(Credit: Mark Stetson)
This fall is shaping up to be an exciting time for PC builders. Not only are new AMD processors and motherboards due out in July, but Intel’s next generation of CPUs and motherboards, dubbed "Arrow Lake," is likely to come soon after.
We saw a few new motherboards for both of these new platforms at Computex 2024 from MSI, and a decent spread from Gigabyte. But ASRock had a total smorgasbord, showing off more than a dozen new motherboards at the world's largest computing trade show. Check out the video above for a quick live look at each of the new boards, with some more details below.
Touring ASRock's AMD X870 and X870E Lineup
ASRock's new AMD motherboards on display focused on AMD’s recently announced X870E and X870 chipsets. These chipsets have similar features, and both can support an M.2 PCIe 5.0 x4 slot for ultra-fast SSDs, which is an improvement over most of the last-generation chipsets. They also have native support for USB4.
(Credit: John Burek)ASRock’s best X870E motherboard looks to be the X870E Taichi, which incorporates two PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, a Wi-Fi 7 controller, and a unique aesthetic design. The board also has a top-notch power design with 27 power phases rated to handle up to 110 amps of current.
ASRock Gives a Sneak Peek at Intel Arrow Lake
Intel has not officially announced the release date for its upcoming Arrow Lake desktop processors. Nor has it told us what socket these processors will use or what chipsets they will be compatible with. We know it will surely be a new socket as Intel changes them regularly, with two generations of processors being released on average for each socket.
(Credit: John Burek)We got visual confirmation that a new socket is coming from the motherboards we’ve seen on display during Computex. Intel’s board partners carefully covered up the socket itself on these new boards, but the metal mounting bracket is visible. This clearly showed “LGA 1851,” indicating it’s different from the LGA-17XX socket on current LGA 1700 motherboards.
(Credit: John Burek)We don't have a ton else to say about these boards, as Intel hasn’t disclosed what features the chipset will have. The boards that ASRock had to show us seemed to cover a wide range of prices, with some models being a bit more simple with relatively standard features. We also saw some more exciting boards, like ASRock’s Taichi Aqua. The Aqua is ASRock's typical flagship, and it features built-in connections to use a custom-built water cooler to cool the board’s power-regulation circuitry.
(Credit: John Burek)Many of these boards appear to support an M.2 slot with a PCIe 5.0 x4 connection. This would be a generational improvement over current Intel motherboards, some of which lack this feature.
A recurring feature that also caught our eye is the use of a big, chunky easy-release mechanism on many of the primary PCI Express x16 slots of these boards. We've seen a move toward push-button release mechanisms of late on premium mainboards from various makers, but this big, easy-to-grasp spring trigger is appreciated for releasing today's whoppingly big video cards without fishing for a tiny lever as in the past.
(Credit: John Burek)Also worth noting: ASRock was showing off a prototype board dubbed the Taichi OCF CAMM2. Like we saw from MSI in one of its Arrow Lake boards, ASRock is experimenting on desktops with the single-module CAMM2 format that flush-mounts to the PCB. This is an interesting, if quizzical, development for desktop motherboards that we spoke a bit more about in our rundown of the top prototypes we saw at Computex 2024.
(Credit: John Burek)Again, check out the video up at the top of this article for a visual tour of the boards ASRock had on display, and come back to PCMag later this year for full reviews of some of these fresh models.