The Wi-Fi 7 invasion is coming and set to arrive later this summer. Here at Computex 2023, ASRock is showing off two motherboards that will come with the new wireless standard when they launch in August. The company also showed off some Taichi Lite motherboards with Thunderbolt connectivity and a 55-inch, 8K disl
The Phantom Gaming Z790 Nova WiFi 7 (shown above) features a 20+1+1 phase power design with SPS, a single PCE 5.0 SSD slot and five additional "Hyper M.2" Gen 4 slots, along with 4 SATA connectors. It also has 7 rear USB ports and headers 9 front ports. One rear and one front connection operate at up to USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps). The Ethernet port operates at 5 GbE.
The Z790 Riptide WiFi 7 has a 16+1+1 phase power design with SPS. It houses a single PCIe Gen 5 SSD slot, 4 Gen 4 SSD slots and 8 SATA connectors. There are 10 rear USB ports with headers for 7 front ports. The fastest is a single USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 front connector. Ethernet goes at 5 GbE.
Routers that support WiFi 7 are just starting to hit the market so devices that have the technology built in are essential to complete the ecosystem. As we detail in our Wi-Fi 7 Explainer, the new standard, which is also known as 802.11be, operates at up to 2,400 Mbps per stream with a theoretical maximum data rate of 46 Gbps. That's more than double the amount per stream of Wi-Fi 6E.
Taichi Lite Boards
ASRock is also updating its Taichi line with a new series of less-expensive, but still high-end motherboards. At its Computex suite, the company showed both a Z790 Taichi Lite and a B650 one (for AMD chips).
The Z790 Taichi Lite has a single M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD slot, four M.2 PCIe Gen 4.0 Sslots and 8 SATA connectors. It has two Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports, 9 additional rear USB ports and headers for up to 9 front ports. Its Ethernet runs at 2.5 GbE and it uses Wi-Fi 6E for wireless connectivity.
Designed for AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, the B650E Taichi Lite has a 24+2+1 phase power design, with SIP, a single PCIe 5.0 SSD slot, two PCIe 4.0 SSD slots and 8 SATA connectors. It has a Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 port, something that's rare on AMD boards, along with 11 other rear USB ports and headers for 7 front ports. It offers 2.5 GbE LAN and Wi-FI 6E.
55-inch, 8K Monitor
In addition to its new motherboards, ASRock showed off a 55-inch, 8K monitor, the PG558KF. When we glanced at it, the display seemed extremely bright and colorful, thanks to its HDR 1000 support and up to 750 nits of brightness.
However, this monitor is not a good choice for gaming as it maxes out at 60 Hz. Its contrast ratio is a modest 1200:1 so not up there OLED panels. However, it does have 252-zone local dimming.
ASRock did not disclose prices for any of its upcoming products. However, reps told us that the Wi-Fi 7 motherboards will release in August and the Taichi Lite boards should appear in July.
