Board Layout

ASRock has made a big effort to modernize their aesthetic over the past year. This started with the introduction of the Phantom Gaming family of products and has been carried over into the Taichi line. While the cog and gear theme is still readily present, the implementation is vastly different.


While the PCB is a matte black, not much of it is visible. A large monolithic heatsink covers the entire bottom half of the board and features a very intricate cog and gear motif over the chipset. The rear I/O shield also features reflective gears. Attention to detail with regards to hardware design and build quality is something ASRock has long excelled at, and it shows with the X570 Taichi. The cogs and gears printed on the M.2 heatsink and backplate are centered around the mounting screws, which has the necessary hardware bring everything together thematically instead of breaking up the look.


The back of the ASRock X570 Taichi is a similar black, but not empty. A large metal backplate takes up more than half the rear of the board. The backplate does add structural integrity as the heatsinks are mounted to it, as well as add to the overall aesthetic. Like many X570 boards, the ASRock X570 Taichi features more than just the typical 8 pin with an extra 4 pin next to it for extra CPU power.


The CPU socket is open enough to accommodate most coolers, and the VRM heatsink looks quite capable.


There are three M.2 slots on the ASRock X570 Taichi; one above the first PCIe x16 slot and another between the second and third PCIe x16 slots. All three (and the chipset besides) share a single monolithic heatsink. While not a hugely complex part, the machining and finish on the heatsink are absolutely excellent. The Torx screws are an interesting twist, though I wish they had been used throughout the board instead of just for the three M.2 heatsink screws.


The monolithic M.2 heatsink interfaces with the chipset heatsink with a thermal pad. I did not have any problems with the thermal pad of the chipset heatsink sticking as with the Phantom Gaming 7. The mounting screw for the heatsink is also used to retain the M.2 drive, which is a clever solution, but be careful when removing the heatsink with a drive installed as they like to stick.


The ASRock X570 Taichi offers three PCI Express 4.0 x16 slots, all encased in steel armor, as well as two PCI Express 4.0 x1 slots. The board has a total of eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and all are angled 90 degrees from the board.


The ASRock X570 Taichi has a good rear I/O offering that includes Clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback buttons, as well as an optical S/PDIF out port. Combined with the WiFi 6, the ASRock X570 Taichi has a well-rounded compliment.

• 2x Antenna ports
• 1x HDMI port
• 1x Clear CMOS button
• 1x BIOS Flashback button
• 1x PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo connector
• 6x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports
• 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports
• 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port
• 1x RJ-45 LAN port
• 1x Optical SPDIF out port
• 5x 3.5 mm audio jacks

Networking on the ASRock X570 Taichi is handled by an Intel I211AT. WiFi 6 is provided by an Intel 802.11ax module.