Jesper Berg
ASRock is perhaps best known for its comprehensive range of motherboards but since 2018, the company is also a graphics card AIB (add-in board) partner focusing on AMD (and lately Intel) GPUs. The manufacturer offers several different cards based on the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU, and like with other ASRock products, Taichi is the flagship design.
Other ASRock cards using the same GPU include a reference MBA (Made by AMD) model, the RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming, and also a model with a pre-mounted water block known as RX 7900 XTX Aqua.
In terms of market positioning and pricing, the ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX Taichi OC competes with other premium designs like the Sapphire RX 7900 XTX Nitro+, PowerColor’s Red Devil, and the Gigabyte Aorus’s Elite.
Specifications
| Specifications | ASRock RX 7900 XTX Taichi OC | Gigabyte Aorus RX 7900 XTX Elite | PowerColor Red Devil RX 7900 XTX | AMD RX 7900 XTX Reference Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX | Navi 31 XTX |
| Shading Units | 6144 | 6144 | 6144 | 6144 |
| GPU Clock: Base/Game/Boost | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2510 MHz / 2680 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2395 MHz / 2565 MHz | 1855 MHz / 2300 MHz / 2499 MHz |
| FP32 Theoretical Performance | 65.8 TFLOPS | 65.8 TFLOPS | 63 TFLOPS | 61.4 TFLOPS |
| Dual BIOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Memory Configuration | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) | 2500 MHz (20 Gbps) |
| Memory Bandwidth (Bus Width) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) | 960 GB/s (384-bit) |
| Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 2x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 1x HDMI 2.1a 2x DisplayPort 2.1 1x USB Type-C |
| TDP | 355 Watt | 355 Watt | 355 Watt | 355 Watt |
| Recommended Power Supply | 1000 Watt | 850 Watt | 900 Watt | 800 Watt |
| PCIe Power Connectors | 3x 8-pin | 3x 8-pin | 3x 8-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| Slots | 3-Slot | 3.5-Slot | 3.5-Slot | 2.5-Slot |
| Dimensions (Length/Width/Height) | 345 mm (13.6 in) 140 mm (5.4 in) 61 mm (2.4 in) | 335 mm (13.2 in) 137 mm (5.4 in) 69 mm (2.7 in) | 338 mm (13.3 in) 135 mm (5.3 in) 73 mm (2.9 in) | 287 mm (11.3 in) 110 mm (4.3 in) 51 mm (2 in) |
AMD’s RX 7900 XTX (Navi 31 XTX) is the manufacturer’s flagship GPU from 2022/2023 and comes with a 350 Watt TDP. As a result, the cooling requirements are substantial and all cards equipped with the chip will be very large.
Like other third-party RX 7900 XTX cards, ASRock’s Taichi model is even larger than the AMD reference design, it is actually somewhat more compact than key competitors like the PowerColor Red Devil. It narrowly fits in three expansion slots without occupying the lion’s share of a fourth.
As a premium variation of one of the most demanding GPUs on the market in 2023, the Taichi’s clock rates nevertheless meet or exceed the out-of-the-box clock rates of any card using the same GPU. Most importantly, the game clock in OC mode is 2510 MHz versus the reference model’s 2300 MHz – an increase of about 9%.
It is also equipped with an additional 8-pin PCIe power connector, meaning that the card can theoretically pull as much as 525 W from the power supply (PSU). In the real world, the RX 7900 XTX Taichi will never reach those levels on average in any gaming workload, but it will have a measurably higher power consumption than the reference model when overclocked.
ASRock’s minimum PSU recommendation is 1000 W, which is noticeably higher than AMD’s original 800 W recommendation for the RX 7900 XTX.
Cooling Solution
Graphics card manufacturers typically reuse their cooling designs for multiple generations. In this case, ASRock has made some noteworthy changes to the RX 7900 XTX Taichi’s overall design compared to the RX 6000 series while keeping other aspects the same.
Some elements are similar or just slightly modified, like the RGB-lit center fan and logo on the backplate. The overall heatsink and heat pipe arrangement with a large GPU contact area is also comparable to the previous-gen variant, but the Taichi RX 7900 XTX has an additional focus on VRAM cooling.
Another detail that returns from the previous generation is a physical switch to turn the LED lights on or off without having to resort to a software solution. For those who like to get creative with their RGB arrangements, there is also a 3-pin ARGB header on the Taichi card.
Power delivery is handled by a 22-phase VRM solution, with 18 phases for GPU voltage and four for the VRAM.
Reviews
The triple-fan, triple-slot thermal solution does a great job of keeping the card cool. Gaming temperatures are below 60°C, which is an impressive achievement, especially considering the performance offered.
