ASRock decided to go all out at Computex this year, showing off all the X870E and X870 motherboards it plans to release alongside the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs. There’s no official date yet, but it’s a safe bet given that each motherboard has direct support for new AMD processors. It’s not just the old designs we’re used to, six new designs are coming in the form of the Taichi, Taichi Lite, Nova WIFI, Riptide, Steel Legend & PRO RS series. All are of course led by the Taichi flagship.
ASRock has been a somewhat underrated manufacturer in the past, at least in our opinion, but it looks like that may change this year. ASRock seems to have upped the ante when it comes to dedication to its craft, and it won’t go unnoticed. With AM5 support going into 2027 and beyond, these new 800 series boards will be relevant for some time to come.
ASRock’s X870 series of motherboards
These are all the X870E and X870 motherboards displayed by ASRock at Computex 2024.
X870E Tiachi
First up is the ASRock X870E Taichi. This is the flagship motherboard for ASRock’s X870E series, which features a healthy 27-phase power delivery system that is ideal for all overclocking users. The motherboard is of course on the DDR5 standard, but what is far from the standard are the dual PCIe Gen 5 X16 slots that Taichi offers. In terms of I/O, this motherboard features USB Gen 4, 5GbE LAN, WIFI7 and more. If you need a lot of storage space in your PC, you will definitely notice the four M.2 slots that this motherboard has (1x Gen5 + 3x Gen4).
This is probably the best looking motherboard ASRock has released to date, it has a mean and rugged aesthetic without being so heavy that it looks out of place in any build. It has a lot of RGB, especially on the I/O board and at the bottom next to the second PCIe slot. All of this comes at a price, though, and we expect this motherboard to top $500 when it launches.
X870E Taichi LITE
If you still need the power of Tiachi but can’t afford to shell out all that money, then you might be interested in Taichi LITE. This motherboard has the exact same specs as the Tiachi, only it comes without the fancy RGB and accent boards. Something you might also be interested in if you’re not a fan of RGB from the start.
X870E NOVA WIFI
The ASRock NOVA WIFI is the flagship Phantom Gaming motherboard on display, it has an impressive arsenal of updated I/Os that were just a little bit rejected from the Taichi specs. The Phantom features a 23-phase power design, which is still nothing to be upset about. This motherboard only has one PCIe Gen5 x16 slot, but SLI is pretty much dead anyway. What’s different about the NOVA is 1 more PCIe Gen3 M.2 slot, a total of 5 M.2 drive slots, otherwise the configuration is the same as the Tiachi.
X870 Riptide WIFI
The X870 Riptide WIFI are 2 of the 2 Phantom Gaming motherboards that ASRock offers in this line and appear to be a cut down version of the NOVA. It features a 17-phase power supply design, one PCIe Gen5 X16 slot and only 3 M.2 slots (1x Gen5 + 2x Gen4). Of course, this board will aim to be more budget friendly in the absence of more high-end parts.
X870 steel legend
The X870 Steel Legend is a more mainstream offering aimed more at budget/average gamers. The specs are almost identical to the Riptide, but the white color scheme makes it look a bit more sophisticated and less ‘gaming’. We can see this being the motherboard of choice for a budget gamer if the price is right.
We couldn’t get a clear picture of the X870 Steel Legend, but it’s among those motherboards.
X870 PRO RS WIFI
Finally, we have the second white motherboard on the list and perhaps the best value option, the X870 PRO RS WIFI. Again the specs are similar to the Riptide but the PRO only has 3 M.2 slots and they are configured as one of each so 1x Gen5, 1x Gen4 and 1x Gen3. Everything else seems to be similar. We’ll likely see this motherboard priced around $220 at launch.
Again, we couldn’t get a clear picture of the X870 PRO RS, but it’s among those motherboards.
What happened to the X770?
Some of you may be confused as to where the next logical step in motherboard progression, the X770 series, went. We have a theory, but without confirmation from AMD themselves, that’s all it will be – and previous rumors have predicted this as well. Intel released the second generation LGA 1700 motherboard, the 700 series as early as October 2023. AMD didn’t respond to this then because AM5 was and still is sufficient for the hardware AMD has on the market.
Now that AMD is releasing new chips and Intel is moving on to the 800 series motherboards themselves, AMD doesn’t want it to look like its product is inferior. So AMD dropped the 700 series and released the 800 series, putting them on par with Intel. We all associate higher numbers with being better at, well, PC and tech stuff anyway. This was probably done to avoid the impression that AMD might be less powerful or less advanced than Intel, which we know is not the case at all.