ASRock seeks serenity among the X99 budget market. As a Tom's Hardware reviewer, I'm incredibly fortunate to get my hands on tech I otherwise wouldn't be able see (the X99 Godlike motherboard and EK custom loop kits come to mind). But as a pragmatic enthusiast, I realize that some of these components are well outside the reach of the majority of the readers here. So I get a different, yet longer-lasting thrill when I get to review motherboards or parts that I could actually afford to use in my personal builds.
Nevertheless, affordable parts are accompanied by a mix of excitement about new upgrades and foreboding that you'll be let down by too many corners cut to hit an adequately low price point. The arrival of ASRock's X99 Taichi elicited these thoughts.