ASRock B650E Taichi Lite

Quite an unusual Hi-End board from ASRock: it is expensive, belongs to the top level, is aimed at the most extremely powerful assemblies, but at the same time it is based on the system logic of the B series, not the X, which belongs to the middle rather than the elite level. The main features of the ASRock B650E Taichi Lite include a 27-phase VRM unit based on heat-resistant Japanese capacitors, widespread integration of the PCI Express 5.0 interface, a premium audio path and a wide range of connection interfaces, including high-speed USB4.

Despite the use of mid-level system logic, the board is aimed at experienced gamers or overclocking enthusiasts, and its direct competitors are Hi-End models from Asus ROG, Gigabyte Aorus and MSI MEG. The ASRock B650E Taichi Lite is made in a gigantic E-ATX form factor, which, on the one hand, simplifies the assembly process thanks to a huge number of different connectors, on the other hand, such a giant will not fit into most Midi Tower cases, which must be taken into account when choosing.

At the same time, the board ensures full compatibility with almost any modern components: it supports installation of up to 192 GB of DDR5 RAM (note: 4 sticks of 48 GB), three fast M.2 drives (3xPCI-E 4x / M2_1 PCIe Gen5 ) and four classic drives with SATA3 interface. Reception and conversion of incoming network traffic is provided by the proprietary Killer E3100G network controller with a 2.5-gigabit LAN port and a built-in wireless receiver (supports Wi-Fi 802.11ax and Bluetooth v5.3). The audio output is provided by an 8-channel Realtek ALC4082 audio subsystem with a built-in amplifier from Saber. In general, literally every element of this model screams that it is designed with ultimate gaming builds and work systems in mind, equipped with extremely powerful processors a la Ryzen 9 and video cards no lower than GeForce RTX 3080/4080.