ASRock B550 Taichi Review: The $300 B550 Motherboard with Chutzpah
by Gavin Bonshor on August 21, 2020 3:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- ASRock
- Taichi
- AM4
- Ryzen 3000
- Ryzen 3700X
- Ryzen 4000
- B550
- B550 Taichi
Board Features
The ASRock B550 Taichi is an ATX motherboard that is based on AMD's AM4 socket and positions itself as one of the most premium B550 models on the market. It uses a Ryzen 3000 processor to provide its PCIe 4.0 capabilities via the top full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, a PCIe 4.0 x8 slot, and the top PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot. The Taichi's other slots include a full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Located at the bottom of the board is a single PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot, with plenty of SATA ports with a combined total of eight. Four of the SATA ports are driven by the chipset and support RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays, while the other four SATA ports are controlled by an ASMedia ASM1061 SATA controller. The Taichi also has solid memory capability with support for up to DDR4-5000 memory, with a maximum capacity of up to 128 GB across four memory slots.
ASRock B550 Taichi ATX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $300 | ||
Size | ATX | ||
CPU Interface | AM4 | ||
Chipset | AMD B550 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-5000 |
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Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 2.1 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 |
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Network Connectivity | Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 |
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Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 TI NE5532 Amplifier (Front panel) |
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PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 1 x PCIe 4.0 x8 |
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PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
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Onboard SATA | Four, RAID 0/1/10 (B550) Four (ASMedia) |
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Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 |
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USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 1 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Front Panel (ASMedia) |
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USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports) |
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USB 2.0 | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Type-A Header (4 x ports) |
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Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU |
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Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CPU/Water Pump (4-pin) 5 x System (4-pin) |
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IO Panel | 4 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x Network RJ45 2.5 G (Intel) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek) 2 x Intel AX201 Antenna Ports 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 Output 1 x HDMI 2.1 Output |
The ASRock B550 Taichi has a premium networking selection that consists of an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Ethernet controller and an Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 interface which also supports BT 5.1 devices. Also located on the rear panel is one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. Users looking for more USB connectivity can make use of the front panel headers with a single USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports which allow for four ports, and two USB 2.0 headers which adds a further four USB 2.0 ports.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
While we have been able to measure audio performance from previous Z370 motherboards, the task has been made even harder with the roll-out of the Z390 chipset and none of the boards tested so far has played ball. It seems all USB support for Windows 7 is now extinct so until we can find a reliable way of measuring audio performance on Windows 10 or until a workaround can be found, audio testing will have to be done at a later date.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | ASRock B550 Taichi (BIOS 1.10) | ||
Cooling | ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 mm AIO | ||
Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
Memory | 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T | ||
Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 1909 |
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
61 Comments
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Irata - Saturday, August 22, 2020 - link
You also have x4 PCIe 4.0 plus several USB ports connected directly to the CPU with Ryzen. There is an Aorus board that allows the x8 plus three times x4 for nVME connection all directly from the CPU.If the Ampere and RDNA2 only need the bandwidth provider by 8x PCIe 4 / 16x PCIe 3, you can run the GPU and three nVME at full speed that way, plus USB devices connected to the CPU *and* still have the x4 PCIe 3 lanes for the chipset to CPU connection for everything else on B550.
I'd say this is where Ryzen 2 and 3 shine vs the competition that is much more limited with PCIe 3 and four fewer lanes from the CPU.
Death666Angel - Saturday, August 22, 2020 - link
I'm curious, what would be your use case for two x8 slots? Multi GPU is dead and are there any peripheral cards that need an x8 slot from the CPU? :)MrVibrato - Sunday, August 23, 2020 - link
There are x8 HBAs / RAID controllers.So, if one wants to use a GPU and such a HBA / RAID controller, two available x8 slots can make sense...sandtitz - Friday, August 21, 2020 - link
"...and the slightly older Intel AX200 [vs AX201]"According to Intel ARK, they're both the same product, released at the same time. Only the system connectivity differs.
No reason to prefer either.
invinciblegod - Friday, August 21, 2020 - link
What does system connectivity mean?dotes12 - Friday, August 21, 2020 - link
I think that Intel's AX200 does Wi-Fi through PCI-E and Bluetooth through USB, while Intel's AX201 uses CNVi for both in one CNVio link. I might have the 200/201 numbers reversed, but that's the idea as far as I understand it.Hyoyeon - Friday, August 21, 2020 - link
CNVi (intel proprietary) modules are often soldered, so I prefer the AX200.jabber - Saturday, August 22, 2020 - link
I must admit for me the PCIe slot setup I'd prefer is1 x 16
4 x 4
More practical for my use. Boards come with way too many 16 and 1 slots for my liking. The x4 slot is underappreciated.
Gigaplex - Saturday, August 22, 2020 - link
x4 cards fit in an x16 slot. There's not really much benefit in putting a physical x4 slot on the board - may as well just put an x16 slot and have it share lanes with some of the other slots, dropping down to x4 active.jabber - Monday, August 24, 2020 - link
Ahhh well you see I want to just have SET slots. I don't want that "if X is in Y then V is x4 or disabled and if Y is in V then C is X16 and if X is in V then its x8 but if you have NVMe in Slot B its disabled" nonsense.