Introduction

Are you tired of reviewers and tech personalities like myself going on and on about how Coffee Lake changed the game and how great six cores and twelve threads are, and the joyous end of the long reign of the quad core? Does this introduction seem strangely familiar, as if you had just read it this morning? If so, thanks for coming back. If not, welcome; this is the second preview for the launch of the Z390 chipset, so if you like it, please check out my MEG Z390 GODLIKE preview as well.

The embargo on the 9th Generation Core processors from Intel is still in effect, so as with earlier today, this preview will focus on the Z390 chipset, and the ASRock Z390 Taichi in particular. I'll briefly touch on the changes again just in case you missed the earlier article (you read everything I write the minute it comes out, right?). First, USB 3.1 Gen 2 is now natively supported, where on Z370, motherboard manufacturers had to use third-party storage controllers. The second major change is CNVi support. CNVi is Intel's high speed wireless solution; the 2x2 802.11ac connection boasts up to 1.73 Gb/s throughput. The Z390 chipset is compatible with 8th Gen Core processors as well.

The ASRock Z390 Taichi is a mainstream board positioned just below the ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate in ASRock's lineup. The board boasts a full coverage M.2 heatsink, dual Gigabit LAN, and ASRock's Hyper BCLK Engine II. Not only are there three M.2 slots, but a full eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, of which two ports are powered by an additional ASMedia controller. The ASRock Z390 Taichi follows the tried and true design path ASRock has had such success with over the last few generations: a theme of cogs and gears with a neutral color tone. The ASRock Z390 Taichi has seen some minor, but important tweaks. Can one of the best board families on the market get even better?

Specifications