890 Taichi last year, I was excited to give the flagship ASRock Z890 offering a go. I had the motherboard in my hands for a good few months and had been anxiously waiting for newer BIOS firmware updates to fix the lackluster gaming performance of the Core Ultra Series 2 desktop CPUs. I just didn't back then that I would have to wait for months for Intel to finally deliver new BIOS/Firmware updates which were rolled out in the last few weeks with the "Core Ultra 200S Boost" label. So here it is, my review of the ASRock Z890 Taichi Aqua, the flagship Z890 motherboard from ASRock.

In terms of performance, the ASRock Z890 Taichi Aqua delivered great out-of-the-box performance and was also able to easily meet our baseline overclocking test using the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K and setting it to 5.6 GHz across all cores. The 28+ power design with 110A power stages, the use of 20K caps, and a premium 10-layer PCB all make for a motherboard that makes it one of the strongest options for enthusiasts.

With the Intel Core Ultra 200S boost feature, users can expect slightly better performance, especially in games, though don't expect anything about 5-8% gains. These gains come from tuned DDR5 memory and higher power limits which do add to overall temperatures and power numbers but it is an easy way to gain more performance than going the manual tuning route.

For memory support, ASRock goes for a four DIMM DDR5 solution with up to 256 GB capacity support and up to 9600 MT/s speeds, a major increase over the last Aqua option, the Z690 Aqua, which had memory support rated at 6400 MT/s. The motherboard supports both XMP modes and is ready for CUDIMM DDR5 modules, pushing for really high frequencies in Gear 2 mode. The motherboard had no problem running the stock DDR5 kit at 8000 MT/s out of the box, and even the 9200 MT/s OC profile booted up easily. ASRock also uses a slightly newer BIOS design while retaining the BIOS flashback feature, which allows users to flash to the latest BIOS with a USB stick without having CPU, Memory, or other components installed on the motherboard.

The motherboard also has some strong cooling capabilities, which are required for this beefy VRM design. The VRMs feature a water block from Alphacool, which also comes with an easy detachable design for the primary Gen5 SSD, which can also be water-cooled. You are looking at sub-50 °C temps with water cooling, which is fantastic. The board also has 8 fan headers, enough for your cooling needs, and even the M.2 heatsinks are beefy and enough to handle the fastest Gen5 SSDs.

The things we loved about the ASRock Z890 Taichi Aqua:

• Amazing Design with white aesthetics
• Strong VRM Solution
• Faster Memory Support (9600 MT/s+)
• Great OC Memory Support
• Great VRM Heatsink With Active-Cooling
• Lots of USB ports (Including Dual USB4)
• 10 Type-C ports on the rear
• Six M.2 slots with heatsinks
• Latest WIFI7 & BT5.4 Support
• EZ Toolless Design For GPU & M.2 Slots
• 10GbE LAN Port
• Solid BIOS Firmware

Things that we would have liked to see:

• Lower Price
• More Audio Jacks
• More SATA ports
• Some OC Tuning options on the board itself

Regarding storage options, you are getting six M.2 slots, one of which is Gen5, while the rest are Gen4 but retain full bandwidth. There's also a full bandwidth PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for discrete GPUs. ASRock has followed some of the latest design approaches to make the GPU and M.2 device installation and removal easy through its EZ Release mechanisms, making for an effortless experience.

On the USB side, the motherboard has a total of 20 USB connections, including 2 Thunderbolt Type-C ports. All ports support ESD protection, and the rear IO ports are also packed with BIOS flashback, USB, and various other options. There is also a single 10GbE LAN port. Audio through ALC4082 and wireless connectivity through the WIFI7 chip are also upgrades over the previous model.

CPU:

• - 2 x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (Rear)

Chipset:

• 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (Front)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (Rear)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A (Front)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (Rear)
• 4 x USB 2.0 (Front)

I was already thoroughly impressed with ASRock's Z890 motherboard lineup, especially the Taichi, and the Taichi Aqua further elevates my thoughts about this series. The Aqua brings out solid OC performance, great cooling, and an incredible 10 USB Type-C ports on the back. It is also selling at a lower price point, close to $700 US, which is decent enough for the capabilities this flagship board has on offer. Overall, the Z890 Taichi Aqua lays a solid foundation for ASRock's future Aqua offerings & delivers great performance on the Core Ultra Series 2 platform despite the CPU's shortcomings.

 

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