A couple of weeks again at Computex, Asrock unveiled a pair of attention-grabbing motherboards: The Z790 Taichi Lite and the B650E Taichi Lite. As of in the present day they’ve been formally introduced. And I for one am comfortable to see them.
The thought behind the Lite sequence is easy. They’re in any other case equivalent to their current Taichi counterparts, however with a less complicated aesthetic. At Computex 2023, an Asrock rep informed me the difficult cogs and wheels heatsinks of current Taichi boards had been fairly costly to make, and swapping these out for one thing less complicated allowed it to promote the identical motherboard at a less expensive worth. Hoorah!
I’ve reviewed many Taichi boards, together with the Z690 Taichi and B550 Taichi Razer Version. I imagine the primary one I reviewed was the X99 Taichi in 2016 or 2017. This was in the course of the period of extreme RGB and ‘gamification’ of complete product strains. Including the phrase gaming to a board supposedly made it extra interesting. The Taichi was a refreshing change.
On the time the Taichi actually stood out with its mix of affordability, comparatively easy non-gamer black and white aesthetic and stable function set. Lately, Asrock has elevated the Taichi model, and it is now its flagship sequence, excluding restricted version fashions just like the Aqua. Taichis are usually excellent boards, however their attraction has diminished a bit on account of extreme pricing
The identical may be mentioned of all excessive finish motherboards although. Regardless of the rationale, whether or not its element shortages, electrical complexity, function creep, or the necessity for larger revenue margins, excessive finish motherboards are too costly. After all you possibly can nonetheless purchase low cost motherboards, however what I would wish to see is much less emphasis on flashy designs, accent bundles and an ‘every thing plus the kitchen sink’ method.
I would like to see extra ‘lite’ motherboards. For starters, ditch the sculpted heatsinks that function little greater than glorified ads. M.2 and chipset cooling is often hidden beneath a graphics card anyway. Make heatsinks practical with a big floor space (E.g. fins) whereas maintaining a strong VRM able to dealing with Okay CPUs and their quickest turbo modes. Give me half a dozen quick USB ports, a few M.2, two SATA, 2.5G LAN and WiFi. Bang, I simply saved a few hundred {dollars}. Typically much less actually is extra.
So long as such a board has good BIOS help, you possibly can set up a 14900K and let it do its turbo factor for the following 5 years. When you shut your case you’d by no means know you do not have a flagship board, it’s going to simply be one with out superfluous costly crap.
When you should have a board with Thunderbolt 4 or twin 10G LAN or an SSD add-in card, the makers shall be all too comfortable to promote them to you, as they do now. However as a client, why cannot I’ve the choice to purchase a excessive finish motherboard with an entry degree bundle?
It’s going to by no means occur after all. The explanations are apparent. Cash, income and margins. Motherboard makers need you to purchase dearer boards. Capitalism! Yay.
The DIY PC market is struggling, and compelling customers to spend ever extra on excessive spec gaming motherboards is not conducive to a wholesome ecosystem. Given there are already a whole lot of various motherboards in the marketplace, there’s room for an unconventional motherboard product with a want listing like mine above, however will one of many producers step up with such a product? It is uncertain. However one can hope.
I applaud Asrock’s determination to launch the Taichi Lite sequence, although their pricing hasn’t been introduced. I hope they promote effectively and we see extra merchandise like them sooner or later.
