For those looking to build something more professional than your average run of the mill PC, ASUS new Pro WS W680M-ACE SE motherboard might be the thing you've been looking for. The Intel W680 chipset based board sports a mATX form factor and packs in a range of rather unusual features that you more often would find on a board from Supermicro or Tyan than ASUS. One such feature is onboard BMC remote management via an ASpeed AST2600 SoC which features a pair of Arm Cortex A7 cores and a Cortex M3, as well as a dedicated 2D graphics chip. The board also sports a SlimSAS port which supports either four SATA drives or a single PCIe 4.0 x4 storage device, although ASUS doesn't support any cables in the box for the port.

As this is a workstation motherboard, it obviously supports ECC memory and in this case we're talking DDR5 with full transactional ECC support, rather than the on-die ECC that all DDR5 features. Other more common motherboard features include a pair of PCIe 4.0 x4 NMVe M.2 slots, a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot and a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. The board also has a pair of 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port and a third 1 Gbps Ethernet port which is connected the AST2600, a 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, as well as a DisplayPort and HDMI port, plus a VGA port which again is connected to the AST2600. ASUS promises 24/7 reliability at ambient temperatures of up to 45 degrees C and a relative humidity of up to 80 percent. The board also comes with ASUS' Control Center Express, which is ASUS' IT management software. No word on pricing, but the ATX sized version retails for around US$330, suggesting that the mATX version should be somewhat cheaper.

IBASE Technology Inc. (TPEx: 8050), a leading provider of embedded computing solutions, introduces the IB837 3.5" single board computer that is designed for a wide range of IoT applications, including industrial automation, smart retail, healthcare, smart city and edge AI solutions, combining powerful processing capabilities with extensive connectivity options.

At the heart of the IB837 is the onboard Intel Celeron N & J series (formerly Elkhart Lake) processor, offering a good balance of performance and power efficiency. With support for up to 16 GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory, the SBC ensures smooth multitasking and efficient operation, delivering exceptional performance while consuming minimal power for applications requiring a compact form factor.

Axiomtek—a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted to the research, development, and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce the SHB160, a new PICMG 1.3 full-size single board computer powered by the LGA1700 13th/12th Gen Intel Core i7/i5/i3, Pentium or Celeron processor with the Intel R680E/H610E chipset. The industry-specific SBC supports dual 2.5 GbE LAN for the ultimate connection experience with blazing data-transfer speed. It also supports PCIe 4.0 for more flexibility and higher bandwidth to GPUs, SSDs, and other peripherals. Offering superior computing performance, rugged design, flexible I/O expansion as well as enhanced graphics capabilities, the SHB160 aims to satisfy the requirements of AIoT applications such as vision inspection, objective classification, factory automation, intelligent video analysis, and smart city.

Axiomtek's SHB160 offers up to four DDR5-4400 MHz ECC or non-ECC U-DIMM slots for up to 128 GB of system memory. The full-size slot CPU card has six SATA-600 ports with software RAID 0/1/5/10 support (Intel R680E chipset) or four SATA-600 ports (Intel H610E chipset). In addition, the SHB160 has one M.2 Key M 2280 slot with PCIe 4.0 x4 signal for NVMe SSD (Intel R680E chipset). It also delivers superior graphics performance with the Intel UHD Graphics and offers dual display configurations via DVI-I and DisplayPort++ (internal header) ports. One PCIe x16 Gen 4 slot, one PCIe x4 Gen 4 slot or four PCIe x1 Gen 4 slots, and four 32-bit PCI bus masters are available on the board to provide an optimum solution with a diverse range of configurations. Equipped with one M.2 Key E 2230 slot, the SHB160 also supports Wi-Fi 6 for faster data transferring while reducing latency and enhancing security.

As a global provider of ultimate storage products and solutions, Hangzhou Hikstorage Technology Co.,Ltd.("Hiksemi") is committed to constantly exploring and inventing to meet the demand of consumers. Seeing that SSDs have emerged as the mainstream technology in digital data storage, Hiksemi has made full efforts in the field of PCIe 4.0 SSDs with the rich technical experience. Recently, Hiksemi has launched high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD, FUTURE Series, designed for PC enthusiasts, gamers and content creators.

Just as the name FUTURE, this series is born to break limits and embrace the future. FUTURE SSD has faster speed, stronger performance, larger capacity, making users even more powerful in the world of game entertainment and content creation.

Taichi Lite series is here! Based on the existing Z790/B650E Taichi motherboard, the Taichi Lite kept the original specs & features but with less RGB & simpler exterior design. Taichi Lite series motherboard will be focusing purely on the functionality, performance and durability, and with the new simplified design concept, ASRock has brought the long awaited affordable high end motherboard finally back to the market.

Both Z790/B650E Taichi Lite motherboard will be equipped with 24 phase VRM for Vcore to give unlimited CPU performance, other exciting features and technologies are also available too, such as PCIe 5.0 technology for graphics cards and M.2 SSDs, an incredible IO that includes the latest USB4 offering a fast and simple level of connection for work or home.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today unveils the brand new M800 Series PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 SSD, designed to revolutionize gaming for everyone from casual enthusiasts to professional gamers and streamers. The all-new M800 Series SSD promises incredible performance and high-speed data transfer, ensuring smoother gameplay and faster load times, ideal for gaming streamers and content creators. Its core features include a PCIe Gen4x4 interface, standard M.2 2280 form factor, BIOSTAR unique design, support for NVMe v1.3, and end-to-end data protection.

Available in 2 TB, 1 TB, and 512 GB capacity, the M800 series promises a read speed of up to 5000 MB/s and a maximum write speed of 4450 MB/s, outperforming the competition and ensuring an incredibly immersive gaming experience. Moreover, the PCIe Gen 4 x4 interface is designed to leverage the increased bandwidth provided by PCIe Gen 4, offering faster read and write speeds compared to its predecessors. As a result, it enhances the overall system performance, optimizes boot load-up time, and ensures faster application and game loading.

In the world of modern embedded computing, motherboards and systems are equipped with numerous M.2 and Mini-PCI Express sockets. These sockets provide ideal homes for networking communication adapters and solid-state drives (SSDs), including NVMe-compatible SSDs. With an abundance of sockets, embedded systems now have unparalleled connectivity and storage options.

Cervoz recognizes this need and introduces a new industrial SSD perfectly suited for these boards and systems: the M.2 2242 PCIe Gen 3 x 2 (B+M Key) SSD, T421. This SSD is designed specifically for embedded motherboards and systems, making it a perfect fit for industrial applications ranging from retail and gaming solutions to embedded computing devices.

ADLINK Technology Inc., a global leader in edge computing, and a Titanium member of the Intel Partner Alliance, is proud to announce the launch of its latest MVP Series fanless modular computers—the MVP-5200 Compact Modular Industrial Computers and MVP-6200 Expandable Modular Industrial Computers—powered by 12/13th Gen Intel Core i9/i7/i5/i3 and Celeron processors. Featuring Intel R680E chipset and supporting up to 65 W, the computers can also incorporate GPU cards in a rugged package suitable for AI inferencing at the Edge, and can be used for but not limited to smart manufacturing, semiconductor equipment, and warehouse applications.

The MVP-5200/MVP-6200 series though expandable remains compact with support for up to 4 PCI/PCIe slots that allow for performance acceleration through GPUs, accelerators, and other expansion cards. Comprehensive modularized options and the ease of configuration can effectively reduce lead times for customers' diverse requirements. In addition, ADLINK also offers a broad range of pre-validated expansion cards, such as GPU, motion, vision, and I/O embedded cards, all can be easily deployed for your industrial applications.

ASUS Chinese GM—Tony Yu—has shown off a graphics card concept on Bilibili that has a rather unusual feature, a slot for an M.2 NVMe SSD. The card is based on NVIDIA's GeForce RT 4060 Ti GPU and although not all details are clear at this point in time, but ASUS is taking advantage of the unused PCIe lanes on the card, since the AD106 GPU only uses eight PCIe lanes, the PCIe connector on the card has space for a further eight lanes. In theory ASUS could have added a pair of SSDs, since there are a total of eight lanes available, but as this was just a proof of concept, they seemingly stuck with a single SSD.

It's unclear if ASUS relies on bifurcation or if the company has added some kind of bridge chip, but bifurcation makes more sense, as a bridge chip would add a lot more cost. The neat thing with the NVMe drive being on the GPU, is that it also connects to the heatsink of the graphics card, which means the cooling should be rather good. However, for this to work properly, the SSD would have to be mounted back to front compared to how it would be mounted on a motherboard. Based on the test results, the SSD runs at a cool 42 degrees C, even when the GPU is being stress tested. It's likely that this product will not make it to markets outside of China, if it's ever launched into retail.

The European brand expands its portfolio of PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSDs in M.2 format with a model dedicated to the PS 5 console. It is the IRDM PRO SLIM - ideal not only for gamers, but also professionals and enthusiasts.

The IRDM PRO SLIM is a twin model of the IRDM PRO M.2 SSD. Unlike its predecessor, the new drive is offered without a heatsink, making it 100% compliant with Sony's requirements for PlayStation 5 console drives. The technical parameters speak in favour of choosing an SSD from a European manufacturer. Maximum read and write speeds are 7000/6850 MB/s, respectively. The PCIe 4 x4 NVMe interface delivers twice the speed of older 3 x4 solutions. The memory speed is also influenced by DRAM buffer of up to 2 GB, thanks to which the drive works stably even under heavy use.

ASRock Industrial is introducing new choices in industrial motherboards powered by 13th Gen Intel Core Processors (Raptor Lake-S) with up to 24 cores and 32 threads that boost computer-intensive edge performance. They come equipped with Intel W680, Q670, and H610 chipsets, and offer support for up to DDR5-5600 memory modules and PCIe Gen 5, allowing expanded possibilities and seamless integration within industry-specific applications.

By harnessing the power of the 13th Gen Intel Core Processors, they leap up to 1.04x/1.34x/1.25x faster in single-thread, multi-thread, and CPU image classification inference performance, respectively, compared to the preceding 12th Gen Intel Core processors. The new 13th Gen Intel CPU motherboards with DDR5 support, available in Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX form factors, have been specifically designed to cater to the unique requirements of the Edge AIoT applications in commerce, automation, robot, entertainment, and security industries.

Seagate Technology Holdings today introduced the next generation of SSD technology to its lineup, the FireCuda 540. The PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD delivers unparalleled performance to gamers, creators, and tech enthusiasts - adding the fastest speeds and endurance to the company's line of PC storage products.

Seagate's fastest and highest performance M.2 2280 SSD, the FireCuda 540 delivers sequential read speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s. Built for sustained, pro-level gaming and accelerated content creation, the new drive performs up to 50% faster than Gen 4 M.2 NVMe drives and 17 times faster than SATA-based SSDs. With the latest 3D TLC NAND technology and built with a Seagate-validated E26 controller, the FireCuda 540 provides the most advanced speed and durability - allowing users to push limits when gaming or creating content. Plug-and-play compatible with all PCIe Gen 5 motherboards and backwards compatible with PCIe Gen 4, the drive is accessible and ready for trailblazing.

ATP Electronics, the global leader in specialized storage and memory solutions, introduces its latest high-speed N601 Series M.2 2280 and U.2 solid state drives (SSDs) sporting the 4th generation PCIe interface and supporting the NVMe protocol. The new ATP PCIe Gen 4 SSDs' 16 GT/s data rate is double that of the previous generation, translating to a bandwidth of 2 GB/s for every PCIe lane.

Using x4 lanes, these SSDs have a maximum bandwidth of 8 GB/s, meeting the growing need for high-speed data transfer in today's demanding applications and making them suitable for both read/write-intensive, mission-critical industrial applications such as networking/server, 5G, data logging, surveillance, and imaging, with performance on par, if not better, than mainstream PCIe Gen 4 consumer SSDs in the market.

Patriot Memory, a leading manufacturer of high-performance enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage and gaming peripherals, has announced the upcoming release of their newest Gen 4 x4 SSD, the VP4300 Lite M.2 PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD. With lightning-fast read speeds of up to 7400 MB/s and harnessing Patriot Viper's new cooling technology, the VP4300 Lite is designed to take gaming to new heights. Along with NVMe 2.0 support, a special edition ultra-thin graphene cooling heat spreader built and capacities of up to 4 TB, the VP4300 Lite will deliver a powerful balance of speed, performance and storage that includes everything gamers could need.

The VP4300 Lite will also be fully compatible with the PlayStation 5, offering sequential read speeds of up to 6100 MB/s as the first PC-PS5 compatible SSD from Patriot Viper to bring supreme performance to PC and console gamers alike. "It is our pleasure to introduce the VP4300 Lite as our newest Gen 4 x4 SSD," said Les Henry, VP of N. America and S. America Sales. "The VP4300 Lite represents our push to keep revolutionizing gaming storage solutions, and we're proud to offer an SSD built both for PC and console gamers."

ASUS today announced BR1402 series, the world's first 2-in-1 ruggedized 14-inch laptops aimed at K-12 education—and designed for the need of modern students and hybrid learning. Available in both traditional clamshell form (BR1402C) and a convertible design that flips 360° to become a versatile multitouch tablet (BR1402F), the all-new BR1402-series laptops are built to military-grade standards and packed with clever protective features to help students through their learning journey.

BR1402 series are also loaded with essentials for the demands of hybrid study, enabling education to flow seamlessly from the classroom into the home and beyond. To empower a full day's study, these laptops include up to 10-hour battery life, full-function USB-C, up to WiFi 6 for speedy connectivity and a modular design to ensure easy maintenance and upgrades.

Leading storage device brand, Team Group, is releasing its industrial wide temperature storage product series, ULTRA, in view of the fast-developing electric vehicle market. Consumer products typically operate within a temperature range of 0-70℃. However, industrial products are designed to withstand harsh environments and operate within a temperature range of -40-85℃. Because of the extreme temperature differences in applications such as vehicle computer systems, storage products with higher tolerance and compliance with automotive temperature grades are required. In response to the developments in EVs, Team Group has launched a new storage product series that includes an SSD and memory module and can handle temperatures of up to 105℃, the highest in the industry. The company is targeting the vehicle, fanless embedded, and rugged computer markets.

Team Group's industrial ULTRA wide-temperature storage product series uses Major Grade high-quality ICs and patented testing and grading technology (Taiwan Invention Patent No. I751093; US Invention Patent No. US11488679) and ultra-thin graphene cooling technology (Taiwan Invention Patent No. I703921; US Invention Patent No. US11051392B2), allowing stable operation in harsh temperatures. In addition, the ULTRA wide-temperature storage product series has passed the ISO-16750 Road Vehicles (environmental conditions and testing for electrical and electronic equipment in road vehicles) - 5.1.2 high-temperature 105℃ verification test. Both products also meet standards for military-grade impact resistance (MIL-STD-202G, MIL-STD-883K) and shock resistance (MIL-STD810G), guaranteeing their stability and durability. Whether it's maintaining data security or overcoming extreme conditions in automotive and industrial applications, the ULTRA storage product series will fully satisfy your needs.

Gigabyte has added three additional AMD A620 based motherboards to its lineup after the initial two that were announced on the launch day. The three new models are the A620M DS3H, A620M S2H and A620M H, all three models being mATX motherboards. The A620M DS3H is the board with most features and it's the only model to include a VRM heatsink as well as four memory slots. Common features among the three boards include a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, a single PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe slot—that supports the slightly wider 2580 form factor—four SATA ports and somewhat surprisingly for this range of boards, a DP 1.4 port and an HDMI 2.1 port.

All three boards also sport Gigabit Ethernet and a Realtek based audio solution, as well as a 90 degree angled USB 3.2 5 Gbps header. The A620M DS3H is the only model that gets a USB Type-C port around the back, but it's limited to 5 Gbps data speeds. All three models also support Gigabyte's QFlash Plus UEFI recovery/flashing solution, making it possible to update the UEFI/BIOS without having a CPU in the board. All three boards support the full range of AM5 CPUs up to 170 W, courtesy of a 5+2+2 PWM design. These might not be the most exciting boards, but they seem like a solid budget range.

Razer today launched the 2023 Razer Blade 14. This segment-disruptive 14-inch notebook packs gaming performance comparable to much thicker enthusiast-class notebooks; in a thin-and-light form-factor comparable to business/commercial notebooks. Across the market landscape, the Razer Blade 14 is designed to compete with the Apple MacBook Pro of a comparable screen size. Razer is timing launch of this notebook with that of the AMD Ryzen 7040HS "Phoenix" processor, because it's based on one. The notebook measures 31 cm x 22.8 cm x 1.79 cm (WxDxH with lid closed), and is 11.5% thinner than the 2022 Razer Blade 14. It's also 9% lighter, at 1.83 kg. Despite its size, the notebook packs a 68.1 Wh battery, which when paired with the rather high-end hardware, offers up to 10 hours of productivity.

Under the hood, the Razer Blade 14 (2023) rocks an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS "Phoenix" processor, with an 8-core/16-thread "Zen 4" CPU, Ryzen AI accelerator, and Radeon 780M (12 CU) integrated graphics. The main graphics muscle, though, is the GeForce RTX 4070 Ada with 140 W TGP. The notebook provides the ability to switch between the discrete- and integrated graphics. The notebook also comes with two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of socketed DDR5 memory; and an M.2-2280 Gen 4 NVMe slot for the main storage, a Gen 4 SSD. The WLAN module is also socketed, and offers Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The display is a 14-inch, 16:10 aspect-ratio QHD+ (2560 x 1600 pixels) unit, with 240 Hz refresh rate, and 3 ms response time. The display has 500 nits maximum brightness.

Seagate has released a new firmware update for its FireCuda 530 series of NVMe SSDs that adds DirectStorage support. Seagate is to our knowledge only the second company to release a firmware with DirectStorage support for its SSDs, but we're expecting more to follow. The FireCuda 530 is based on Phison's E18 controller, which is commonly found in a range of NVMe M.2 SSDs from several major and minor SSD brands, with Sabrent being the first company to have announced a DirectStorage firmware update for its drives based on the same controller.

To update to the new firmware, you need the serial number of your FireCuda 530 drive, which you then have to enter on Segate's support site to be able to download the update. The company didn't specify how the firmware update is done, but it seems to be a standalone installer, rather than using some kind of SSD tool, which most SSD makers provide for their drives these days. The new firmware is said to be "reducing CPU overhead and I/O latency, load times and asset streaming are streamlined—allowing for improved multitasking and optimized PC gaming with DirectStorage compatible games." The list of games that support DirectStorage is quite short at the moment, but hopefully we'll see more games implementing support now that there is supported hardware out there.

The Sabrent Quad NVMe SSD to PCIe 4.0 x16 Card (EC-P4BF) is the perfect complement for a desktop that requires additional high-performance storage. Add one, two, three, or four NVMe SSDs with a single, physical x16 PCIe slot adapter. A bifurcation setting in the BIOS is required. Only M.2 M key SSDs are supported, but older and newer generation SSDs in the 2230/2242/2260/2280 form factors will work at up to PCIe 4.0 speeds. The adapter is also backward compatible with PCIe 3.0/2.0 slots. Drives can be accessed individually or placed into a RAID via Intel VROC, AMD Ryzen NVMe RAID, UEFI RAID, or software-based RAID through Windows Storage Spaces when respective criteria are met.

High-performance drives and systems may require high-end cooling, and this adapter has you covered. It's constructed out of aluminium material for physical stability and improved heat dissipation. It also includes thermal padding for all four SSDs to keep things cool and in place. Active cooling for high-performance environments is optional with a switchable fan. The adapter is plug-and-play with driverless operation. Rear-mounted LEDs quickly show the drive status for a quick visual update. The host must support PCIe bifurcation (lane splitting) to access more than one drive, so be sure to check your motherboard's manual ahead of time.

Western Digital introduced the WD Black SN850P M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD for PlayStation 5 game consoles, which is an officially-licensed PlayStation 5 accessory. The drive can also used with PCs. It comes with a factory-fitted heatsink, and has been extensively tested for compatibility with the game console. The drive comes in three capacity-based variants—1 TB (WDBBYV0010BNC-WRSN), 2 TB (WDBBYV0020BNC-WRSN), and 4 TB (WDBBYV0040BNC-WRSN. All three models offer sequential read speeds of up to 7.3 GB/s, and while the 1 TB variant offers up to 6.3 GB/s sequential writes, the 2 TB and 4 TB ones are rated for up to 6.6 GB/s sequential writes. Their write endurance is rated at 600 TBW, 1,200 TBW, and 2,400 TBW, respectively. Western Digital is backing these drives with 5-year warranties. The company didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS today announced the TUF Gaming AS1000, a portable high-performance M.2 NVMe 1 TB SSD with innovative cooling features to ensure ultrafast data transfers. TUF Gaming AS1000 uses a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x1 connection and is compatible with PCs, laptops, and the latest gaming consoles. This SSD has been subjected to stringent durability testing to ensure stored data is well-protected from everyday spills and knocks. Plus, bundled NTI Backup Now EZ software (valued at up to US$35.99) allows for easy data backup and recovery.

Military-grade toughness
The TUF Gaming AS1000 has been subjected to a rigorous battery of durability tests, including the U.S-military-grade MIL-STD-810H drop test and IP68 water-and-dust-resistance tests. Devices were dropped from various heights, submerged in water, and exposed to dust and dirt to ensure toughness, making the TUF Gaming AS1000 more than capable of withstanding accidental bumps, knocks, and spills.

AAEON's UP brand, known for its sophisticated developer board range, have announced the release of the UP Squared i12, the smallest developer board with 12th Generation Intel Core /Celeron Processor 7000 Series Processors. The 85.6 mm x 90 mm form factor is the latest to move into its third generation, and much like recent releases from the brand's UP Xtreme and UP Squared Pro collections, the UP Squared i12 displays a number of distinct upgrades on its predecessor.

With 12th Generation Intel Core processors and onboard LPDDR5 on such a tiny board, the UP Squared i12 targets a number of key markets with its potential to be deployed as a low-cost, space-efficient, and high-performance foundation for developers to work with. AAEON believe the greater bandwidth speed offered by the board's LPDDR5 will be beneficial to projects in the smart retail space, being particularly suited to applications such as frictionless shopping and intelligent vending machines.

Transcend brought its latest flash storage and PC memory products to Computex 2023. The company, much like Kingston and Micron, appears to be focusing on the high-volume mid-range of the market that it can sell both in the retail channel and to OEMs, without too much invested on niche high-end ones. To begin with, the company showed us its DDR5 UDIMMs and RDIMMs. Nothing flashy—these stick with JEDEC-standard speeds, such as DDR5-5600 (13th Gen native speed), and DDR5-4800.

The company doesn't have PCIe Gen 5 SSDs yet, but we were shown a handful Gen 4 ones meant for the DIY retail channel, including the PCIe SSD 250H (MTE250H), with its sporty heatsink, and extensive testing for PlayStation 5 compatibility; and its alter-ego without the heatsink, the PCIe SSD 250S (MTE250S). These drives come in capacities ranging between 1 TB to 4 TB, with sequential transfer speeds of up to 7.5 GB/s reads, and up to 6.7 GB/s writes. Also shown were a set of smaller NVMe Gen 3 SSDs in the M.2-2230 and M.2-2260 form-factors, the MTE300S and MTE400S, respectively. With capacities of just 256 GB and 512 GB for the MTE300S, and 256 GB thru 1 TB for the MTE400S, these drives are probably meant for hand-held game consoles, or low-cost desktop PCs, where OEMs or SIs buy them in large quantities.

ASRock gave its Socket LGA1700 motherboard lineup, specifically those based on the Z790 chipset, a mid-lifecycle refresh with the introduction of four new motherboard models. These include the new Z790 Taichi Lite, Z790 Phantom Gaming Riptide WiFi7, Z790 Nova WiFi7, and the Z790 LiveMixer. The Z790 Taichi Lite heralds a new sub-brand in ASRock's motherboard product stack. This provides the core feature-set of the top Taichi, such as CPU VRM and overclocking capabilites, but tones down on the aesthetic, and some I/O connectivity. Interestingly, the Taichi Lite sticks with older WiFi 6E connectivity, besides a Killer 2.5 GbE + Intel 2.5 GbE wired network. The onboard audio solution is fairly slick, featuring a Realtek ALC4082 codec, an ESS Sabre 9218 DAC for the front-out, and WIMA audio capacitors.

In related news, ASRock also extended the Taichi Lite brand to the AMD platform, by debuting the B650E Taichi Lite, with a powerful CPU VRM that's comparable to that of the X670E Taichi, and a nifty I/O that includes WiFi 6E, Killer 2.5 GbE wired networking, and the same exact onboard audio solution as the Z790 Taichi Lite. The Z790 Phantom Gaming Nova is intended to be the most premium Phantom Gaming series motherboard in the product stack, although positioned a notch below the Z790 Taichi (although above the Z790 Taichi Lite on account of its features). You get the most powerful CPU VRM solution among the company's Phantom Gaming motherboards, a neat, illuminated common heatsink for M.2 drives other than the topmost Gen 5 (which gets a chunkier heatsink), and plenty of overclocker-friendly features. It has a more advanced set of network connectivity than the Taichi series, with 5 GbE wired networking, and the latest WiFi 7. Interestingly, the onboard audio is simpler, with just the ALC4082 handling all channels (no ESS DAC).