At this year’s Computex, a plethora of motherboards for next-gen CPUs were revealed. MSI unveiled its X870 and Z890 motherboards. So, ASRock wasn’t one to shy away from the competition and showcased its Z890 Taichi Aqua motherboard for Intel processors. They also had a whole wall of AMD boards to show off.
According to VideoCardz, Intel reportedly stopped the partners from advertising these motherboards as “Z890.” Regardless of what they may or may not call them, it is kind of clear which CPUs these motherboards would support. And with that resolved, here’s an interesting (and somewhat baffling) design choice from ASRock for a Z890 board.
What’s different about the Z890 Taichi Aqua?
For starters, ASRock merged its Taichi and Aqua lineup to develop the “Taichi Aqua” motherboard variant. These boards are liquid-cooled, which should be great news for enthusiasts looking for a board to overclock processors while keeping temperatures under control. That said, its liquid-cooling functionality might be overkill for casual users, and instead of spending top dollar on it, a mid-tier board would be better suited. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
Its connectivity design caught the attention of most. It might be a controversial design choice, but only time will tell how well it is received. As we can see, there are ten USB-C ports and not a single USB Type-A port. Yes, a step in the right direction perhaps but they could’ve at least a couple of Type-A ports at the very least.
While the tech industry is adopting USB-C in more peripherals and other components, a massive percentage of consumers still use USB-A, and this decision might make them feel like their hand is being forced as they’ll need to purchase a USB-C to USB-A converter to attach their mice or keyboards.
On the other hand, we cannot deny the performance and speed of USB-C ports, which definitely complement the prowess of other next-gen components. So, if your tech ecosystem consists of all USB-C devices, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll have plenty of ports to connect to. If you, like most of us, still have a type-A device, then this motherboard probably isn’t for you.
Lastly, ASRock might have thought a bit deeper than we’re giving them credit for, and they might include Type-C to A adapters, but we’ll have to wait for the official release to pass judgment on that.
