The ASRock Z790 Taichi Carrara being a premium motherboard comes in a rather huge box. The front is themed in a white and golden color theme with the Carrara colors splattered all over the box. The front side also lists down support for Intel’s 13th generation Core processors. The Taichi emblem is engraved in golden and silver accents and looks beautiful. ASRock told us that the new Carrara theme is named after the Carrara stone itself which has a marble texture and looks very premium.
The backside of the package lists the specifications and special features of the motherboard such as the Killer Networking, ESS DAC, Lightning Gaming Ports, Ultra USB Power, WiFi 6E, Thunderbolt Type-C 4.0, DDR5, Blazing M.2, and the bundled 12cm Carrara Edition cooling fan.
Before getting inside the package itself, there’s a flip cover on the front that can be opened to get a brief look at the motherboard through a plastic cover along with more listed features. You can see the amount of VRMs that this thing packs along with PD3.0 60W fast charging support.
Inside the package is another box that contains the accessories and is located right below the box holder for the board itself. It is very easy to access although the accessories are a bit scattered and things could get messy sorting out the various additions.
There are several accessories included in the package such as a Wi-Fi antenna module, four SATA III cables, screws for the M.2 storage devices, and a manual for the board. Following is the full list of accessories in the package:
– 1 x User Manual
– 4 x SATA Data Cables
– 1 x Wireless Dongle USB Bracket
– 1 x 12CM Carrara Edition Cooling FAN
– 1 x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5/6 GHz Antenna
– 4 x Screws for M.2 Sockets
The most interesting accessory within the package is the 120mm cooling fan which acts as an additional active cooling solution for the VRM and comes along with its bracket and screws. The fan is rated at 0.35A (DC 12V).
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With all the accessories done, it’s time to put that box aside and open up the top holder that contains the Z790 Taichi Carrara Edition motherboard.
There’s just so much going on with the Z790 Taichi Carrara and so much to talk about plus the design of this board looks incredibly phenomenal. It’s great to see that ASRock has developed its unique look with the Taichi series which gets better each generation.
The ASRock Z790 Taichi Carrara i is themed in white and black & additionals feature a few silver and golden accents. This is a flagship product that retails for $499 US. The motherboard comes in the E-ATX form factor and is jam-packed with features.
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Taking a look at the front of the motherboard, we see a design that would look great with almost any PC build. The white looks with golden accents look great. Lots of motherboard makers are now starting to adopt the white color scheme on their boards but ASRock has been following this on its mainstream lineup such as the Steel Legend for some time now and it’s great to see them offer a high-end white-themed motherboard. The back of the motherboard comes with a reinforced backplate that offers both durability and cooling.
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The board uses the LGA 1700 socket to support Intel Core processors. The socket is compatible with Intel’s 13th & 12th Generation core family. The socket has a protective cover on top of it that points out the exclusivity with Raptor Lake 13th Gen & Alder Lake 12th Gen CPUs, refraining users from running an older 11th and 10th generation CPUs as they won’t fit in the socket at all and forcing them in the socket is only going to cause permanent damage to your motherboard.
Next to the socket are four DDR5 DIMM slots that can support up to 128 GB of dual-channel memory. These slots are rated to support XMP profiles up to 7000 MHz (OC Plus). Each slot is labeled, making it easier to install DIMMs in the proper orientation. DDR5 memory comes with a different latch position so forcing a DDR4 module into a DDR5 slot will cause permanent damage. Each slot is also combined with a reinforced design to make sure signal integrity remains good while keeping the slots durable for long-term usage.
The ASRock Z790 Taichi Carrara packs a 24+1+2 phase power delivery configuration that makes use of the 105A Smark Power Stages. The motherboard also makes use of an 8-layer PCB with a 2oz copper design. ASRock is using the Renesas RAA229131 controller while those 24 Renesas RAA22010540 SPS MOSFETs provide the CPU with 2520 Amps of power.
As you can see, the VRMs are getting ample cooling from two aluminum-based heatsinks, one of which features an extended fin design. The VRM heatsinks feature an embedded heatsink to make sure heat is dissipated effectively.
The CPU is supplied power through an 8+8 pin power connector configuration. This will feed the CPU with up to 300 Watts of power. The Intel 13th & 12th Gen Unlocked CPUs are very power-hungry with the maximum turbo power rated at 253W for the Core i9-13900K and more if you are planning to overclock these chips.
Getting a closer look at the VRM heatsinks reveals an active cooling solution underneath the heatsink shroud next to the IO cover. Each heatsink has 12w/Mk thermal pads located underneath for efficient transfer of heat.
You can see the 30mm heatsink fan underneath the shroud more clearly below. There’s also a bundled 30mm fan that can be equipped on the topmost heatsink for additional VRM cooling performance. The fan can be disabled in the BIOS but it’s up to the user to choose between better VRM cooling with higher noise output or lower cooling performance with silent operation. There’s a small cutout in the side heatsink that delivers air to the VRMs.
The Taichi logos are laser-etched on both heatsinks and provide a nice aesthetic. The one on the IO shield marks the 20th Anniversary of ASRock in the motherboard market.
Expansion slots include three PCI Express x16 (1 Gen 5 x16 / 1 Gen 5 x8/ 1 Gen 4 x4), and 5 M.2 slots. Only 1 M.2 slot is rated at Gen 5 speeds and shares lanes with the x16 dGFX while the four remaining M.2 slots feature Gen 4×4 lanes.
CPU:
– 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 Slots (PCIE1 and PCIE2), support x16 or x8/x8 modes
Chipset:
– 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (PCIE3), supports x4 mode
– 1 x M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module and Intel CNVio/CNVio2 (Integrated WiFi/BT)
CPU:
– 1 x Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M), supports type 2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128 Gb/s) mode
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2, Key M), supports type 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode
Chipset:
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_3, Key M), supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode*
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_4, Key M), supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode
– 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_5, Key M), supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64 Gb/s) mode
– 8 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors
* If M2_1 is occupied, PCIE1 will downgrade to x8 mode.
If PCIE2 is occupied, M2_1 will be disabled.
If PCIE3 is occupied, SATA3_0~4 will be disabled.
Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks
ASRock is using a metallic cover on the sides of the PCIe Gen 5.0 expansion slots as a part of its Surface-Mount Tech which provides protection to some extent. It adds more retention and shearing resistance by reinforcing the slots with metal plates. Aside from adding more protection, they are also said to offer ideal signal flow.
All five M.2 slots are cooled off by the thermal pad and aluminum baseplate cooling. This is part of ASRock’s M.2 heatsink cooling technology and ensures stable operation for M.2 storage devices. The thermal adhesive has a plastic cover over them which needs to be removed before using them with the storage devices. One interesting design choice that ASRock made with the heatsinks is that the screws don’t come off entirely so users should not worry about screws going missing.
The Z790 PCH is housed beneath a large heatsink with the ‘Z790 Taichi Carrara’ logo engraved in silver colors.
The new PCH design is very aggressive but comes with the same Carrara marble theme as the rest of the motherboard.
The whole bottom M.2 heatsink plate has RGB LEDs sitting underneath it which can be illuminated to give out a nice aesthetic.
Storage options include eight SATA III ports rated to operate at 6 GB/s. These can support 8 different storage devices at once. There are also dual USB 3.2 (2x Gen 2 / 2x Gen 1) front panel connectors. Many fan headers and jumpers can be found beneath the storage ports.
ASRock is using its Audio system for audio which is a combination of hardware, and software audio solutions. 5.1 CH HD audio with the latest Realtek ALC4082 audio codec, ESS SABRE9218 DAC on its own dedicated PCB layer. The full list of connectors on the motherboard is listed as follows.
– 1 x SPI TPM Header
– 1 x Power LED and Speaker Header
– 1 x RGB LED Header
– 3 x Addressable LED Headers
– 1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin)
– 1 x CPU/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
– 6 x Chassis/Water Pump Fan Connectors (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
– 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 2 x 8 pin 12V Power Connectors (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 1 x 12V 6-pin Power Connector for Fast Charging (Hi-Density Power Connector)
– 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector (15μ Gold Audio Connector)
– 2 x USB 2.0 Headers (Support 4 USB 2.0 ports)
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Headers (Support 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports)
– 1 x Front Panel Type C USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Header (20 Gb/s)
– 1 x Clear CMOS Button
– 1 x Dr. Debug with LED
– 1 x Power Button with LED
– 1 x Reset Button with LED
ASRock is using Intel’s Wi-Fi 6E to power wireless connectivity such as 802.11ax WiFi (2.4G WiFi) and Bluetooth 5.2. In terms of Ethernet, there is a single 2.5GbE Ethernet LAN port which is powered by a Killer E3100G networking switch. Following is the full list of I/O ports on the ASRock Z790 Taichi Carrara motherboard:
– 2 x Antenna Ports
– 1 x HDMI Port
– 1 x Optical SPDIF OutPort
– 2 x USB4 Thunderbolt 4 Type-C Ports (40 Gb/s for USB4 protocol; 40Gb/s for Thunderbolt protocol)
– 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s)
– 6 x USB 3.2 Gen1 Ports (USB32_12 are Lightning Gaming Ports. USB32_34 support Ultra USB Power.)
– 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
– 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports
– 1 x Line Out Jack (Gold Audio Jack)
– 1 x Microphone Input Jack (Gold Audio Jack)
