Verdict and Conclusion
Testing the Ryzen 9 9950X – the world’s fastest consumer processor in 2024 (according to AMD) wouldn’t be complete, without pairing it with a motherboard, that utilizes AMD’s enthusiast-grade X870E chispet. So it’s only right to do just that … by using one of ASRock’s flagship AM5 motherboards, the X870E Taichi.
As I mentioned earlier, the main difference between the X870 and X870E chipsets, are the amount of USB ports available and the total amount of useable PCIE lanes. Why are PCIE lanes important? Well, the number of PCIE lanes in a slot or connection determines the available bandwidth for data transfer between the motherboard and the expansion card. More lanes generally mean higher data transfer rates and better performance. For the X870, there’s a total of 36 PCIE usuable lanes versus 44 PCIE lanes for the X870E. Apart from that, they are literally the same.
This means you don’t have to worry about bottlenecks or performance throttling, when you install a high-end graphics card (such as a GeFoce RTX 4080 Super which takes up 16 PCIE lanes) and several M.2 SSDs (usually 4 PCIE lanes) … a X870E motherboard can handle it!
Now let’s talk about performance. We used a test rig which is comprised of the ASRock X870E Taichi motherboard, along with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X @ default speed, and a GeForce RTX 4080 Super. At the time of testing, we didn’t have any EXPO memory on hand. So instead we used XMP compatible memory which this motherboard support, and we chose 48GB of Patriot Viper Gaming Xtreme 5 MPOWER DDR5-8000 in XMP mode.
During our tests, we managed to get excellent scores in all of our benchmarks. For Cinebench 2024, we got a phenomenal score of 2,297 points for multi core, and 139 points for single core. For PCMark 10, we got an amazing score of 11,173, and a score of 18,236 for PassMark 11 .. the highest we’ve eve seen.
We also got amazing scores of 12,306 for Procyon Video Editing Benchmark, and a score of 240 for the AI Computer Vision Benchmark. For 3DMark Steel Nomad and Speedway, we got excellent scores of 6,833 and 7,508 respectively. And finally, for Port Royal and Timespy, we got a very good score of 18,631 and 26,011 respectively.
Now let’s look at the rich feature list of the ASRock X870E Taichi. We’ll start off with the powerful 24+2+1 Power Phases, 110 Amp SPS for VCore and 20K Black capacitors, for superb stability and reliability. It’s also equipped with a massive aluminium composite VRM heatsink, which combines a cooling fan and a heat-pipe for maximum heat dissipation.
As far as connectivity is concerned, you have plenty. On the back I/O panel, there are connectors for WiFi 7 antennas, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 3 x USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, 2 x Lightning USB ports, 2 x USB4 ports, 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector, Line-out and Mic-in. But the real star of the show is the 5GB LAN (don’t worry, it is backwards compatible with 1G or 2.5G routers).
For storage, it comes with 6 x SATA ports, 1 x Blazing M.2 PCIE Gen5 slot, and 3 x Hyper M.2 PCIE Gen4 slots.The motherboard includes 2 x unique M.2 Heatsinks, which features a tool-less design and a quick-release notch for easy installation of SSDs. What’s more, it also comes with the graphics card EZ Release design allows hassle-free installation and removal of GPUs. This is something I really like!
As with any enthusiast motherboard, you get of course the usual diagnostic LEDs, onboard power-on and reset buttons, a ton of 4-pin fan headers for cooling, solid metal backplate, and easy-to-access clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback buttons on the rear I/O panel.
Other features include the Realtek 7.1 HD Nahimic audio with WIMA caps, a total of 21 USB ports (12 rear, 9 front), WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. And finally, you also get the latest USB4 ports and 1 x 5GbE LAN for super fast connectivity.
You can buy the ASRock X870E Taichi motherboard for around USD $600~ from Amazon – https://amzn.to/3zZdd79
Final Words:
The ASRock X870E Taichi is undoubtedly one of the best enthusiast motherboards available on the market. It’s packed with some great features and offers excellent performance in all of our tests. It’s the perfect motherboard for the world’s fastest consumer processor – the Ryzen 9 9950X (according to AMD).
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