AM5 X670/X670E board supports USB4 and enables PCIe tunneling.
AM5 X670/X670E board supports USB4 and enables PCIe tunneling.
No existing AM5 desktop boards explicitly offer the complete USB4 and PCIe tunneling capabilities. While some components share the same Intel chip as Thunderbolt 4, it's unclear if the necessary configurations are present on the board itself. This feature seems crucial for power users, yet detailed specs are rarely provided for high-end products priced above $500. It's surprising that such important information isn't clearly communicated, especially given its relevance to professionals. The lack of transparency from Asus is frustrating, particularly since the product targets serious users who would benefit from these features.
I own an X670E Taichi equipped with two 40Gb/s USB4 ports, though I haven’t found a suitable device to thoroughly evaluate them yet. The same Maple Ridge controller used by the ProArt appears set up for full tunneling, but I’m still uncertain without practical testing.
You have two ports but they combine to 40Gb/s because the controller handles the full capacity. Full speed is only available when the other port isn’t busy—like using a daisy chain for USB-C monitors or connecting an eGPU. This applies to every TB device; you’d need a separate controller for each port with dedicated PCIe lanes to run more than one at maximum. On Intel boards, you can turn on PCIe tunneling in BIOS if you have a Thunderbolt port, and it might be worth checking for hidden Taichi options if you’re patient.
What do you think about your Taichi setup? I’m keeping it in mind, but I’m considering Creator since 10G Ethernet for NAS adds a lot of value. It looks like Taichi turns off SATA ports when you use NVMe drives. That’s interesting—AsRock doesn’t seem to push full Thunderbolt licensing on high-end boards like Taichi does, but they might in more affordable gaming models such as Phantom Gaming.
It seems one of the SATA connections (eight total) will be turned off when using an M.2 slot. Right now I only use one SATA port, which isn’t too much of an issue. In general, I haven’t encountered any problems unique to this board. Asrock has been quite responsive with BIOS updates that have improved things. Some boards get a few updates after launch—this one has received seven. I’ve installed each update and used a high-quality DDR5-6000 kit with EXPO, and nothing has gone wrong. Zen4/AM5 concerns usually involve memory re-training on every boot when EXPO is active, plus some inconsistent sleep behavior under those conditions. Speaking of stability, this board has been the most reliable new platform I’ve purchased so far. I haven’t experienced any crashes or freezes since it was built a week after release, after six BIOS updates and with a conservative -20 all-core undervolt setting using Curve Optimizer.
EXPO functions as a stored preset configuration. It can face issues when manual OC adjustments are applied, similar to limitations with XMP profiles on certain hardware.
AM5 boards generally handle XMP and EXPO formats well, though timing settings may vary between AMD and Intel. Some profiles can cause stability problems even with EXPO. Not every board supports all expo speeds, just like CPUs. The challenge often lies in overclocking. Many users achieve stable 2 stick dual-channel performance at around 6000 MHz, especially if they can slightly boost the SOC voltage in tougher situations.
I'm more concerned with performance than speed. My system claims 5600MHz, but even at 4800MHz it still works fine—so long as it boots in a reasonable time. It's disappointing that getting four drives to run smoothly isn't easier right now; I really want a 128GB configuration like on my old X99 workstation.