Computer Tech 
Introduction
We’ve recently seen slightly different takes from the competition and their premium X870E motherboards. Now it’s finally time to see what Gigabyte has been cooking in its motherboard R&D labs when it comes to new features tempting you to upgrade. The X870E Aorus Master’s success and that of its Socket AM5 siblings we’ll be looking at soon is especially important given how disappointing Intel’s Core Ultra 200 processors were at launch and how many will likely be snapping up a Ryzen 7 9800X3D between now and Christmas.
Of course, there are plenty of good X670 and B650 boards out there too, so there will be inevitable comparisons and justifications whether spending $500 on a motherboard is worthwhile. At this price, you’re looking for a product that’s attractive, has cutting edge features, a great EFI and slick software, but perhaps more importantly, stand-out features that help it make its case against cheaper models as well as the competition.
So far we’ve seen updated EFIs and software, a focus on tool-free features and somewhat disappointing accessory sets from similarly-priced boards, so the question is what can Gigabyte offer to stand out from the crowd, especially compared to ASRock’s Taichi boards that are noticeably cheaper. We doubt many would find the board unattractive with a familiar blocky heatsink design that’s been a feature on Gigabyte motherboards for a few generations.
The Gigabyte X870E Aorus Master is also a little more appealing than ASRock’s X870E Taichi boards in terms of size, sticking to the confines of ATX rather than stretching to E-ATX. It offers similar RGB-illuminated coverage to other boards we’ve seen too. There are plenty of options below the board in terms of price, so if the design or other features we look at over the next few pages mean Gigabyte is your preferred option for your Socket AM5 setup, then we’ll be back soon with more X870 boards from the company.
Specifications
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| CPU Support: | AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen 7000, 9000 |
| Power Design: | CPU Power: 16-phase SOC Power: 2-phase MISC Power: 2-phase |
| Chipset: | AMD X870E |
| Integrated Graphics: | Supported 1x HDMI 2x DisplayPort via USB-C |
| Memory: | 4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB 2x Single Rank DDR5-8600 (OC) |
| BIOS: | 256 Mbit AMI UEFI |
| Expansion Slots: | 1x PCIe Gen 5 x16 slots (x16/x0) or (x8/x4) 1x PCIe Gen 4 x16 slot 1x PCIe Gen 3 x16 slot |
| Storage: | 4x SATA 6 Gb/s 3x M.2 (PCIe Gen 5 x4) 1x M.2 (PCIe Gen 4 x4) |
| Networking: | 1x Realtek RT8126 5 Gbps Ethernet 1x Qualcomm QCNCM865 Wi-Fi 7 |
| Rear Ports: | Q-Flash Plus Flashback button Clear CMOS button 1x 5 Gbps Ethernet 1x HDMI port 2x USB4 40 Gbps (Type-C) 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps (Type-A) 4x USB 3.0 (Type-A) 2x Wi-Fi antenna connectors 2x Audio jacks 1x Optical S/PDIF Out port |
| Audio: | 1x Realtek ALC1220 Codec |
| Fan / Thermistor headers: | 8x 4-pin / 2x 2-pin |
| Form Factor: | ATX Form Factor 12.0 x 9.6 in. / 30.5 x 24.3 cm |
| Exclusive Features: |
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