ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Unboxing｜Only Split Liquid-Cooled Z890 Motherboard, 28+1+2+1+1+1 Phase Power Supply Analysis

ASRock's flagship split-cooling Z890 Taichi AQUA motherboard uses detachable split-cooling headers on VRM and Blazing M2_1, with 28+1+2+1+1 (110A) phases and 10-layer PCBs, which allows up to six M.2 SSDs to be expanded on the E-ATX-sized board, it's just a pity that I borrowed the board from a friend. It's a pity that I borrowed the board from a friend to play with it, otherwise it would have been better to unbox it with a split water cooler!

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Motherboard Specification.

Size: E-ATX 30.5 x 27.4 cm
Processor Support: Intel Core Ultra processor (Series 2)
Processor Pin: Intel LGA 1851 RL-ILM
CPU supply phase: 28+1+2+1+1 (110A) phases
Chipset: Z890
Memory Expansion: 4x DDR5 DIMMs slots, 9600(O.C.) MT/s, up to 256 GB (single slot supports 64 GB capacity)
Memory Certification: Intel XMP 3.0 (Extreme Memory Profile)
Internal Display Output Slot: 2x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (8K 60 Hz/5K 120 Hz)
Graphics expansion slots: 2x PCIe 5.0 x16 (supports single card x16, dual card x8/x8 shared bandwidth slice mode), PCIe 4.0 x4 (third slot has x16 length but only PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth)
Storage Expansion Slots: 4x SATA 6Gb/s, Blazing M2_1 2280 Gen5 x4, Blazing M2_2 2280 Gen5 x4, Hyper M2_3 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4, Hyper M2_4 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4, Hyper M2_5 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4, Hyper M2_6 2280/2260/2242 PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA lll
Wired Network: 1x Marvell AQC113_10 Gbps, 1x Realtek RTL8126_5 Gbps
Wireless transmission: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Audio chip: Realtek ALC4082
USB Ports (Front Expansion): 2x USB 20Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 5Gbps (supports front four USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), 2x USB 2.0 Type-A (supports front four USB 2.0 ports)
USB Ports (Rear I/O): 2x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C (40Gbps), 4x USB 10Gbps Type-C, 4x USB 5Gbps Type-C
RGB Power Slots: 3x ARGB Gen2 5V 3-Pin, 1x RGB 12V 4-Pin
Fan Power Slots: 2x 4-Pin CPU Fan, 1x 4-Pin AIO PUMP, 1x 4-Pin W_PUMP, 4x 4-Pin Chassis/PUMP

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Unboxing & Visualization｜Split Watercooling Flagship Motherboard Design

ASRock's flagship AQUA series of water-cooled motherboards from ASRock has become the brand's flagship product in the consumer motherboard lineup with its customized split water cooling fins design. ASRock has collaborated with alphacool on the Z890 Taichi AQUA and used a detachable split water cooling header on the VRM and Blazing M2_1 to plan the water path. The header is a detachable split water-cooling header for the VRM and Blazing M2_1.

The first time I learned about the AQUA series of water-cooled motherboards was the 2022 Z690 AQUA and the 1DPC overclocking specialization model Z690 AQUA OC with two memory slots, but at that time, the Z690 AQUA was equipped with split water-cooling headers in the CPU and VRM cooling area, which is the same idea of the common split water-cooled motherboards.

Nowadays, motherboard brands rarely release split water cooling motherboards, such as GIGABYTE's AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE (only up to Z690), ASRock's GLACIAL (only up to Z690; the X870E has become a normal air-cooled cooler) and Formula (only up to Z790), and Little Lizard's EK X (only up to Z690). Basically, other than ASRock, no other competitors have released split motherboard models on the current generation of Z890/X870E chipsets, and most of them have stopped at the previous generation or two; ASRock has become the only contemporary brand that has released its own split water cooling motherboard models, and I think that the other brands should want to directly hand over the demand for the customization of the relevant split kits to the likes of EK to get them.

The ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA motherboard is an E-ATX 30.5 x 27.4 cm board with 28+1+2+1+1+1 power supply and a 10-Layer PCB.

This motherboard is not sold in Taiwan, to buy can only buy from abroad, Hong Kong's words are probably sold conversion about 35~36K Taiwan dollars or so, the impression that before the U.S. Asian seems to be almost the same price.

△ ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA for E-ATX.

△ The back has a reinforced back plate.

△ Motherboard channel configuration diagram.

 

The VRM heat sink on the motherboard uses a zigzag heat sink to dissipate power and maintain system stability by directly touching the MOSFETs through the heat sink pads, while the VRM heat sink is located under the M.2 heat sink, and the two split water cooling headers are overlapped and share the same design of the water circuit, which will be introduced later.

Intel Z890 chipset motherboards have changed to use LGA 1851 feet, which currently only supports Intel Core Ultra 200S processors, and the previous Intel Core 12 / 13 / 14 th series of processors are incompatible and cannot be used. However, LGA 1851 and 1700 maintain the same hole spacing on the heatsink plan, so gamers can basically use the LGA 1700 heatsink grommet set directly along the heatsink. However, LGA 1851 and 1700 maintain the same hole spacing in the heatsink layout, so gamers can basically install the LGA 1700 heatsink directly along with the LGA 1700 heatsink grommet set, unless there is a special update from the heatsink manufacturer.

△ VRM cooling block.

The Z890 supports Intel Core Ultra 200S processors only, and supports the LGA 1851 footprint, but can be used with the LGA 1700 footprint cooler.

 

Let's take a look at the expansion and power supply slots on the ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA motherboard, which features dual 8-Pin processor ATX_12V power supply slots on the upper left side of the motherboard.

In the upper right corner of the motherboard, there are two CPU_FAN 4-Pin fan power supply slots and one AIO_PUMP water pump power supply slot, where the water cooling head PUMP power supply and water cooling exhaust fan cables can be installed when installing an all-in-one water cooling.

The motherboard uses dual 8-Pin processor power supply slots.

△ CPU_FAN 1, CPU_FAN 2, AIO_PUMP.

 

The quad-slot DDR5 DIMM Dual-Clip memory slot is a 2DPC (2 DIMM Per Channel) configuration that supports non-ECC Un-buffered DIMMs as well as the new Clocked Un-buffered DIMMs (CUDIMM/CKD), with a maximum expansion capacity of 256 GB for the four slots, i.e., a maximum capacity of 64 GB per slot. The maximum expansion capacity of the four slots is 256GB, which means the maximum capacity of each slot is 64GB, and it also supports Intel XMP 3.0 (Extreme Memory Profile) memory one-click overclocking profile.

The memory overclocking QVL frequency flaunts up to 9200 MT/s(oc) for two memory modules, but the current QVL list looks like the ones that can go up to 9200 MT/s should be CKD memory, reminding again that it is better to choose the memory model that you want to install with the memory QVL (Qualified Vendor List, it is better to choose the memory model based on the motherboard's memory QVL (Qualified Vendor List) compatibility report.

For the 2 DIMMs dual-channel memory kits that are often purchased in today's orders, it is recommended to prioritize the installation in slots A2 and B2 (the second and fourth slots counting from the left). By installing the two memories in these two slots, the memory will be able to operate more easily and at a higher frequency.

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA uses a feature called Memory OC Shield, which looks a bit like a sticker on the side of the memory slot, featuring the ability to isolate EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) to further enhance memory overclocking performance and stability, which is actually achieved by using a multi-layer composite material (sounds comparable to a magnet). (sounds like a contrasting thing to magnetic tape).

△ 4x Un-buffered DIMMs DDR5 memory slots, UDIMM/CKD UDIMM compatible, supports up to 256 GB of capacity expansion, and up to 9200 MT/s (O.C.) with QVL on both modules.

△ Schematic diagram of the principle.

△ Manual removal may affect the stability of memory use.

 

On the right side of the motherboard, there is a DeBug light, a quick boot button, a quick reboot button, 2x 5V 3-Pin ARGBs, a 24-Pin power supply slot on the motherboard, two front USB 20Gbps Type-C slots, two USB 5Gbps slots (supporting four front USB 5Gbps Type-A ports), four SATA 6Gbps slots, and more. SATA 6Gb/s slots and more.

The debugging LEDs allow users to quickly see what parts of the motherboard are causing problems during the self-test process, and users can refer to the motherboard manual for debugging actions.

△ DeBug lamp code display DeBug lamp, Quick Boot button, Quick Reboot button, 2x 5V 3-Pin ARGB, motherboard 24-Pin power supply slot, two front USB 20Gbps Type-C slots, one USB 5Gbps slot.

△ The debugging lamp code display quickly identifies where the problem is.

△ One USB 5Gbps slot, four SATA 6Gb/s.

△ The main board battery is CR2032.

 

The bottom row has three temperature sensor slots (T_SENSOR), front panel slot (PANEL1), buzzer slot, CMOS setting clear jumper slot, one W_PUMP water cooler and fan power supply slot (3A/36W), three CHA_FAN fan power supply slots (3A/36W), Thunderbolt 5 device expansion slot, dedicated debugger device expansion slot (UART1), TPM (secure encryption module connection socket), two USB 2.0 slots (supporting four front USB 2.0), and one USB 2.0 slot (supporting four front USB 2.0). Thunderbolt 5 device expansion slot, dedicated debugging device expansion slot (UART1), TPM (secure encryption module connector), two USB 2.0 slots (supports four front USB 2.0 ports), one 5V 3-Pin ARGB, one 12V 4-Pin RGB, and front audio jack slot.

There is also a fan supply slot hidden next to the first Blazing M2_1 slot.

△ Three temperature sensor slots (T_SENSOR), front panel slot (PANEL1), buzzer slot, CMOS setting clear jumper slot, one W_PUMP water cooler and fan power supply slot (3A/36W), three CHA_FAN fan power supply slots (3A/36W), Thunderbolt 5 expansion slot, dedicated debugging code Device expansion slot (UART1), TPM.

△ Two USB 2.0 slots (supports four front USB 2.0 ports), one 5V 3-Pin ARGB, one 12V 4-Pin RGB, and front audio jack slots.

△ There is also a fan supply slot hidden next to the first Blazing M2_1 slot.

 

The motherboard PCIE slots provide a total of three x16-length devices with metal-reinforced expansion slots. The x16 slots on the top are processor direct-connect channels, and the first slot, PCIE1 slot, provides full PCIE 5.0 x16 bandwidth when installing single devices such as standalone graphics cards, but if dual graphics card installations use the first slot, PCIE1, and the second slot, PCIE2, the bandwidth is split evenly between x8 and x8 channels, so be sure to install to PCIE1 slot when installing only one graphics card. However, if dual graphics cards are installed using both the first PCIE1 slot and the second PCIE2 slot, the channel bandwidth will be split equally between x8 and x8, so it is important to install the PCIE1 slot when installing only one graphics card.

This motherboard has a Blazing M2_2 2280 Gen5 x4 expansion slot next to the memory slot. This M.2 expansion slot shares the same bandwidth as the graphics card, so when the Blazing M2_2 has an M.2 SSD installed, PCIE1 will be downgraded to x8 bandwidth, and PCIE2 will be downgraded to x4 bandwidth operation.

The bottom PCIE3 slot provides PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth through the PCH chipset channel.

△ PCIE 5.0_PCIE1 (CPU), PCIE 5.0_PCIE2 (CPU), PCIE 4.0 x4_PCIE3 (PCH).

 

ASRock's Blazing M2_1 PCIE Gen5 x4 M.2 SSD expansion slot for the top slot processor direct channel is equipped with split water cooling fins and dual-sided cooling pads to ensure that both single-sided and dual-sided PCIE Gen5 x4 M.2 SSDs can fit the pads better, and the slot supports 2280-size M.2 SSDs.

The larger M.2 heatsink covers the lower four M.2 SSDs for cooling, but unfortunately the M.2 heatsinks are still held in place by screws rather than quick release buttons, and the lower four only have a single sided thermal pad. All M.2 SSDs have quick release clips to secure the SSD body. The second slot from the top, Hyper M2_3, also utilizes the processor channel, while the third and fourth slots, Hyper M2_4 and Hyper M2_5, use the chipset channel, and all three side-by-side slots support the expansion of 2280 PCIE Gen4 x4 SSDs.

The Hyper M2_6 expansion slot at the bottom right corner is for PCH channel bandwidth, where the slot supports 2280/2260/2242 size PCIe Gen4 x4 & SATA lll M.2 SSD expansion.

△ M.2 Heat sink at a glance.

△ From top left to bottom right: Blazing M2_1 (CPU), Hyper M2_3 (CPU), Hyper M2_4 (PCH), Hyper M2_5 (PCH), Hyper M2_6 (PCH).

 

Next to the memory slot is the Blazing M2_2 2280 Gen5 x4 expansion slot, which offers dual-sided cooling and a quick-release snap-on design, but this slot is cut out of the graphics card bandwidth, which is shared with the graphics card.

The good thing about this Blazing M2_2 is that it allows theVigor XPG MARS 980 BLADE、Kingston Kingston FURY Renegade G5、Anacomda Python Fire Snake i5 For example, the PCIe Gen5 NVMe 2280 M.2 SSD's 14000MB/s read/write performance is fully utilized, unlike the Blazing M2_1's expansion slot through the processor IOE tile, which is limited by the IOE D2D bandwidth restriction of the SoC Tile communicating with the IOE tile, so the onboard native processor direct connection is not able to run at full theoretical speed. Therefore, the native processor direct-connect expansion slot with PCIE Gen5 x4 SSDs cannot run at the full theoretical speed, and will be limited to around 12000 MB/s. This limitation is common on most Intel motherboards.

If you use the graphics card PCIE slot and then turn out the bandwidth of the installation slot can run full 14000 MB/s, because the graphics card PCIE 5.0 x16 slot to go SoC tile; on-board M.2 PCIE Gen5 x4 SSD slot is to go IOE tile, the two are different wafers, the disadvantage is that it will divide the second slot graphics card bandwidth, this part should be arranged according to the needs of the use of the This part will be arranged according to the usage requirements.

The Blazing M2_2 2280 Gen5 x4 expansion slot is capable of reading and writing up to 14,000 MB/s.

 

The rear I/O of the motherboard provides a clear CMOS data button, BIOS Flashback button, four USB 10Gbps Type-C, four USB 5Gbps Type-C, one RJ-45 10 Gbps LAN wired port, one RJ-45 5 Gbps LAN wired port, two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 40Gbps, Wi-Fi 7 antenna port, fiber optic S/PDIF digital audio output, two audio ports, and a Wi-Fi 7 antenna port. Type-C 40Gbps, Wi-Fi 7-antenna port, optical S/PDIF digital audio output, two audio ports.

Two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 40Gbps ports on the rear of the motherboard support the processor's built-in graphics output, which can be accessed through the internal display to allow users to have an additional display output slot available for up to 8K 60Hz / 5K 120Hz resolution for video output.

What attracted me most when this motherboard first appeared is the rear I/O specification, which boldly replaces all USB Type-A with Type-C, counting the Thunderbolt this motherboard gives 10 USB Type-C! The advantage is that one day USB Type-C will be completely popularized to replace Type-A, which is a kind of battle for the future. The disadvantage is that many devices are still using USB Type-A, so I suggest you to use at least one USB Type-C expansion port to transfer a few USB Type-A for backup.

△ Rear I/O at a glance.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Split Cooling｜VRM and M.2 Cooling Design

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA's detachable split water cooling head is responsible for compressing the motherboard VRM power block and Blazing M2_1 expansion slot, ASRock cooperated with alphacool to design the design, and the two side holes are threaded as G1/4, this generation of water cooling does not pass through the processor, maybe it is because of the thought that this generation of water cooling does not pass through the processor, it is because of the thought that this generation of water cooling does not pass through the processor, it is because of the thought that this generation of water cooling does not pass through the processor. Intel Core Ultra 200S The processor series doesn't have a lot of heat, does it?

△ Split water cooling block.

△ Thread specification.

The first step in disassembling the split water cooler head is to remove the two small screws on the left and right sides of the Blazing M2_1.

A close-up of the split water-cooling head of the Blazing M2_1.

△ Close-up of the inner connection, with two orange O-ring on the inner ring to prevent fluid leakage.

Close-up of the connection of the VRM cooling block.

△ Glossy nickel-plated split water-cooling head.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Power Design Explained｜28+1+2+1+1 Phase VRM & 10 Layer PCB

The ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA motherboard is powered by a 28+1+2+1+1 phase Dr. MOS SPS (Smart Power Stage).

△ Remove the motherboard VRM heat sink.

△ VRM power supply block.

The 28-phase 110A SPS responsible for CPU VCORE Phases is a Renesas R2209004 chip, with four Renesas ISL99360s on the side.

△ Reinforced backsplash removal.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Motherboard RGB Lighting Effect

Then the actual power on and off to show the motherboard on-board lighting effect for your reference.

△ Motherboard lighting effect.

△ The light bulb is located on the rear I/O armor.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA MotherboardOverall Performance Testing and Platform Configuration

The motherboard performance of ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA is tested with 24 cores and 24 threads. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor and updated the motherboard BIOS to version 3.23, and the memory is used for the G.SKILL Trident Z5 CK Turbo CK DDR5-8800 48GB (2x24GB) Dual-channel memory kit to build barebones test platform and open Profile 1 profile for memory.

Additional Power Delivery Profile is manually set to ASRock Extreme Mode for testing.

Testing Platform

Processor:Intel Core Ultra 9 285K QS (ASRock Extreme Mode)
Cooler: Valkyrie E360 (full speed)
Water-cooled fan: 3X XPG VENTO PRO 120 PWM (full speed)
Thermal paste: Cooler Master MASTERGEL MAKER 40g (thermal conductivity 11W/mK)
Motherboard: ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA (BIOS version: 3.23)
Memory:G.SKILL Trident Z5 CK DDR5-8800 48GB (2x24GB) cl 42-55-55-140 1.45v
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition
Operating System: Windows 11 Professional 25H2
Power supply:MONTECH TITAN PLA 1000W
Case: streacom BC1 Benchtable V2
Graphics driver: GeForce Game Ready 591.74

 

firstly CPU-Z Viewing the hardware information of the test platform, Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor has 24 (8P+16E) cores and 24 threads, series code name Arrow Lake using TSMC process, motherboard supports PCI-E 5.0 lanes, and BIOS version 3.23.

We also ran the CPU-Z internal tests for your reference.

CPU-Z platform information at a glance.

△ CPU-Z internal test score results.

 

AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark It is mainly used to test the performance of processor caches and RAM. The read/write/copy bandwidth performance score represents the rate of transfer between CPU and memory, which means the efficiency of data throughput (the higher the score, the better), and the time delay score of accessing data indicates the responsiveness of the memory system.

Tested on this motherboard with Memory Profile 1 open, read speeds were 129.6 GB/s, write speeds were 97 GB/s, copy speeds were 108.5 GB/s, and latency was 83.5 ns.

△ AIDA64 cache and memory test.

 

by Maxon Cinebench An industry-standard benchmarking software, Cinebench 2026 tests GPU and CPU performance using Maxon's powerful Redshift rendering engine.

The new version of Cinebench 2026 adds a test for evaluating the performance of SMT-enabled CPU cores, which means that it is now possible to test: GPU, processor full-core, processor single-core, and processor single-thread performance.

Based on the latest Cinema 4D 2026 and Redshift code, and using the updated Clang V19 compiler, the benchmarking accuracy of contemporary and next-generation processors has been improved to test whether the equipment is stable under high loads, whether the thermal solutions of the desktop or laptop are sufficient to cope with the demands of long-term operation in order to maximize the potential of the CPU, and whether the machine is capable of handling demanding 3D tasks. and whether the machine is capable of handling demanding 3D tasks.

△ Cinebench 2026

 

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTUIntel XTU Benchmark 2.0 is a free software for overclocking, monitoring, and pressurizing. The built-in Intel XTU Benchmark 2.0 can be used to test the multi-core computing ability of the processor, and the following results are provided for reference.

There are now two versions of Intel XTU available for download, version 7.14.2.14 supports only unlocked Intel Core processors (14th generation) and older processors, while version 10.x or a future update supports only unlocked Intel Core Ultra processors (Series 2) and newer processors.

△ Intel XTU Benchmark 2.0.

 

V-Ray 6 Benchmark V-Ray Engine Test Software is an image rendering program developed by Chaos Group. The free Benchmark examines the rendering speeds of the CPU and GPU on the V-Ray Engine, which tests the rendering performance of the processor.

△ V-Ray 6 Benchmark.

 

Corona Benchmark is a free test software based on the Corona 10 rendering core that evaluates the performance of a system by using Corona 10 rendered scenes to measure the rendering speed of the system in terms of rays per second (rays/s). More rays per second means faster rendering, and the scores are linearly scaled. For example, a system with 6 million rays per second will have twice the rendering speed and performance of a system with 3 million rays per second.

△ Corona Benchmark.

 

Geekbench 6 CPU Benchmark can be used to test CPU and memory performance, including data compression, image processing, machine learning, optical tracking, and many other daily use and professional productivity tests.

△ Geekbench 6_ CPU Benchmark.

 

OCCT CPU BENCHMARK CONFIGURATION Single thread and Multiple threads will be tested using AVX and SSE instruction sets respectively.

△ OCCT CPU BENCHMARK CONFIGURATION.

 

CrystalMark Retro It is a comprehensive benchmark software that measures CPU, HDD, 2D graphics (GDI) and 3D graphics (OpenGL) performance. Developed by hiyohiyo and koinec, the authors of CrystalDiskMark and CrystalDiskInfo, the results are individual scores and not in any common units.

△ CrystalMark Retro.

 

PCMark 10 It also simulates test scenarios to determine the overall performance of the computer. The common basic functions include application launching, web browsing, and video conferencing tests, while productivity simulates document and spreadsheet writing, and the last item, video content creation, includes professional tests such as photo editing, video editing, and rendering.

△ PCMark 10 test.

 

Use with empty disk CrystalDiskMark Software to testMicron Micron Crucial T710 1TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe 2280 M.2 SSD Read/write performance on the motherboard is tested in NVMe SSD configuration mode with the file size set to 1GiB in the default profile.

The Z890 chipset motherboard is limited by the IOE D2D bandwidth between the SoC tile and the IOE tile, so the onboard native slots with PCIE Gen5 x4 SSDs can't run at the theoretical speed of about 12000 MB/s, but if the M.2 SSDs are mounted on an adapter card using the PCIE slot of the graphics card, they can run at 14000 MB/s. The PCIE 5.0 x16 slot of the graphics card is in the SoC tile; the onboard M.2 PCIE Gen5 x4 SSD slots are in the IOE tile; the M.2 PCIE Gen5 x4 SSD slots are in the SoC tile. The M.2 SSD can run up to 14000 MB/s if installed by an adapter card using the PCIE 5.0 x16 slot of the graphics card, because the PCIE 5.0 x16 slot of the graphics card uses a SoC tile, while the M.2 PCIE Gen5 x4 SSD slot on the board uses an IOE tile, and the two are on different wafers.

The special feature of this motherboard is the Blazing M2_2 2280 Gen5 x4 expansion slot, which uses the SoC tile bandwidth on the graphics card side, so it can run up to 14,000 MB/s in the Blazing M2_2 slot; the Blazing M2_1 should not.

△ CrystalDiskMark Settings: NVMe SSD / Profile: Default, Sequential Read/Write and Random Read/Write test results.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA 3DMark Score｜Gaming Performance

Next up, the 3DMark series, one of the most benchmarks for gaming scores, was used to compare the theoretical results of the same graphics platform with different processors through a series of tests with different picture quality and different GPU APIs.

3DMark CPU Profile This test will test the performance of MAX, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 threads respectively, while the performance of 16 threads and above is more for 3D rendering or audio/video professional work, and most of the mainstream DirectX 12 game performance can refer to the score of 8 threads, while the score of 4 and 2 threads are related to the old games developed with DirectX 9.

△ 3DMark CPU Profile.

 

In addition, the author has also used the commonly used game performance simulation test 3DMark Fire Strike、3DMark Time SpyThe two programs are Fire Strike, which represents the 1080p quality DirectX11 GPU API situational game simulation test, and Time Spy, which represents the 1440p quality DirectX 12 GPU API situational game simulation test.

△ 3DMark Fire Strike.

△ 3DMark Time Spy.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA VRM Cooling and Temperature Testing

After two hours of testing the software, the motherboard on the bare platform without additional direct airflow reached a maximum temperature of 55 °C for the VRM MOS and 33 °C for the PCH.

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA This split water-cooled motherboard has the advantage of allowing the water cooling liquid to help dissipate the heat from the VRM MOS, but unfortunately the author borrowed the motherboard from a friend, so he was unable to use the split water without authorization, and was only able to test it with the regular air-cooling method, which is a degradation and unfair test for the AQUA, so I hope that there will be a chance for us to test it with the split water in the future. I hope there will be a chance to use split water for testing in the future.

△ During the above series of test software scores, the maximum temperature of the MOS was recorded to be only 55 °C using HWiNFO 64 at the same time.

 

ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA Review Summary

Currently, among the Z890/X870E consumer flagship chipset motherboards, ASRock ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA is the only one of the four major Taiwanese motherboard brands that has updated split water cooling options, but this time, the water cooling header in cooperation with alphacool is only on the VRM and the Blazing M2_1, which utilizes a removable split water cooling header to plan the water path. However, this time with alphacool, only on VRM and Blazing M2_1, the detachable water-cooling head is used to plan the water circuit, and the two water circuits are connected, unlike the Z690 AQUA, the water-cooling head is not covered by the processor, which means the cooling solution for the processor has to be prepared by your own, and there is no memory overclocking version, like the Z690 AQUA.

On the outside, I think it's a shame that the Z890 Taichi AQUA doesn't come in all white, as it still uses black slots for all the slots, which would have made the white color look even better for the white-colored obsessive-compulsive group, and it's a shame that the large M.2 heatsink underneath is still screwed in.

 

The board's expandability is quite unique, as there are ten USB Type-C ports on the rear. If you want to use USB Type-A, you'll have to rely on the chassis' I/O ports or USB Type-C expansion ports to work with it.

M.2 SSDs use the SoC tile bandwidth on the graphics card side to allow for six M.2 SSD expansion slots on the entire motherboard, so the Blazing M2_2 slot can run at full speeds up to 14,000 MB/s without the limitations of the IOE tile as on other Intel motherboards, but the bandwidth of the corresponding second graphics card slot will be divided.

Although I know that unboxing the Z890 Taichi AQUA with an all-in-one water-cooled and air-cooled motherboard would be a shame, and I struggled a lot with it, but the board was lent out by a friend, so I didn't dare to mess around with it (I couldn't afford to pay for it), so I had to leave the split-water-cooling test to me who would have the chance to test it in the future.