At the 2017 International CES, ASRock showed off some of its first socket AM4 motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors and 7th generation A-Series “Bristol Ridge” APUs. Leading the pack is the X370 Taichi. Built in the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. It uses a 16-phase CPU VRM with high-capacity Super Alloy chokes. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Expres 3.0 x16 slot (x8/x8 when both are populated). The third x16 slot is electrical x4 and wired to the chipset. Two other x1 slots make for the rest of its expansion area.
Connectivity on the X370 Taichi include two USB 3.1 ports (one type-A and one type-C), ten USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel PureSound 4 onboard audio solution (of the same grade the company is deploying on its high-end Intel Z270 motherboards), gigabit Ethernet with an Intel-made controller, and 802.11ac WLAN. Storage options include one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, one 16 Gb/s M.2 slot, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Next up, is the X370 Professional Gaming. This board is practically identical to the X370 Taichi. The two boards share a common PCB, and differ only with the red+black color scheme on the X370 Professional Gaming, as opposed to white+black on the X370 Taichi.
Moving on, there’s the AB350 Pro4. This board, based on the mid-range B350 chipset, offers a 9-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, a second x16 slot that’s electrical x4, and connectivity that includes 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and eight USB 3.0 ports (of which one is type-C), and storage options that include one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, a 16 Gb/s M.2 slot, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The AB350 Gaming K4 is identical to the AB350 Pro4, the two boards share the same PCB, and only differ with color scheme.
Lastly, there are the A320M Pro4 and the AB350M Pro4. The two boards are based on the same PCB design, but differ with the chipset – A320 and B350. The two boards even feature the same connectivity. All that you get when you opt for the AB350M Pro4 over its sibling is support for CPU overclocking. The micro-ATX board features 9-phase CPU VRM, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one x16 (electrical x4) slot, and one x1, making up the expansion area; storage features that include one 32 Gb/s M.2, one 16 Gb/s M.2, and four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. 7 USB 3.0 ports (including a type-C port), 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it.
