ASRock Z790 Livemixer is a uniquely styled motherboard from the affordable side of ASRock’s product stack (and Z790 boards in general). This SKU of his is truly new and unique, not based on another board with a different aesthetic. Sitting above the Pro RS and below the Steel Legend, the $252.99 Livemixer is designed for content creators with features such as a PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket and card slot, plenty of available USB connections, and a VRM that can power. It offers a blend of features. Flagship Intel CPUs – at least stock configurations. But the real reason I got this board is because it looks like no other board I’ve seen in the last 10+ years. However, it reminds me of the DFI Lanparty board.
ASRock’s Z790 lineup (as of this writing) consists of 13 different motherboards. There you will find all standard sizes and a wide range of prices under well-known names such as Taichi, Steel Legend, Riptide, Pro and LiveMixer SKUs.The price range is $499.99 (opens in new tab) (Taichi Carrara) to ASRock Z790M PG Lightning/D4 $179.99 (opens in new tab)There are plenty of options in the existing lineup, but wait for the water-cooled Aqua to arrive in the future.
In terms of performance, Livemixer was average to below average in most of our tests. It ran this way, in part, due to heavy thermal throttling with default settings.I tried setting the BIOS to 240/280mm cooling options while using the 360mm AIO, but it still took up quite a lot of slots. I saw a ring. Negative voltage offsets should be used to get the most out of this board to prevent the throttling experienced during testing. That said, most tests were only slightly slower than average, and even though this was the slowest board tested in several benchmarks, none were significantly off the mark.
Below we dig into the details of the board and see if it deserves our spot best motherboard list. But before we get into testing and board details, we’ll start by listing the specs from ASRock’s website.
Specifications: ASRock Z790 Live Mixer
| socket | LGA1700 |
| chipset | Z790 |
| form factor | ATX |
| voltage regulator | 16 Phase (14x 60A MOSFET for Vcore) |
| video port | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| (1) DisplayPort (v1.4) | |
| (1) eDP (v1.4) | |
| USB port | (2) USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) |
| (2) USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) | |
| (4) USB 3.2 Gen1 (5Gbps) | |
| (6) USB2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| network jack | (1) 2.5GbE |
| audio jack | (2) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy Port/Jack | ✗ |
| Other Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (1) v5.0 (x16, or x8/x8) |
| (2) v4.0 (x4) | |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x 1 | (1) v3.0 (x1) |
| Crossfire/SLI | AMD Crossfire |
| DIMM slots | (4) DDR5 7000+(OC)*, 128GB capacity |
| *1DPC 1R up to 7200+ MHz (OC), 4800 MHz native. | |
| 1DPC 2R up to 6000+ MHz (OC), 4400 MHz native. | |
| 2DPC 1R up to 5600+ MHz (OC), 4000 MHz native. | |
| 2DPC 2R up to 4800+ MHz (OC), 3600 MHz native. | |
| M.2 socket | (1) PCIe 5.0 x4 (128Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) |
| (3) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) | |
| Supports RAID0/1/5 | |
| SATA port | (4) SATA3 6Gbps (supports RAID 0/1/5/10) |
| USB header | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2×2, Type-C (20Gbps) |
| (2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) | |
| (2) USB v2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| fan/pump header | (7) 4-pin (CPU, CPU/Water Pump, Chassis/Water Pump) |
| RGB header | (3) aRGB (3 pin) |
| (1) RGB (4 pin) | |
| diagnostic panel | (1) Post status check (4 LEDs) |
| Internal button/switch | ✗ |
| SATA controller | ✗ |
| ethernet controller | (1) Realtek Dragon RTL8125BG (2.5GbE) |
| Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | ✗ |
| USB controller | ASMedia ASM1074, ASM3042 |
| HD audio codec | Realtek ALC897 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| guarantee | 3 years |
Inside the ASRock Z790 Livemixer Box
There are literally some accessories inside the retail packaging under the motherboard. You can get 2 of his SATA cables for M.2 sockets and 5 screws (along with the manual).
ASRock Z790 Live Mixer Design
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ASRock’s Z790 Livemixer sits on a black PCB with white and purple paint splatters along with a purple heatsink and shroud that create a unique look, or at least a color scheme, for the motherboard. There is Livemixer branding in graffiti-type font along the bottom of the board and the large VRM heatsink. The purple theme isn’t quite as neutral as other boards with a more basic black color scheme, so make sure this is what you want in your chassis.
If you’re into RGB lighting, the Livemixer has 4 RGB LEDs by the SATA port on the back of the board, giving off a bright glow that shines within the chassis. Control RGB with ASRock’s Polychrome RGB application. If these decorations aren’t enough, you can add RGB lighting via the 4-pin or 3-pin RGB headers.
Starting in the top left corner of the board, take a closer look at the large purple and white VRM heatsink and graffiti style exterior. The VRM heatsink has a lot of mass and a fair amount of surface area, so it should work well with the bottom MOSFET, but we’ll see how well it does with the test or testing below. On top are two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required) for powering the CPU.
Past the clean socket area are four unhardened DRAM slots with locking mechanisms on each side. ASRock lists support for up to 128 GB at listed speeds for DDR5-7200+(OC). Of course, your mileage will vary, but we had no issues with basic DDR5-5600 kits or moderate DDR5-6000 kits.
In the top right corner (just to the left of the DRAM slots) are the first four (out of seven) 4-pin fan headers. The CPU_FAN1 header supports up to 1A/12W, and the CPU_FAN2/EP and CHA_FAN1-5/WP headers all support up to 2A/24W. CPU_FAN2/WP and CHA_FAN1-5/WP can auto-detect whether 3-pin or 4-pin fans are in use, the others need to be manually configured. There are enough headers and power outputs to support fans and custom water cooling pumps. Control of these devices is handled by the BIOS or ASRock’s A-Tune software.
Looking down on the right edge, we come across the board’s 24-pin ATX power connector, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) Type-C front panel header, and USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) header.
Livemixer’s power delivery consists of a total of 16 phases, 14 of which are dedicated to Vcore. Power is supplied to a Renesas RAA229131 20-phase PWM controller through an 8-pin EPS connector. From there, go to 14x 60A Intersil ISL99360 SPS MOSFETs. The 840A available for the processor is less than what we’ve seen on previously reviewed boards on this platform, but that shouldn’t get in the way of stock or most overclocking operations with the flagship Intel i9-13900K (although the thermal throttling). .
At the bottom of the board, starting on the left side, we spy on the outdated Realtek ALC897 audio codec. There is an audio isolation line, but at this price point you can forget about his 3rd party DACs and amplifiers. ALC897 is a budget codec, so discerning listeners, even content creators for whom this is intended, may be disappointed and want to use a better external audio solution.
If you prefer Wi-Fi, there is an M.2 Key-E Wi-Fi socket (sold separately) for CNVio/CNVio2 based devices just to the left of the PCIe slot. Right above that is a unique connection called Embedded DisplayPort (eDP). As the name suggests, the eDP connector is for LCD monitors that support eDP. This connector supports a maximum resolution of FHD (1080p) at eDP 1.4 and 60 Hz. ASRock’s 13.3 inch Side Panel Kit is the perfect accessory for this connector.
There are 4 PCIe slots in the middle of the board, 3 full length with reinforced top/primary slots. Its top slot supports PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds from the CPU (assuming nothing is populated in the M2_1 socket, otherwise it will fall back to PCIe 5.0 x8). The other two full-length slots get their bandwidth from the chipset and run up to PCIe 4.0 x4. The middle x1 slot also feeds lanes from the chipset and runs at PCIe 3.0 x1 speeds.
Scattered between the PCIe slots are a total of five M.2 sockets. The top socket connects through the CPU, runs at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speeds, and supports up to 80mm modules. The PCIE1 slot reverts to PCIe 5.0 x8 speed when this socket is occupied. All three of the other four sockets (M2_2/3/4/5) provide PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) lanes through the chipset, supporting up to 80mm devices. All but one of the M.2 sockets have heatsinks to keep the devices underneath from overheating.
Interestingly, ASRock states that M2_1 and M2_2 cannot be worn at the same time. The only reason to do this is to give users the option to run full PCIe 5.0 x16 speeds in the primary slot. According to the company’s chipset diagram on his web page on Livemixer, the 4.0 socket (M2_2) has its own line to the CPU, while the PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket shares bandwidth with his PCIe slot. increase. That means 5 he can only run 4 of the M.2 sockets at the same time. This should be good enough for most people.
The right edge of the board has a second USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) connector and four SATA ports. The SATA port supports RAID0/1/5/10 and the M.2 socket supports RAID0/1/5 mode.
Several headers are exposed at the bottom of the board. You’ll find the usual stuff like extra USB ports, an RGB header, and a power/reset button. Below is the complete list from left to right.
- front panel audio
- 5-pin Thunderbotl AIC connector
- 3-pin RGB header
- 4-pin ARGB header
- (2) system fan header
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- clear CMOS jumper
- TPM header
- speaker header
- Dr. debug display
- system panel header
The Z790 Livemixer’s rear IO plate is pre-installed on the motherboard. A black and purple background appears against the white text and Livemixer graffiti-like branding. Content creators tend to use a lot of USB ports and Livemixer can help. A total of 14 USB ports are scattered across the rear IO. Two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C ports and two 10 Gbps Type-A ports are available. There are also four 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and six USB 2.0 (480 Gbps) ports. Additionally, ASRock says the board has a dedicated lighting gaming USB port that uses a separate controller for a more stable USB signal and lower latency. On the video side, Livemixer has HDMI and DisplayPort ports for those using non-KS chips who don’t want to use their graphics card. Lastly is the 2.5 GbE and 2 plugs and SPDIF output that make up the audio stack.
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