ASRock X870E Taichi OCF Motherboard Review: The right formula for extreme AMD overclocking

Great for extreme overclocking and breaking records. Overkill for the PBO overclocker

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ASRock X870E Taichi OCF
(Image: © Future)

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Firmware

Like other ASRock boards, the X870 Taichi OCF starts in the informative Easy Mode, but it also lets you adjust several options (XMP, profiles, boot order, access to Fan-Tastic Tuning, etc.). The OCF uses a black background with white characters and yellow highlights, matching the OCF theme and making it easy to read. The standard BIOS displays headings across the top, with subheadings and details below.

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ASRock X870E Taichi OCF - BIOS
(Image credit: Future)

Software

ASRock offers several different software options. These include the App Shop, which lets users install drivers and software; the Nahimic 3 audio control panel; the A-Tuning application that lets you overclock and control fans; the Polychrome RGB software; and more. There’s also a Blazing OC Tuner and a pop-up to install drivers when the system first boots. ASRock’s software provides everything users need to manage and tweak their systems.

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ASRock X870E Taichi OCF - ASRock App Shop
(Image credit: Future)

Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 (23H2) 64-bit OS with all updates applied as of late September 2024 (this includes the Branch Prediction Optimizations for AMD). Hardware-wise, we’ve updated the RAM kits (matching our Intel test system), cooling, storage, and video card. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest publicly available non-beta motherboard BIOS. The hardware we used is as follows:

TEST SYSTEM COMPONENTS

ASRock X870E Taichi OCF - Test bench

(Image credit: Future)
Swipe to scroll horizontally

Sound

Integrated HD audio

Network

Integrated Networking (GbE to 10 GbE)

Graphics Driver

GeForce 561.09

Benchmark Settings

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings

Procyon

Version 2.8.1352 64

Office 365, Video Editing (Premiere Pro 24.6.1), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.1.2, Lightroom Classic 13.5.1)

3DMark

Version 2.29.8294.0 64

Speed Way and Steel Nomad (Default)

Cinebench R24

Version 2024.1.0
Open GL Rendering Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded

Blender

Version 4.2.0
Full benchmark (all 3 tests)

Application Tests and Settings

LAME MP3

Version SSE2_2019

Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)

HandBrake CLI

Version: 1.8.2

Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)

Corona 1.4

Version 1.4

Custom benchmark

7-Zip

Version 24.08

Integrated benchmark (Command Line)

Game Tests and Settings

Cyberpunk 2077

Ultra RT: - 1920 x 1080, DLSS - Balanced.

F1 2024

Ultra High Preset - 1920 x 1080, 16xAF/TAA, Great Britain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON

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Joe Shields
Joe Shields
Staff Writer, Components

Joe Shields is a staff writer at Tom’s Hardware. He reviews motherboards and PC components.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • logainofhades
    Then fries your CPU.
    Reply
  • beyondlogic
    logainofhades said:
    Then fries your CPU.

    was going to comment this myself does the taichi come with fire hazard logo.
    Reply
  • magbarn
    I was an Asrock fan until my X870E Nova managed to fry 2x 9800X3Ds despite "fixed" firmware. Switched to Asus and have been good the last 6 months. Never again!
    Reply
  • TechieTwo
    The issues with any of the Asrock X870 mobos was limited to the PBO settings that were marginally higher than they should have been. This was corrected with BIOS updates.

    That being said I have been running a Ryzen 5 9000 series CPU on the Asrock X870 without any issues from the first BIOS released. So yes there have been some reported issues specifically with certain GPUs that by design are at their thermal limit when released, i.e. X3D models.

    While some folks don't want to admit it, OC'ing still has risks and there are no guarantees that you won't fry the CPU/GPU if you overclock even with available OC options in the BIOS.
    Reply
  • Notton
    The Asrock frying X3D CPUs issue is very nuanced.
    RJ2t5F4K5Vw
    Reply
  • ocer9999
    TechieTwo said:
    The issues with any of the Asrock X870 mobos was limited to the PBO settings that were marginally higher than they should have been. This was corrected with BIOS updates.

    That being said I have been running a Ryzen 5 9000 series CPU on the Asrock X870 without any issues from the first BIOS released. So yes there have been some reported issues specifically with certain GPUs that by design are at their thermal limit when released, i.e. X3D models.

    While some folks don't want to admit it, OC'ing still has risks and there are no guarantees that you won't fry the CPU/GPU if you overclock even with available OC options in the BIOS.

    I agree, and most of the issues were actually reported on older bios revisions. It seems that with the latest bios they have it under control. Most likely a lot of the problems that users had could have been due to user and oc, but since the issue is trending, makes it easy to blame of the motherboard.
    Reply