ASRock Preps Chroma-Equipped Razer Edition Taichi B550, X570 Motherboards

Razer
(Image credit: Razer)

ASRock and Razer are getting ready to announce two high-end Razer Edition motherboards for AMD's latest Ryzen 5000 processors. The boards will be based on AMD's B550 and X570 chipsets, will provide all the premium capabilities that ASRock's Taichi motherboards support, and will also feature Razer's proprietary Razer Chroma RGB lighting. 

ASRock's lineup of Razer Edition motherboards will include at least two models, the B550 Taichi Razer Edition as well as the X570 Taichi Razer Edition, according to findings of @momomo_us/Twitter. The motherboards have already been listed (12) by at least one online store in Japan, so their launch is likely imminent, but at present they are not for sale.  

ASRock's B550 Taichi Razer Edition and X570 Taichi Razer Edition motherboards will have the same features and capabilities the company's flagship platforms for AMD's AM4 CPUs offer. This includes a 16-phase voltage regulating module (VRM) that uses solid-state inductors and capacitors; an advanced DDR4 signal and power circuitry that promises impressive overclocking results (up to DDR4-5200 in case of the B550); additional cooling for heating components; as well as all the ample I/O connectivity and ports. The main difference between 'default' B550 Taichi/X570 Taichi motherboards and their Razer Editions is support for the Razer Chroma RGB lighting by the latter.

(Image credit: PC One/Razer)

Addressable RGB lighting has become a standard feature on gaming hardware in recent years. The capability is easy to implement and lets you make your gaming rig unique, something that is very appreciated by many gamers. But since five major motherboard makers implemented aRGB controls differently, there are five competing aRGB synchronization technologies these days. Razer, which produces a boatload of gaming hardware and peripherals, but not motherboards or graphics cards, had to implement aRGB in its own way, which is called Razer Chroma RGB. 

Razer certainly cannot ignore customers who use its Chroma RGB-enabled peripherals with desktops and would like to synchronize their RGB effects. To that end, the company decided to team up with ASRock, the only major maker of motherboards that does not produce its own peripherals and so does not directly compete against Razer in those areas.  

This is not the first time that Razer has teamed up with a third-party to build a Razer Edition product. Most recently, the company worked with Humanscale for a line of productivity-focused peripherals

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.