ASRock Z890 Motherboard Lineup at Computex 2024: Taichi, OC Formula, and Lots More

[btarunr]

ASRock at the 2024 Computex presented a massive lineup of gaming and overclocking motherboards based on the Intel Z890 chipset. The company is not allowed to use the term "Z890," and refers to it as "next-gen Intel," but for convenience's sake, we will use Z890 in this article. Z890 is the highest tier desktop chipset for Socket LGA1851, which will power the Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors that launch in Q4 2024. With the Z890 generation, ASRock stratified its coveted Taichi brand of high-end motherboards further up, clubbing its enthusiast-grade OC Formula brand along with it.

There are now Taichi OCF motherboards with either 1-DIMM per channel memory configurations (best dual-channel topology for memory overclocking), or with a new CAMM2 slot. There's also a mainline Taichi Lite, which is a no-frills variant with less bling, and essential high-end features such as a strong VRM and good onboard audio; and there's also the new Taichi Aqua, targeting the creator crowd, with its liquid-cooled VRM+SSD heatsink setup.



We begin our tour with the Z890 Taichi Aqua. This board has three striking features. First, is its white PCB, which should pair well with your white graphics card. Second, is its liquid-cooled heatsink array, which cools the CPU VRM and the topmost M.2-2280 Gen 5 slot that's wired to the CPU. There's enough finnage to liquid-cool the VRM and a feisty Gen 5 NVMe SSD. And third, is the all type-C USB setup. That's right, this board completely does away with all type-A USB ports. If you want them, there are a bunch of USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 headers. Two of these type-C ports are 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4, which include DisplayPort wiring from the iGPU.



Next up, is the Z890 Taichi OCF (OC Formula). This board is geared toward record-setting overclocking, and is from the same category as the GIGABYTE AORUS Tachyon, and ASUS ROG Maximus Apex. Besides an overpowered CPU VRM and a boatload of features relevant to professional overclockers, this board has a 1-DIMM per channel memory configuration that provides the best memory overclocking headroom. There are quite a few enthusiasts who just want the pesky memory out of the way and focus on CPU overclocking. For this exact niche, ASRock developed a variant of the Z890 Taichi OCF with a DDR5 CAMM2 slot.

Next up is the Z890 Taichi, the OG model in the series, which strikes a balance between overclocking capabilities, connectivity, and other premium features, for a high-end desktop build. If you can do without the elaborate heatsinks, RGB blink, but just want the basic high-end stuff in the series, such as a good CPU VRM, a high-end onboard audio, and more, there's the Z890 Taichi Lite.

Next up, is the Z890 Phantom Gaming series. There will be many boards in this series, but at launch, there will be the Z890 Phantom Gaming NOVA, a fairly feature-packed board with plenty of heatsinks, M.2 NVMe slots, and premium onboard audio. The Z890 Phantom Gaming Riptide is a notch below the NOVA, with a fairly good feature-set. At the value end of the series is the Z890 Phantom Gaming Lightning WiFi. The Z890 Steel Legend and PRO series forms the mainstream in ASRock's lineup, and there are two variants here, the Z890 Steel Legend, and the PRO Z890 RS.

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[ncrs]

Is this the first instance of actually showing the internals of the new Intel socket on the presentation photos? Every board on the show floor I've seen has had an Intel plug to hide it.
A Noctua engineer talked with Gamers Nexus about Intel heat spreader deformation and the fact it keeps increasing with time in turn lowering cooling efficiency.
I wonder if the final retail design will be the same as on the photos here.

 

[Chaitanya]

I was watching Hardware unboxed coverage and there seems to one more form factor of DIMM(far more propietary for now) on the way to add to the consumer frustration and confusion(even Geil showed off that memory).

 

[TheDeeGee]

CAMM2 is great for air cooler users!

 

[CheapMeat]

Guess I'm oldschool but I don't even see the point of why some of these are even ATX in the first place or the fact that the consumer, non HEDT CPU's have become so much better, with more lanes, and the ability to distribute the lanes more efficiently (less lanes for the same throughput + backwards compatibility) yet total overall I/O options have decreased; which gave more versatility. Heck, it doesn't even have to mean less NVMe slots either for modern users who prefer direct-to-board attachment because lots of other examples have them in the PCH area, DIMM area or back of the board; for example some have 4 NVMe M.2 slots in the PCH area plus still have PCIe 7 slots. I'm also not saying all the slots need to be x16 (5.0) either. Just that even the higher end ATX boards feel more lacking in versatility than they did a decade ago. Also, for a while they kept up their Extreme series, at least Extreme4 but seems like that got dropped too.

Personally, the only interesting thing about these new boards (and most of the other brand new boards) is because of CAMM2.

11 years ago:

ASRock > Z77 Extreme11

8 SAS2/SATA3 from LSI™ SAS 2308 PCIe 3.0 x8 Controller; 3-Way SLI™ & 4-Way CrossFireX™ supported by PLX 8747 bridge; Premium Gold Caps, Digi Power Design, 8 + 4 Power Phase Design, Dual-Stack MOSFET; Supports Dual Channel DDR3 3000+(OC); 3 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 x mini-PCIe; Intel PCIE...

www.asrock.com

ASRock Z77 Extreme9

ASRock > Z77 Extreme9

Premium Gold Caps; Digi Power Design, 8 + 4 Power Phase Design; Supports Dual Channel DDR3 3000+(OC); 5 x PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 x mini-PCIe; Supports AMD 4-Way CrossFireX™ and NVIDIA 4-Way SLI™; PCIE Dual Gigabit LAN with Teaming Function; Supports Intel HD Graphics with Built-in...

www.asrock.com

 

[Dristun]

Need more boards like Aqua. Go USB-C!

 

[Pepamami]

ok, at this point ATX is kinda dead. We now should be able to attach ram and nvme on both sides of motherboard, and solve the problem with PCI-E slots being blocked by GPU

 

[Space Lynx]

I have to say I have been very impressed with my AsRock AM5 board, def going to be the company I go with for AM6 too.

 

[jallenlabs]

Where's my PCIE slots? Like the only thing people use is gpus? What about my Optane PCIe SSD, capture card, pcie m.2?
The Steel Legend looks like the only one I could run.
Bummer.

 

[Pepamami]

Where's my PCIE slots? Like the only thing people use is gpus? What about my Optane PCIe SSD, capture card, pcie m.2?
The Steel Legend looks like the only one I could run.
Bummer.

thats my point, we have 3-4 slots GPUS, that cover all PCi-E slots, coz its ATX, so motherboard makes dont even bother to place some at this point.

 

[Upgrayedd]

CAMM2 is great for air cooler users!

Ehh just 2 DIMM slots like the OCF or Asus Apex will support large dual tower coolers, the memory will sit right behind the coolers front fan. Now where I could see it being useful is SFF or maybe we'll see monoblocks again.

 

[rv8000]

I wish they’d ditch the hideous gear design. Two formula variants for intel, zero for AMD, disappointing. With Z890 and intels next desktop processors coming in the fall, its wild to see mostly Z890 boards at computex when Zen is due July-August.

 

[Metroid]

I hope CAMM2 becomes the standard, computer industry as a whole needs to move forward.

 

[Space Lynx]

I hope CAMM2 becomes the standard, computer industry as a whole needs to move forward.

I kind of like the idea that my motherboard might get an update that allows for faster ram when 11800x3d comes out, and being able to sell my old ram and get the faster QVL ram when my cpu upgrade time comes, would CAMM2 be as interchangeable, or would you be required to keep that same ram forever? I don't really like that, because that is part of the fun of this hobby for me is upgrading parts.

 

[rv8000]

I kind of like the idea that my motherboard might get an update that allows for faster ram when 11800x3d comes out, and being able to sell my old ram and get the faster QVL ram when my cpu upgrade time comes, would CAMM2 be as interchangeable, or would you be required to keep that same ram forever? I don't really like that, because that is part of the fun of this hobby for me is upgrading parts.

There seem to be an abundance of conflicting “standards”, looks bad for longevity with every mobo manf and ram manf cooking up differing layouts and form factors right now.

Until they can prove cooling is adequate for rear mounted ics sandwiched against the motherboard, doesn’t seem like a good move to make camm modules any kind of standard.

 

[Noyand]

I was watching Hardware unboxed coverage and there seems to one more form factor of DIMM(far more propietary for now) on the way to add to the consumer frustration and confusion(even Geil showed off that memory).

JEDEC is pushing CAMM2 for desktops and servers to replace DIMMs once they won't be able to keep up with the new memory. Samsung, micron, and Hynix, are all in it
SK Hynix Throws a Jab: CAMM is Coming to Desktop PCs | TechPowerUp
JEDEC Publishes New CAMM2 Memory Module Standard | JEDEC

 

[Chaitanya]

JEDEC is pushing CAMM2 for desktops and servers to replace DIMMs once they won't be able to keep up with the new memory. Samsung, micron, and Hynix, are all in it
SK Hynix Throws a Jab: CAMM is Coming to Desktop PCs | TechPowerUp
JEDEC Publishes New CAMM2 Memory Module Standard | JEDEC

so is CUDIMM and CSODIMM being JEDEC standard but mini CUDIMM being pushed by Intel and MSI seems to be propietary format(for now).

 

[Noyand]

so is CUDIMM and CSODIMM being JEDEC standard but mini CUDIMM being pushed by Intel and MSI seems to be propietary format(for now).

From what I'm seeing so far, there's a strong chance that all those standards die off in the face of CAMM2. They all have the same benefits, but CAMM2 seems to have more support. I've found another article where an MSI said that mini CUDIMM should stay a niche product for overclockers

 

[Chaitanya]

From what I'm seeing so far, there's a strong chance that all those standards die off in the face of CAMM2. They all have the same benefits, but CAMM2 seems to have more support. I've found another article where an MSI said that mini CUDIMM should stay a niche product for overclockers

Looks like for desktops CUDIMM will be what replaces UDIMM. Also GeIL showed for smaller CSODIMM(TPU coverage of PR) so the whole situation regarding SODIMM being replaced by what seems like CAMM2 and CSODIMM muddies the water even more with addition of LPCAMM(supposed to compete with solutions where OEMs solder memory). Also whatever mini CUDIMM(unless its just placeholder name for CSODIMM) is just adding one more propietary format into mix of 4 JEDEC standards for consumer memory.

DDR5 Clocked Unbuffered Dual Inline Memory Module (CUDIMM) Common Specification | JEDEC

www.jedec.org