The ASRock Z590 lineup has 5 key segments, there’s a single flagship motherboard while the high-end lineup comprises the Taichi and the Velocita. To be precise, there three boards in the Phantom Gaming lineup, two boards in the Steel/Extreme series, and 3 boards in the Pro/mainstream lineup. Following is the list of all the motherboards in ASRock’s line up.
- Z590 Taichi
- Z590 PG Velocita
- Z590 Steel Legend
- Z590 Extreme 4
- Z590 Phantom Gaming 4
- Z590 Pro 4
- Z590M PRO 4
- Z590 Phantom Gaming-ITX
- Z590M-ITX/ac
I will detail these variants below starting off with the high-end ASRock Z590 Taichi motherboard (Just note that an undisclosed flagship Z590 model will be revealed by ASRock later, which would also be added to the roundup once it’s officially released).
ASRock Z590 Taichi
The ASRock Z590 Taichi is a high-end motherboard and continuation of the Taichi family. The latest version features an updated design and supports a much bigger variety of features that make this Taichi the best one yet! ASRock is going all out with a 14 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design with 90 Amp power stages which are given power through dual 8-pin connectors. The ASRock Z590 Taichi features four DDR4 DIMM slots that can support up to 5000 MHz (OC+) frequencies and up to 128 GB of capacity. The board has large heatsinks over the VRMs and a Taichi logo embedded real panel I/O plate which looks great.
While the VRM heatsinks are massive with an aluminum fin design, there are interconnected with heat pipes to dissipate heat. There’s also active cooling in the form of a single PWM controlled fan which comes with 0dB Silent cooling technology. This means that the fans would only operate under heavy workloads and stay silent under idle scenarios. The entire cooling is part of the XXL Aluminum Alloy design that ASRock has taken years to perfect. There are Power and Reset buttons at the bottom next to the Debug LED which is always a great addition to high-end boards.
Storage options include 8 SATA III ports while expansion includes three PCIe x16 slots (1x PCIe 4.0 & 2x PCIe 3.0), two PCIe 3.0 x1, and three M.2 (1x Gen 4×4, 2x Gen3x4) ports. All three M.2 slots come with heatsinks that are part of the PCB armor that covers the lower half of the motherboard. The PCH heatsink is made up of a brushed aluminum design, same as the I/O cover, and features the ASRock Gear logo design etched into it along with a great display of ASRock’s Polychrome Sync RGB effects. Underneath the side of the PCB, there’s an RGB strip lighting it up which also looks great.
For I/O, ASRock features 2 Thunderbolt 4 (USB 4.0) Type-C ports, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (Type-C), 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (2 Type-A rear), 8 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (4 front, 4 Rear), 4 USB 2.0 (Front) ports, Killer E3100 2.5 Gb / Intel 1Gb Ethernet LAN ports, WiFi 6E + BT 5.2 (2x antenna ports), 1 HDMI, 1 SPDIF port, 1 BIOS flashback switch and an HD audio jack that is powered by the Realtek ALC1220 codec plus an ESS SABRE 9218 DAC with WIMA Audio caps (NAHIMIC Audio). The ASRock Z590 Taichi should come in at a price of around $400-$450 US.
ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita
Next up, we have the ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita. The Velocita also comes with a 14 Phase Dr.MOS VRM design which is powered by dual 8-pin connectors and features four DDR4 DIMM slots with support of up to 4800 MHz memory and 128 GB capacities.
The Phantom Gaming design has been kept in tradition with the older motherboards, supporting a red/black/silver color scheme with fine use of PolyChrome SYNC RGB on the board. The VRMs are cooled off by two large heatsinks with a copper heat pipe running through them and like the Taichi, the Velocita also features triple fans as part of its XXL Aluminum Alloy heatsink design which offers active cooling to the VRMs.
Storage options include 6 SATA III ports while expansion slots include three PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 (1x Gen 4 / 2 x Gen 3), one PCIe 3.0 x1, and triple M.2 slots (1 Gen 4×4 and 2 Gen 3×4). All expansion slots are PCIe 4 compliant and the M.2 storage slots come with M.2 Armor heatsinks. I/O on the board includes 10 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (6 Front, 4 Rear Type-C), 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-A + Type-C) ports, Killer E3100 2.5G and Intel 1G Ethernet LAN ports, 2x WiFi antennas for WiFi 6E + BT 5.2, 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and an HD Audio jack powered by the Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec along with the fancy Nahimic 3D sound support.
The motherboard also comes with a pre-fitted I/O shield like the Taichi model. Expect pricing to be around $250-$300 US.
ASRock Z590 Extreme 4
The ASRock Z590 Extreme 4 aims to be the $199-$249 US option with features close to the PG line. The motherboard has a very stylish touch to it with black and blue accents all over that heavily use Polychrome Sync RGB LEDs on the PCH Heatsink, Front Panel I/O Cover, and the side of the board.
The CPU is powered by a 14 Phase Dr.MOS VRM which is run by an 8+8 pin connector configuration and there are four DDR4 DIMM slots offering support of up to 128 GB capacities with speeds of up to 4800 MHz (OC+). Storage options include 6 SATA III ports. The VRMs do come with aluminum heatsink blocks but don’t feature any active cooling or heat pipe solution.
Expansion slots include two PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 slots, three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, and three M.2 slots (1 Hyper M.2 Gen 4×4, 2 Ultra M.2 Gen 3×4). A single Ultra and Hyper M.2 slots are cooled by M.2 Armor heatsinks while the rest don’t feature any cooling. I/O includes a 2.5G Realtek LAN port, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (2 Type-A 10 Gb/s + 1 Type-C 20Gb/s) ports, 6 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (4 front / 2 rear), 6 USB 2.0 (4 front / 2 rear) ports, HDMI / DP out-puts, PS/2 port, and a 7.1 channel HD Audio jack powered by the ALC 1220 Codec. There are also 2x antennas for WiFi 6E + BT 5.2 support.
ASRock Z590 Steel Legend
The ASRock Z490 Steel Legend aims to be another $149-$249 US option with features similar to the Extreme 4. The motherboard has an arctic camo design scheme all over and makes use of ASRock’s Polychrome Sync RGB LEDs on the PCH Heatsink, Front Panel I/O Cover, and the side of the board.
The CPU is powered by a 14 Phase Dr.MOS VRM (50A) which is run by an 8+8 pin connector configuration and there are four DDR4 DIMM slots offering support of up to 128 GB capacities with speeds of up to 4800 MHz (OC+). Storage options include 6 SATA III ports. The VRMs do come with aluminum heatsink blocks but don’t feature any active cooling or heat pipe solution.
Expansion slots include two PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 slots, three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, and triple M.2 slots (1 Hyper Gen 4×2, 2 Ultra Gen 3×4). Only 1 Hyper and Ultra M.2 slots are cooled by M.2 Armor heatsinks while the rest don’t feature any cooling. I/O includes a 2.5G Realtek LAN port, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (2 Type-A + 1 Type-C) ports, 6 USB 3.2 Gen 1 & 6 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI / DP outputs, PS/2 port, and a 7.1 channel HD Audio jack powered by the ALC 897 Codec & 2x Antennas for WiFi 6E + BT 5.2.
ASRock Z590 Motherboards:
ASRock B560 Motherboards:
