ASRock's Custom Radeon RX 7900 Taichi And Phantom Gaming Graphics Cards Break Cover
Evidence that ASRock is busy working on new AMD RDNA 3 architecture graphics cards has emerged online. Tech site VideoCardz has acquired some exclusive and commendably clear images that appear to be of genuine ASRock Phantom Gaming and Taichi series graphics cards based on the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT SKUs. These are custom designs, not rebadged and reboxed reference models. Previously we have seen Asus, Sapphire and PowerColor show-off their custom RDNA 3 designs ahead of the big AMD product launch, due in a week's time.
The new triple fan custom designs from ASRock aren't what you might call beautiful, or unique. However, the firm has updated the Phantom Gaming cooler design since the previous (RDNA 2) generation. With the Phantom Gaming RX 7900 XTX, ASRock has moved away from the center fan focused lighting, and instead we see a generous swash of colored light spanning the surrounds of two of the three cooling fans. Also gone are the silver accents, making this a fully black shroud design except for the RGB LED highlights and so on.
Moving along to the new Taichi RX 7900 XT, ASRock hasn't changed the design very much vs the previous gen Taichi cards. The central top bar lighting around the logo area, and RGB LEDs surrounding the middle of the triple fans, are both quite a lot like those seen in the ASRock AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Taichi X 16G OC.
With the discussion of appearances out of the way, it is interesting to see that this is the first time ASRock has launched a Taichi card into the topmost X900 tier. Though an ASRock RX 7900 XT Taichi will still exist in the shadow of the RX 7900 XTX, of course, you can see the Taichi offers a more powerful cooler. The Taichi cooler is over three slots thick, and is said to boast triple 8-pin power connectors.
When you compare the photos of the Phantom Gaming and Taichi RDNA 3 graphics cards unearthed by VideoCardz, there are a few other interesting things to note. Firstly, the 2 slots+ thick Phantom Gaming model has a less substantial cooler. It is also observed that both these ASRock examples depart from the reference design by lacking a USB Type-C port on the fixing bracket.
