The idea of TAICHI is about bringing balance and equality to the energy and force around. The ASRock TAICHI series of motherboards are designed with this concept in mind. Features should meet the requirements of the target user group without any additional fuss. Features themselves should gel together to provide seamless user experience. It’s all about striking a balance for a TAICHI motherboard.
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Easy to SetupUnderstanding that creative professionals are usually the less technical bunch, the ease of installation is one of the key considerations for these type of builders. More specifically, after putting all the different components together with the motherboard, the whole setup just works flawlessly. There are no additional efforts required for any sort of troubleshooting or configuration of the setup. The default settings that are provided will get things started for the builder very easily.Thanks to the support for XMP profiles, the motherboard was also able to set the memory settings accordingly to the specifications of our purchased RAM. We were able to instantly get DDR4 RAM speeds of 3200MHz without even going into the BIOS at all!
UEFI BIOS is well logically organized.Comes with Easy Mode and Advanced ModesMoreover, the UEFI BIOS is also well planned and organized. It is rather easy to find out where every individual required setting is placed, and then make changes to these settings accordingly. The EZ mode is also very user friendly for the non-technical bunch. -
Reliable System Components
12 power phase We would not want to have an unreliable system that force shuts down after rendering for 24 hours of video footages at 99%. Reliability is also another major importance for workstations that are used in such use cases. ASRock focuses their efforts by making the TAICHI Z270 one of the most reliable motherboard in the market by equipping it with high end electrical components. Furthermore, they are also utilizing a digital circuitry and a 12 power phase design for a stable current and voltage regulation throughout the motherboard, thus enhancing the stability of the whole system. -
Great Storage Options
10 x SATA Ports It is probably the first time that we have seen 3 x M.2 slots on a motherboard. The motherboard also features 10 x SATA ports for hard drives or SSDs. This motherboard is simply made to handle multiple storage devices in different (RAID) configurations based on the users. -
Fast Storage Options
3 x M.2 Slots Rather than just supporting usual SATA based SSDs, the Z270 TAICHI has 3 x M.2 slots that supports PCIe based NVMe SSDs. These SSDs will be able to run in their respective RAID configuration for the ultimate storage speeds.2 x USB 3.1 ports ( 1 x Type C and 1 x Type A) Moreover, the Z270 TAICHI also features 2 x USB 3.1 ports. These latest USB 3.1 ports prepare the motherboard for bandwidth hungry peripherals and external storage devices in the future. -
Multi-GPU SupportAs creative professionals spend a lot of time creating content, many of them will use professional software that utilizes the computational capabilities of graphics cards. To allow the maximum performance of their system, multiple graphics cards can be installed on the Z270 TAICHI. In fact, the Z270 TAICHI can support up to 3-way CrossFire X and SLI. The package also includes a HB SLI Bridge for even better SLI performance.
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Great Audio Experience with Purity Sound Technology 4Audio is usually one of the neglected features of a motherboard. Many manufacturers fail to understand that audio quality is part of a whole user experience when consuming media. The ASRock team has designed the motherboard with dedicated audio hardware components for great audio output. Coupled with their specialized software, this motherboard can be tuned for the different audio profiles and preferences of the end-user.
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Clean and Minimal DesignThe TAICHI has a rather simple and clean design. It has a white and black PCB which was able to bring out its own theme of TAICHI. At the same time, the motherboard will look good with both white and black computer cases. ASRock also did not over emphasize RGB lighting on this motherboard, as this motherboard is recognized as a professional component.
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Superb Performance and Great overclocking headroom
Easily overclock to different clock speeds with predetermined OC profiles High computational performance is what is required of such a professional motherboard. It is equipped with the mandatory hardware and components to ensure a good overclock on the whole computer system, thus ensuring even higher overall performance. Here are some of the benchmarks to show how much additional performance we got out from this motherboard.
Core i7 6700K @ Stock Speeds has a Cinebench Score of 937 
Core i7 6700K @ 4.7GHz has a Cinebench Score of 1039 : 10% increase in performance! -
Awesome Networking FeaturesThe Z270 TAICHI comes with 2 Gigabit LAN ports that supports link aggregation / NIC Teaming. This means that by connecting two Gigabit supported LAN cable to the same switch, users can reach a theoretical bandwidth of up to 2Gbps! This increase in speed will be very useful for creative professionals who want to quickly send or backup files over the network to other devices. This feature could also be much needed for the proper set-up of a networked video rendering farm.
If there are no wired points available for the computer, fret not! ASRock also has integrated a Wireless AC card right on the motherboard. Simply connect the antennas to the receivers at the I/O area of the motherboard to enjoy high wireless speeds!
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Innovative Builder-Centric Features
Strengthened PCI-e Slots After years of experience in the design and manufacturing of motherboard, ASRock has listened to feedback and integrated useful features specifically dedicated to enhance the PC building experience. On the Z270, we can see multiple of these features available. For example, the PCI-e slots are now strengthened in order to ensure the support of heavier graphics card. The motherboard also has a LED POST Code that allows quick troubleshooting. These are the small details that builders really appreciate as they make the whole DIY PC process building so much easier.
- M2_1, SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
- M2_2, SATA3_4 and SATA3_5 share lanes. If either one of them is in use, the others will be disabled.
- If M2_3 is occupied by a SATA-type M.2 device, SATA3_3 will be disabled.
The ASRock Z270 TAICHI motherboard does live up to the expectations of the working creative professionals. This motherboard has positioned itself well, and is fully focused on bringing true value to its target user group of creative professionals. We are also glad that ASRock does not integrate too much RGB lighting on the motherboard like what other manufacturers are doing, as these are features which are definitely not required for professionals. We would thoroughly recommend this motherboard to any users who are seeking to building a new computer system for their creative work.
