A Word on the Test Config with the ASRock X870E Taichi
For this configuration, we used the ASRock X870E Taichi. This ATX motherboard is really cool, albeit it costs about the same as the CPU itself.
One of the cool features of this motherboard is the M.2 connectivity solution. For two of the SSDs, they have a shared metal heatsink feature. The two primary M.2 slots, however, have a really neat tool-less heatsink design. There is a latch that holds the heatsink in place. Then a small tool-less latch to keep the SSD in place. This makes installation really easy.
Likewise, if you have ever struggled to disengage a PCIe x16 lock from under a GPU, ASRock has a release that is really nice. It is great to see vendors innovate on this feature.
In terms of rear I/O, this motherboard has plenty.
One of the big changes is that we have a 5GbE Realtek NIC and WiFi 7 via a RZ717 NIC.
We also tested the system with both the G.Skill Triden Z 5 Neo RGB at DDR5-6000.
We also got to try the Crucial Pro DDR5-6400 modules.
Next, let us discuss performance.
“It has neither a massive NPU nor integrated graphics”.
Are you sure about the graphics? There should be some basic graphics on the IO die (there are for the non-3D part). If AMD have disabled that for this chip (or if it has a different IO die), that’s significant enough that it should be explicitly called out.