Unlike some years, this year’s Computex tech show wasn’t one packed full of motherboard highlights. A few vendors showed off prototype Z790 refresh boards for the upcoming Raptor Lake refresh, but it was ASRock’s Z790 and B650E Taichi Lite motherboards that got my attention.
It retains all of the features of its non-Lite counterpart, but drops the premium aesthetic, knocking $100 off the price in the process.
The concept behind the ASRock Z790 Taichi Lite I have here for review is simple. It retains all of the features of its non-Lite counterpart, but drops the premium aesthetic, knocking $100 off the price in the process.
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ASRock says the admittedly lovely cogs-and-wheels styling of the $479.99 Z790 Taichi costs a lot to make. I totally understand if you have a glass-sided case and want to show off your build, but once you add a graphics card, a large air cooler or water tubing, much of the board gets hidden. That’s if you can see it at all. Many users with closed cases will not.
Historically, I’ve been impressed by Taichi boards. They made their debut in the mid 2010’s during an era of RGB overload and seemingly every product had the…