Hi! I’m Usman Saleem, with 8+ years of PC hardware expertise and a Google IT Support Specialization certificate, specializing in in-depth tech analysis and reviews. With a stethoscope in one hand and a gadget in the other, I’m both a doctor and a PC tech expert, dedicated to pursuing both my passions at the same time.
Position at Tech4Gamers
At Tech4Gamers, I’m the PC Hardware Specialist, primarily contributing to the “Best-Ofs” section. I provide thoughtful buying advice based on thorough testing and personal expertise. I also review hardware products and games to keep things fresh.
Tech Journey
From childhood, I’ve been immersed in gaming and PC hardware. Starting with a Pentium 2 PC, each named PC, from ZEUS to APOLLO, symbolizes a chapter in my journey. My true passion lies in the beating heart of the gaming industry – PC hardware.
The ASRock Z890 Nova WiFi is just another ASRock board that impressed us with its value. At $349, it's got a power 20+1+2+1+1 power phase design (110A VCore for SPS) with excellent VRM cooling on top. It powers the best I/O you can get right now, including Thunderbolt 4, WiFi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4.
It has been quite a busy week, with the latest Z890 motherboards being tested back-to-back. In this review, I will be taking a look at the ASRock Z890 Taichi...
The MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi is a motherboard costing $299, making it one of the pricier boards so far. For that, it offers reasonably capable VRMs, a minimalist black theme without RGB, a ton of EZ-DIY features to make life easier, and good overall performance. The EZ-DIY features are the highlight for us, but we feel the price tag is still a bit too high, especially given the board's shared connectivity complications.
My team and I have winded up our in-house testing of different Z790 motherboards to round up the best motherboards for i7-14700K based on my performance, design, cooling, and overall value.
The ASRock X870 Steel Legend looks great, is priced fairly, and has enough connectivity for most users. It features a 14+2+1 VRM setup (80A SPS for VCore + SOC), which means you can comfortably run even the most demanding Ryzen CPUs on it.
The ASRock X870E Taichi Lite is a $399 powerhouse with a VRM setup (24+2+1, 110A SPS for VCore and SoC) that can compete with enthusiast-class boards. That's not its only attraction; the board has a fascinating design, multiple handy features, and excellent connectivity options, with USB4 and WiFi 7 being the icing on the cake. Circling back to the price, this is a great option among X870E boards.
The MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi is a high-end motherboard with impressive features, a capable VRM setup, and I/O that should be enough for most users. You get the latest USB4 ports, dual PCIe 5.0 M.2, WiFi 7, and impressive memory support up to DDR5-8400 (OC). It’s a nice-looking board with enough RGB bling for most, but it comes at a staggering $499 price tag. While expensive, it’s competitive enough for the features on offer.
AMD’s new flagship shows some killer performances but comes with a premium $599 price tag, which means it’s more expensive than the competing 14900K. While productivity performance is mostly on par with this Intel beast, the 1080P gaming performance falls behind.
The Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan Z 2TB SSD offers good value for entry-level gaming, with solid performance and shock-resistant design. While its DRAM-less architecture leads to slower write speeds, SLC caching helps mitigate this issue. Its affordable price, compact size, and reliable performance make it a good choice for budget-conscious users, though it won’t match the speed of NVMe SSDs.
The Ryzen 9 9900X is AMD’s new flagship 12-core gaming chip but with lower base frequencies and a 120-watt rating. It impressed us in most benchmarks outside of gaming, and in gaming, the chip couldn’t even outperform the Ryzen 7 9700X. Its $449 price tag makes it compete with the 7800X3D and 13900K, but the former is a far better gaming CPU, while the latter is much better for both multi-threaded workloads AND gaming.
The Teamgroup PD20M Mag Portable SSD is a great option for content creators, offering fast storage with speeds up to 20Gbps thanks to its USB 3.2 Gen2x2 interface. Its slim, lightweight design and MagSafe compatibility make it an ideal match for iPhone users. It performs well in real-world use, though the small cache may cause occasional dips in write speeds. Overall, it’s a great value for anyone looking for a dependable, portable storage solution for high-quality videos and photos.
