Going to try the Asrock 670E TaiChi.

JNavy89GT

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
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Expensive af. But I wanted to get into some features that this board had and figured why not. Pairing it with a 7600x for now, and will try to run 4x 16gb gskill pc6000 cas36 evo memory. Not sure how 4 sticks will clock. We’ll see. Can’t wait to get the parts. My daughter and son want to join in on the build and also doing the build for my daughter. Father nerd is geeked the baby nerds are growing up.
 
Expensive af. But I wanted to get into some features that this board had and figured why not. Pairing it with a 7600x for now, and will try to run 4x 16gb gskill pc6000 cas36 evo memory. Not sure how 4 sticks will clock. We’ll see. Can’t wait to get the parts. My daughter and son want to join in on the build and also doing the build for my daughter. Father nerd is geeked the baby nerds are growing up.
I was going to come in here and say that if I were going to spend serious money on a motherboard, I'd put ASRock on the bottom of my list. Now, since we are talking about the X670E, it's really not that expensive. That's on the lower end of the midrange.
 
I was going to come in here and say that if I were going to spend serious money on a motherboard, I'd put ASRock on the bottom of my list. Now, since we are talking about the X670E, it's really not that expensive. That's on the lower end of the midrange.
What would you recommend? I'm having a hard time accepting $500+ motherboards all of which seem to be missing one feature or another. I get that there's the pandemic, inflation, supply chain disruptions but when even spending $1,000 isn't enough to get a board with just about everything as standard, that's a bit much.

For me personally, I've been looking for a board with:

1. At least 3 PCI-e slots
2. USB4 at a minimum with support for TB4 preferred
3. 10G ethernet
4. Built-in Bluetooth which will usually come with Wi-Fi anyways
5. DDR5 and PCI-e 5, which are a given for X670E for the most part (not for any immediate use now but considering that my x99 system lasted me eight years, having the latest standards would be nice as I don't really see having to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM for at least 4-5 years)
 
What would you recommend? I'm having a hard time accepting $500+ motherboards all of which seem to be missing one feature or another. I get that there's the pandemic, inflation, supply chain disruptions but when even spending $1,000 isn't enough to get a board with just about everything as standard, that's a bit much.

For me personally, I've been looking for a board with:

1. At least 3 PCI-e slots
2. USB4 at a minimum with support for TB4 preferred
3. 10G ethernet
4. Built-in Bluetooth which will usually come with Wi-Fi anyways
5. DDR5 and PCI-e 5, which are a given for X670E for the most part (not for any immediate use now but considering that my x99 system lasted me eight years, having the latest standards would be nice as I don't really see having to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM for at least 4-5 years)
If I was actually going to buy a into the x670e system I would probably go with the ASUS X670E-Creator Pro Art WIFI. It ticks all your boxes. Only down side it is fugly and has no RGB all over the board if you care for such things. It really is the most feature rich board in that price range. Other $500 boards don't even have TB.
 
IMO, Asrock's boards are good, when you get past their low end stuff. And the Taichi is not low-end, at all. Basically, if Asrock puts thunderbolt on it, it should be a good board. I like their bios a lot, too.
 
My steel legend just came in. Kind of surprised. I assumed the shrouds were plastic. They are aluminum. Feels heavy and premium.
Should look nice in my 011 Dynamic XL.


IMG-0484.jpg
 
I've had great success with my X570 Taichi so I'm curious what you think about the X670 one.
 
I was going to come in here and say that if I were going to spend serious money on a motherboard, I'd put ASRock on the bottom of my list. Now, since we are talking about the X670E, it's really not that expensive. That's on the lower end of the midrange.
I’ve been happy with my Asrock boards. Have had many now, and knock on wood; they’ve been great! I come from way back in the day. AMD K6-3 vs Intel pentium 2 days. I’ve probably owned 50+ Asus boards. Asus, while nice, can be sometimes overpriced IMO. Especially, the past 5 years! Asrock fills that space for me. Similar bios abilities and close enough specs; without the premium price. My 2cents!

Now watch! I’ve jinxed myself! Will have nothing but problems lol
 
Yeah saw that post before and was careful. Got about half way down before it started wanting to do that. Pulled it up from the bottom and met in the middle and it came off clean.

Bios is pretty spartan. I see all the overclocking settings, but can’t find a way to turn the apu off.
She’s running like a raped ape though.
 
I’ve been happy with my Asrock boards. Have had many now, and knock on wood; they’ve been great! I come from way back in the day. AMD K6-3 vs Intel pentium 2 days. I’ve probably owned 50+ Asus boards. Asus, while nice, can be sometimes overpriced IMO. Especially, the past 5 years! Asrock fills that space for me. Similar bios abilities and close enough specs; without the premium price. My 2cents!

Now watch! I’ve jinxed myself! Will have nothing but problems lol

I've reviewed around 200 motherboards at this point. I've had more trouble with ASRock boards than any other brand. Their QC seems to be somewhat more inconsistent than other major brands.
 
I've reviewed around 200 motherboards at this point. I've had more trouble with ASRock boards than any other brand. Their QC seems to be somewhat more inconsistent than other major brands.
This is my first Asrock board. Since the least core2 era forward I have done around 15 builds for my self... Would flip them on craigslist every 6-8 months and build a new one.
Mostly on ~$200 Asus boards with some gigabyte sprinkled in.

In all that time I can't remember a bios as shitty as this Asrock. I had some ass backwards gigabyte boards, but this thing is bare.

Ill be going back to Asus next time. At least it is running good and stable.
 
This is my first Asrock board. Since the least core2 era forward I have done around 15 builds for my self... Would flip them on craigslist every 6-8 months and build a new one.
Mostly on ~$200 Asus boards with some gigabyte sprinkled in.

In all that time I can't remember a bios as shitty as this Asrock. I had some ass backwards gigabyte boards, but this thing is bare.

Ill be going back to Asus next time. At least it is running good and stable.
I have the Asus Z690-P D4 and I can tell you the BIOS has caused frequent issues (memory, OC, etc., FWIW. I really am loving MSI these days.
 
This is my first Asrock board. Since the least core2 era forward I have done around 15 builds for my self... Would flip them on craigslist every 6-8 months and build a new one.
Mostly on ~$200 Asus boards with some gigabyte sprinkled in.

In all that time I can't remember a bios as shitty as this Asrock. I had some ass backwards gigabyte boards, but this thing is bare.

Ill be going back to Asus next time. At least it is running good and stable.

What's shitty about the ASRock BIOS? That's actually a comment that I didn't expect. ASRock practically copied ASUS' UEFI layout, which is the best out there in my opinion.
 
What's shitty about the ASRock BIOS? That's actually a comment that I didn't expect. ASRock practically copied ASUS' UEFI layout, which is the best out there in my opinion.
It seems to be missing a way to turn off the apu which ties up 900 megs of ram.
It supports 1920x1080 and the options for it are auto and off. It runs at 1024x768 and doesn't detect that my 3440x1440 ultrawide can display 1920x1080.. Could just be checking max resolution and if not equal to 1920x1080 default to 1024X768
Multiple settings are duplicated in various menus.
On previous boards there were usually 2 xmp profiles. In other reviews I saw this was the case with expo as well. I can only see one in the bios.
There is a memory performance setting to tighten secondary timings. If you change it from agesa default it boosts the soc voltage and another voltage to 1.3. Which threw up an alarm for me because it made those voltages red. No info yet on am5, but on am3 I read those were unsafe. I assume that is still the case or worse after a die shrink.
The RGB tuner can adjust the color of my aio,case,fans, but not the memory. Had to use their software in windows.
Haven't found LLC yet. Usually its in a obvious place.
There are qr codes on settings to get more information, The ones I have checked are dead links.

You know how when you are fiddling with power limit settings or current settings, most motherboards list the min/max or typical/default or give you some kind on guide lines on how to adjust the value. Like say 255 to max. On this bios if you toggle manual mode to edit it. You are greeted by 0's and have to enter the value with out knowing the default or even what the units are.

I am hoping they just haven't had time to finish everything and some updates will clear up my complaints. Not a huge deal and I will figure it all out after I get some time to play with it.. Just kind of annoyed me.
 
It seems to be missing a way to turn off the apu which ties up 900 megs of ram.
It supports 1920x1080 and the options for it are auto and off. It runs at 1024x768 and doesn't detect that my 3440x1440 ultrawide can display 1920x1080.. Could just be checking max resolution and if not equal to 1920x1080 default to 1024X768
Multiple settings are duplicated in various menus.
On previous boards there were usually 2 xmp profiles. In other reviews I saw this was the case with expo as well. I can only see one in the bios.
There is a memory performance setting to tighten secondary timings. If you change it from agesa default it boosts the soc voltage and another voltage to 1.3. Which threw up an alarm for me because it made those voltages red. No info yet on am5, but on am3 I read those were unsafe. I assume that is still the case or worse after a die shrink.
The RGB tuner can adjust the color of my aio,case,fans, but not the memory. Had to use their software in windows.
Haven't found LLC yet. Usually its in a obvious place.
There are qr codes on settings to get more information, The ones I have checked are dead links.

You know how when you are fiddling with power limit settings or current settings, most motherboards list the min/max or typical/default or give you some kind on guide lines on how to adjust the value. Like say 255 to max. On this bios if you toggle manual mode to edit it. You are greeted by 0's and have to enter the value with out knowing the default or even what the units are.

I am hoping they just haven't had time to finish everything and some updates will clear up my complaints. Not a huge deal and I will figure it all out after I get some time to play with it.. Just kind of annoyed me.

Depending on the model, it may not have an LLC setting. Cheaper and even midrange boards often don't have a lot of voltage settings or if they do, the increments of these settings aren't as granular as you would like as their voltage controllers are cheaper and lack the adjustment ranges of their pricier counterparts..
 
It seems to be missing a way to turn off the apu which ties up 900 megs of ram.
It supports 1920x1080 and the options for it are auto and off. It runs at 1024x768 and doesn't detect that my 3440x1440 ultrawide can display 1920x1080.. Could just be checking max resolution and if not equal to 1920x1080 default to 1024X768
Multiple settings are duplicated in various menus.
On previous boards there were usually 2 xmp profiles. In other reviews I saw this was the case with expo as well. I can only see one in the bios.
There is a memory performance setting to tighten secondary timings. If you change it from agesa default it boosts the soc voltage and another voltage to 1.3. Which threw up an alarm for me because it made those voltages red. No info yet on am5, but on am3 I read those were unsafe. I assume that is still the case or worse after a die shrink.
The RGB tuner can adjust the color of my aio,case,fans, but not the memory. Had to use their software in windows.
Haven't found LLC yet. Usually its in a obvious place.
There are qr codes on settings to get more information, The ones I have checked are dead links.

You know how when you are fiddling with power limit settings or current settings, most motherboards list the min/max or typical/default or give you some kind on guide lines on how to adjust the value. Like say 255 to max. On this bios if you toggle manual mode to edit it. You are greeted by 0's and have to enter the value with out knowing the default or even what the units are.

I am hoping they just haven't had time to finish everything and some updates will clear up my complaints. Not a huge deal and I will figure it all out after I get some time to play with it.. Just kind of annoyed me.
Did you install AMD's video drivers for the APU?

Is it actually possible to turn them off? AMD talked about having them in there, to guarantee Direct Storage acceleration, etc.

Also, did you check to see if there is a newer bios than the one it shipped with? (There is a full release BIOS from September 26th and a Beta from the 28th).
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E Steel Legend/index.asp#BIOS

*LLC should be under OC Tweaker and then "external voltage settings", if its there.
 
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Did you install AMD's video drivers for the APU?

Is it actually possible to turn them off? AMD talked about having them in there, to guarantee Direct Storage acceleration, etc.

Also, did you check to see if there is a newer bios than the one it shipped with? (There is a full release BIOS from September 26th and a Beta from the 28th).
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E Steel Legend/index.asp#BIOS

*LLC should be under OC Tweaker and then "external voltage settings", if its there.
First thing I did was update to the beta bios to allow the ram to clock over 4800.
Ill try removing the drivers. Had a asrock popup on login to download/install drivers. I let it do its thing while cleaning up my mess from the build.

I never ran out of ram on my 9900k with 32gigs. Most I have ever seen was 24gigs with 2 instances of solidworks, autocad,slack,steam,chrome, and other bs open. So, 31.1 gigs isn't gonna kill me lol.
 
First thing I did was update to the beta bios to allow the ram to clock over 4800.
Ill try removing the drivers. Had a asrock popup on login to download/install drivers. I let it do its thing while cleaning up my mess from the build.

I never ran out of ram on my 9900k with 32gigs. Most I have ever seen was 24gigs with 2 instances of solidworks, autocad,slack,steam,chrome, and other bs open. So, 31.1 gigs isn't gonna kill me lol.
those pop-ups to auto-install drivers and apps, are usually a bios setting. Most of the brands are doing it now. Asus calls it "armory crate".
 
those pop-ups to auto-install drivers and apps, are usually a bios setting. Most of the brands are doing it now. Asus calls it "armory crate".

Yep, it's a double edged sword. On hand, losing drivers that way is really nice. On the other, the software itself is bloated and no doubt chalk full of stuff to spy on you. Not to mention, you have to be really careful not to install Norton Internet Security or other BS software.
 
Sadly I think you're just in on the "early adopters are actually just Beta Testers" stage of a new platform, so thing's simply aren't gonna work quite right for a couple BIOS updates.

I went through that with my launch Socket 939 board and my launch AM4 x370 board. It's just part of the reality of buying launch hardware.
 
The Taichi just doesn't have the features, other than a power button, and layout that I want. I'm leaning towards the Asus ROG Hero and the MSI MEG ACE.
 
What would you recommend? I'm having a hard time accepting $500+ motherboards all of which seem to be missing one feature or another. I get that there's the pandemic, inflation, supply chain disruptions but when even spending $1,000 isn't enough to get a board with just about everything as standard, that's a bit much.

For me personally, I've been looking for a board with:

1. At least 3 PCI-e slots
2. USB4 at a minimum with support for TB4 preferred
3. 10G ethernet
4. Built-in Bluetooth which will usually come with Wi-Fi anyways
5. DDR5 and PCI-e 5, which are a given for X670E for the most part (not for any immediate use now but considering that my x99 system lasted me eight years, having the latest standards would be nice as I don't really see having to upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM for at least 4-5 years)

If I was actually going to buy an into the x670e system I would probably go with the ASUS X670E-Creator Pro Art WIFI. It ticks all your boxes. Only down side it is fugly and has no RGB all over the board if you care for such things. It really is the most feature rich board in that price range. Other $500 boards don't even have TB.
This. If I was going normal x670 I’d go with the pro art - gaming I haven’t decided yet.
I’ve been happy with my Asrock boards. Have had many now, and knock on wood; they’ve been great! I come from way back in the day. AMD K6-3 vs Intel pentium 2 days. I’ve probably owned 50+ Asus boards. Asus, while nice, can be sometimes overpriced IMO. Especially, the past 5 years! Asrock fills that space for me. Similar bios abilities and close enough specs; without the premium price. My 2cents!

Now watch! I’ve jinxed myself! Will have nothing but problems lol
They’re good for lower-cost lower-feature in my experience. Same for their server boards under the rack sub brand. Not too premium- but they don’t come with that price either. I like them for what they are, but I’d hesitate to buy a top-end priced one so far (the Taichi is mid priced in my mind).
 
I did find a way to turn off the IGPU on my Steel Legend. I assume the Tachi has a similar bios. It was in the AMD CBS settings in one of the sub menus. Think it was like io northbridge or something like that.
 
I'm running the Steel Legend.. have you updated to bios 1.07 yet? (1.03 out of the box for me) Fixed most of my annoyances. Very happy with this board.. I'm not an overclocker but this thing has been 100% stable with a 7950 and 128GB ddr5.
 
I'm running the Steel Legend.. have you updated to bios 1.07 yet? (1.03 out of the box for me) Fixed most of my annoyances. Very happy with this board.. I'm not an overclocker but this thing has been 100% stable with a 7950 and 128GB ddr5.
I went straight to 1.08.AS02 [Beta].
On that note does Ryzen Master work for you? As soon as I click apply, no how insignificant the change... It instantly locks up the computer.
 
I went straight to 1.08.AS02 [Beta].
On that note does Ryzen Master work for you? As soon as I click apply, no how insignificant the change... It instantly locks up the computer.
just like jayz. rm needs an update.
 
Got the parts and board. Everything going ok so far. Instaflash worked for updating bios prior to first boot. Took awhile though so if anyone is doing this don’t panic. Took a good 5 mins. Bios boot options are non existent as I can’t find them anyway. Still picked up my windows 11 usb install and despite not being able to select boot order, it worked out for now. System seems reasonably fast. Getting used to windows 11 now. The audio software /interface is Garbo. At least , I can’t figure it out. Been building computers for 30 years now almost. Pretty simple to make a program where you should be able to adjust settings and go between optical out and switch back to my headphones, but no. I have to use windows and it’s a PIA. Makes YouTube sound videos sound like they are in a large hall/auditorium. Not happy with sound at all. So far. On paper, audio should be better than my pcie sound blaster card. Maybe I’m missing something? I dunno. It I’m near annoyed enough to throw my creative card back in. Ram speed despite being set at pc6000 runs at 5600 or 5800 I forget. Seems bus speed goes from 99 to 95 during loads and fluctuates. Probably the reason for ram speed. Some occasional almost stutters in windows, micro pauses. Will have to see if this continues, as I didn’t have that on previous Systems . Annoying. Anyway, quick update. Build quality of board is phenomenal. Should be for $500.
 
Got the parts and board. Everything going ok so far. Instaflash worked for updating bios prior to first boot. Took awhile though so if anyone is doing this don’t panic. Took a good 5 mins. Bios boot options are non existent as I can’t find them anyway. Still picked up my windows 11 usb install and despite not being able to select boot order, it worked out for now. System seems reasonably fast. Getting used to windows 11 now. The audio software /interface is Garbo. At least , I can’t figure it out. Been building computers for 30 years now almost. Pretty simple to make a program where you should be able to adjust settings and go between optical out and switch back to my headphones, but no. I have to use windows and it’s a PIA. Makes YouTube sound videos sound like they are in a large hall/auditorium. Not happy with sound at all. So far. On paper, audio should be better than my pcie sound blaster card. Maybe I’m missing something? I dunno. It I’m near annoyed enough to throw my creative card back in. Ram speed despite being set at pc6000 runs at 5600 or 5800 I forget. Seems bus speed goes from 99 to 95 during loads and fluctuates. Probably the reason for ram speed. Some occasional almost stutters in windows, micro pauses. Will have to see if this continues, as I didn’t have that on previous Systems . Annoying. Anyway, quick update. Build quality of board is phenomenal. Should be for $500.
Memory speed is not surprising, read that someone who bought a $700 asus board that they had to update the bios to get their memory to run at the correct speed. Also not surprised the software sucks, still seems like the idiots who run the motherboard companies are happy to hike prices up on the entire product offering but not spend a nickel on making good software.
 
Yeah I’m on the latest beta bios, but I expect it to be a while before they get things up to full speed. I’m not crying about the memory speed now it seems to bench well and to do everything I need. The only thing annoying me is the sound card, software etc.; and those micro stutters. Those stutters, could have been Windows updates that first night though there was a ton of them

I poked around in the bios and into the AMD overclocking section. Enabled some precision boost overdrive stuff and try to undervoltage as much as possible I think it maxed out at a 20 or 30 offset or value in the bios. Then I added the max CPU boost. It will go up to 5.45 GHz fairly often. Seems to settle in around the 5.2 to 5.4 GHz range all core. It will Spike over that sometimes. Hardware info 64 says Max multiplier now 56.5. I don’t think I’ve seen that go that high though. I’m running an EVJA 360 AIO cooler. CPU temps seem to stay in the 50-60’s most benches. Maybe low 70’s. I haven’t ultra loaded system with prime or anything like that yet

PS I’m getting 17,900 in Timespy bench and 15,888 in cinbench r32, latest version I think. I don’t really benchmark anymore, so I’m not sure that these are that good of numbers. But seemed to be OK from what I know.

Sorry for misspellings etc. Dictating on my phone and I’m old. Hard to see and proofread lol
 
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I haven’t had any stutters.
I have my ram running at 6000. Core optimizer is -15 on CCX0 and -12 on CCX1. +150 max boost.

I regularly see it hitting 5.9ghz.
All core in things that aren’t stress tests bounces between 5.45 and 5.5 ghz
 
Just got this board for $325 open box - reviews seem great overall. Will I regret it!?! :)
 
Just got this board for $325 open box - reviews seem great overall. Will I regret it!?! :)
You can't go wrong with that price for Taichi, though.
In my region, that price can only get the entry B650E such as steel legend or asus F series.
 
I was waiting myself for the new AMD chip.

What's the difference between the taichi and taichi Carrera?

I haven't looked deeply - but it seems it's a color thing?

Here's my build. SUPER happy with the Taichi.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X / 32GB DDR5-6000 CL36 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-FX5) / PowerColor AMD Radeon 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition

taichi.jpeg
 
I haven't looked deeply - but it seems it's a color thing?

Here's my build. SUPER happy with the Taichi.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X / 32GB DDR5-6000 CL36 (F5-6000J3636F16GX2-FX5) / PowerColor AMD Radeon 7900 XTX Red Devil Limited Edition

View attachment 540750
That looks awesome!

I saw your post getting it for $329 can't beat a $170 savings!

Watching for price drops now myself and current goal is to go for the same board.
$329 vs $699-$999(Asus) vs $1,100(MSI)

How is your stability, stress testing going? I'm really thinking of getting your mobo with the new 7950X3D unless Intel can show something. Any reason you went for a 7700x on it?
 
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