The PCB and connectors:
Tools for clocking:
Let’s start with the elements inserted on the PCB which can be interesting tools for overclockers. There are a lot of them on this model, which has become a habit with AORUS on this Z790 Tachyon version. This confirms its position as a board dedicated to overclocking.
- The Clear CMOS button: allows you to erase the BIOS settings in order to return to the default ones.
- The reset button: allows you to reboot the motherboard in case of failure.
- The retry button: during cold tests, sometimes the OS freezes and a reset does not allow to restart the motherboard: only solution 6, 7 seconds by keeping the START button pressed. With the ReTry button, it restarts immediately.
- The Q-Led: allows to display a code which corresponds to the component responsible for the error during the boot. It has a larger size than on the previous versions.
- Voltage points : allows to measure voltages with a multimeter directly on the PCB.
- The power button: allows the powering of the motherboard.
- The LIMP mode (the turtle): similar to the ” safe Boot ” at Asus, this button allows to restart the card even if the parameters chosen in the BIOS do not allow the Boot. This avoids having to do a CMOS Clear to reboot and thus lose your encoded settings. The board will then reboot with default settings.
- The CPU Ratio Switch button: allows you to directly increase or decrease the multiplier of your processor.
- The SB switch: allows you to disable or enable the Dual BIOS function.
- The BIOS switch: allows you to switch between the two bios. You can thus choose to have an ” overclocking ” bios and a more stable bios for a H24 configuration
- The TGR switch: a button a bit like the ” slow mode “, it will allow you to decrease the processor frequency and thus lower the CPU temperature before launching a benchmark and thus increase the chances that it will pass. You activate it, the temperature decreases, you put it back in its original position just before launching your benchmark.
- The OC_IGNITION switch: it allows overclockers and hobbyists to pre-test water cooling systems when building their computers without having to boot the system.
As you can see, the tools are numerous! Can’t wait to test each of them in a little cold session.
The PCB:
Let’s move on to the PCB, this one is built in 10 layers as indicated by an inscription on the corner of the PCB. This Z670 Tachyon is based on a 15 + 1 + 2 phase power supply.
The first controller used is a Renesas RAA2291131 which directly drives the 15 phases dedicated to the CPU. The 15 CPU mosfets are all Renesas RAA220105 of 105A. The GT part is managed by 1 Renesas RAA220105 of 105A. The IMC and PCIe part is managed by 2 MPS MP87992 of 70A. We are on a power supply stage similar to that of the Z690 Tachyon.
Connectors:
The rear panel has the following elements. First of all the LIMP mode (the turtle) also present on the PCB as well as the button allowing to flash the bios from a USB key. One of the particularities of the card is to have two PS/2 slots to connect a keyboard and a mouse. But why still use this type of connector in 2021? Simply because some benchmarks are more powerful under XP (Super Pi) and the use of non-USB peripherals greatly facilitates the installation of the OS.
Regarding the USB ports, we are waiting to receive the specifications from AORUS so we can tell you more about them. Then we find the antenna supports for the dual band Wi-Fi and the audio part. Finally, there is also an HDMI port which is very useful for testing the graphics chipset integrated into certain processors. We have now completed the tour of this AORUS Z790 Tachyon, it’s time for us to test it and see you soon to discover the complete test here.
