What's Hot Excellent VRM: The IR controller matched with IR doublers, NexFETs, 60A chokes, and 12K capacitors results in some of the best thermal test results and performance I have seen so far. It is a bit overkill, but it should result in solid power delivery 24/7. Two M.2 Slots: Almost all X370 motherboards feature one x4 PCI-E 3.0 M.2 slot that offers 32Gb/s of bandwidth. ASRock also decided to add in a second M.2 slot, but instead of getting x4 PCI-E 3.0 it gets x4 PCI-E 2.0. It shares that x4 PCI-E 2.0 with the last x16 slot, and can offer 20Gb/s of bandwidth. So if your drive doesn't really go over 2000Mbps, then you won't face a performance penalty by using the second slot. Subtle RGB LED Use: While the silkscreen and heat sink aesthetic design isn't that subtle, the built-in RGB LEDs are. They diffuse under the PCH heat sink. The motherboard also offers three RGB LED headers, so if you want to add some light, you will not have any problems. Tons of SATA: While most X370 motherboards have eight SATA6Gb/s ports, ASRock added two extra through an ASMedia controller. That puts the X370 Taichi in line with Intel's X99 offerings when it comes to SATA port count. Extra Clock Generator: ASRock has added an extra clock generator onto the motherboard so that you can tune the bus speed, so when AMD fixes up their microcode a bit more you should be able to go above 3200Mhz if your kit and CPU can do it. What's Not A Bit Low on USB: ASRock opted to not invest into a second USB 3.1 controller, so you only get the basic two USB 3.1 ports from the chipset. The rear IO is also low on USB 3.0/2.0 compared to competitor motherboards. Final Thoughts The ASRock X370 Taichi was a surprise. I didn't expect it to be loaded with so much. It does trade some USB assets for extra SATA, and its second M.2 slot does not offer the same performance as the first one. The motherboard's VRM was the most impressive part of the product; it's the best one I have seen yet because of its high-quality output filter and phase count (although it's overkill). The Taichi's aesthetic design has grown on me, but when you install your GPU, it will block a big section of the center gear.

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