Now let’s move on to probably the most important aspect of any overclocking-focused product, usability. High-quality hardware and easy-to-use software are nice on their own, but only when both work perfectly together can you really get the most out of your hardware. Tests were done with the same CPU and RAM kits as in the other Z590 motherboard reviews. Therefore we know that, for example, DDR4-3866 Gear1 or DDR4-4800 is within the realm of feasibility and only the motherboard is a remaining variable. And well, that is unfortunately clearly noticeable in the case of the Z590 Tachyon with its current bios versions.
DDR4-3866 in the Gear 1 was simply impossible. No matter if dual-ranked or single-ranked DIMMs, no matter how much SA and IO2 voltage, the 3866 multiplier in Gear 1 just doesn’t seem to work on this board. Even if only one RAM module is installed, the board cannot be convinced. Using the 3733 multiplier and slowly approaching it with the help of BCLK, a seemingly insurmountable threshold makes itself felt at around 3830 Mbps, both for memory training and for increasing the clock from within the OS.
The situation in the Gear 2 looks similarly sobering for daily OC. No matter how loose the timings are set and how much voltage is given to RAM, System Agent or PHY, over DDR4-4600 with single-rank and DDR4-4266 with dual-rank B-Die cannot be run stably. Higher clock rates do boot, but the entire system then always freezes after a few seconds when memory stress tests are started.
So the maximum was actually reached at DDR4-4600 17-17-17-34 as seen in above screenshot. Moreover, while the performance in Linpack Xtreme looks normal, the multi-core memory score in Geekbench 3 is surprisingly low, even considering the clock speed. After a bit of research, it seems that other users of these motherboards are actually complaining about poor GB3 performance as well. I therefore countertested both the XOC BIOS X2g seen here and the latest release BIOS F5, but with the same result. So Gigabyte probably still uses outdated microcode in the BIOS, but we can’t say for sure of course.
Although cores and cache can be easily clocked to 5.1 and 4.6 GHz respectively – thanks to the high-quality VRM even without any AVX offset – but without a corresponding performance on the side of the RAM, performance gains can of course only be achieved to a very limited extent. For both benchmarking and gaming, the performance does not meet our expectations for a 2-DIMM XOC motherboard.
Conclusion
The Z590 Aorus Tachyon from Gigabyte was one of the first freely available XOC boards for the Rocket Lake platform and despite the rapid development compared to other manufacturers, Gigabyte has thought of just about every feature and useful helper you could want. Layout and function of the on-board buttons are flawless, the BIOS is sensibly structured and the in-OS software also works flawlessly.
Also excellent is the power delivery with 11 real phases and dedicated measurement points for Die-Sense, Socket-Sense and Super IO, which no other Z590 board we tested could offer so far. And although availability on the virtual product shelves has been mixed at times, the price of around 550 Euros for a motherboard with this feature set is actually reasonable.
Well, if it weren’t for the RAM OC. At 4266 Mbps on dual-rank or 4600 Mbps on single-rank B-Die for daily use, the Tachyon is about 400 Mbps behind all other Z590 2-DIMM boards from our previous tests and effectively on par with Z590 4-DIMM boards. Since our experiences also coincide with other users, it seems that this is indeed a general problem of the board, at least with the current BIOS versions.
Now one could argue that Rocket Lake is only early access for Alder Lake anyway, and Gigabyte therefore only wanted to save on the development costs of an already soon obsolete platform. Understandable it would be, but not a defensible excuse by any means. Additionally for normal users without a comparison mainboard, the impression could be quickly created that CPU or RAM would be to blame for the sobering OC result, when in reality the mainboard is the limiting factor.
Unfortunately, the Z590 Aorus Tachyon is therefore currently not recommended as an XOC board for Rocket Lake. Those looking for a pure gaming platform will be better off with a 4-DIMM model with similar features, and overclockers who value RAM-OC with maximum performance will be happier with a competing product in the same class. Actually, that’s a real shame, because the concept of the board is really good, it just unfortunately suffers in the implementation.
In conclusion, let’s hope that Gigabyte will get a handle on RAM OC with the already leaked Z690 Tachyon and that the next generation of the board can better live up to its name and claim. We won’t have to wait more than a few weeks for it anyway – no, we’re not breaking an NDA, just reading leaks. 😉
GIGABYTE Z590 AORUS Tachyon
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