ASRock Z690 Taichi Razer Edition Review: Less Zen, More RGBs

Firmware

ASRock’s BIOS for the Taichi Razer is the same as the ‘base’ Taichi except for the background. The background in the Razer firmware has triangular patterns in a brilliant rainbow color that matches the board’s overarching theme of RGB integration. Outside of that, an EZ Mode displays high-level information, including CPU clock speeds and temperatures, fan speeds, storage information, and more. Advanced Mode has several headers across the top that drop down additional options. The BIOS is easy to maneuver in and laid out logically. There is a bit of digging for some options for overclocking, but overall, it’s a user-friendly BIOS with more options than most will ever use.

Image 1 of 39

Software

Unlike some other board partners, ASRock doesn’t combine most of their included utilities under a larger application. Instead, they are all standalone programs but cover a wide gamut of functionality. From overclocking and monitoring (A-Tune) to audio (Nahimic), networking (Killer Dashboard) and RGB lighting (Polychrome), all of the applications worked without issue.

The biggest software item for this board is the Razer Synapse integration/software, which controls all lighting that supports the Razer ecosystem. Once you download the Synapse software and all the modules (Chroma Connect, Chroma Studio and Chroma Visualizer), you’re presented with a one-stop-shop for your Chroma-capable RGB visualization needs. You can even create custom lighting patterns outside of the many canned options.

Image 1 of 17

Test System / Comparison Products

As of October 2021, we’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver to version 496.13. Additionally, our game selection was updated, as noted in the table below. We use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware we used is as follows:

Test System Components

Image 1 of 7

EVGA supplied our Supernova 850W P6 power supply (appropriately sized and more efficient than the outgoing 1.2KW monster we used) for our test systems, and G.Skill sent us a DDR5-5600 (F5-5600U3636C16GX2-TZ5RK) memory kit for launch day testing.

Benchmark Settings

MORE: Best Motherboards

MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard

MORE: All Motherboard Content