KitGuru was recently invited to Gigabyte’s Aorus press event at Dreamhack Leipzig where new hardware and features were being showcased. We took a look at Gigabyte’s new Aorus offerings and got some time to speak to the Gigabyte team to see how they created the product features and what improvements are in store for the future.

Aorus was described as a ‘new story of Gigabyte’ which is fitting given the product line-up’s growth from the laptop division into computer components via the launch of six Aorus motherboards for the Z270 chipset.

It won’t be long until Aorus’ eagle logo (jokingly described as the ‘bottle opener’ by one member of the press) will extend to further components in Gigabyte’s arsenal, such as peripherals and graphics cards (there has been a sneak peek of the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti HERE).

Main talking points for Gigabyte’s new Aorus motherboards were: RGB Fusion, Smart Fan 5, liquid cooling support (on higher end models), and other features.

RGB Fusion

Focussing first on RGB Fusion, as 2016 was the year of RGB-everything and it looks like 2017 will follow that trend, Gigabyte gives its current line-up of Aorus Gaming motherboards the full colour treatment.

We looked at RGB Fusion in our review of the Aorus Z270X-Gaming 7 HERE and found it to be a comprehensive LED system which has superb control with unique – Intelligent – modes that allow for unusual operating characteristics (different LED colours based on LAN speed, for example).

Speaking to Gigabyte’s motherboard product manager, there is scope for further improvements to be made on the RGB LED control functions. For example, segregating different LED zones to work on a temperature scale for hardware in that region is an idea, and so is the ability to change the lighting scale rather than use a typical green-to-red system for low-to-high.

Another cool feature for RGB Fusion is the ability for a user to control the LED lighting colours and modes using an iOS and Android smart phone app. Yes, this may seem a little gimmicky but it’s certainly better than alt-tabbing out of a game screen if you want to change your LED lighting operating mode mid-session.

Gigabyte’s use of 5-pin RGBW headers, with the fifth pin supporting a true white colour, is unique and will soon be of use thanks to upcoming RGBW LED kits from the likes of Cable Mod (or other vendors thanks to Gigabyte’s reconfigurable pin headers improving compatibility with LED strips). A pure white pin is different to the way that competing vendors achieve white light by mixing the RGB spectrum. Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion also gives users the ability to sync their graphics card’s LED colours with those used on the motherboard. And this synchronisation will likely extend to further RGB Aorus products such as gaming peripherals.

Put into perspective by Managing Director Timmy Huang, RGB Fusion allows gamers to build a beautiful PC that can be put on their desk as a piece of furniture rather than hidden on the floor. A swappable acrylic overlay found on the motherboards certainly aids customisation – you could 3D print your own plastic design to go on the board. Based on my own testing with the Aorus Z270X-Gaming 7, RGB Fusion does indeed offer a level of customisability that can allow for such an appearance to be created.

Smart Fan 5 and Liquid Cooling Support

Gigabyte’s new fan system for the Aorus Z270 motherboards – Smart Fan 5 – was another of the main talking points. Gigabyte’s design logic for Smart Fan 5 was to put an emphasis on silence. The example scenario was that a user can load up a game with ample cooling capacity and then get back to working quietly when the game is closed, all without having to reboot the system or manually adjust fan settings.

Critical to the Smart Fan 5 system are the ‘Hybrid’ fan headers. The 4-pin headers allow for PWM and DC control of fans while also being capable of powering liquid cooling pumps thanks to a 2A current output rating. Given that PWM and DC fan headers can tend to use different pin configurations (DC may use an adjustable output voltage pin whereas PWM can use a +12V pin and a PWM adjustment pin), the ability of Gigabyte’s Hybrid fan headers to work in both modes is thanks to the SuperIO controller used.

Motherboard Product Manager Kiner told us that the ITE chipset is able to detect whether or not a PWM fan is connected and alter its operation accordingly. It would seem that the voltage pin is physically adjustable and simply gets pinned at +12V when a PWM-capable fan is connected to the header and detected by the ITE chipset.

The other aspect to Smart Fan 5 is its control through the UEFI and OS software. As we have tested, the controllability of fans through the UEFI is very good and through the OS software it is excellent. Multiple points can be selected on a fan speed curve and modes as low as 0% operation are also supported (allowing the fan to stop spinning, if it is capable of doing so).

Impressively, the fans can read and react to multiple temperature sensors on the motherboard or through external thermistors. There are around 8 or 9 temperature reading points for some of the Aorus boards, which is important for tweaking system cooling to a user’s preference. For example, if you have particularly strong CPU cooling that keeps its temperature low, speeds of fans elsewhere in your chassis are unlikely to ramp up to a particularly high level. That may be a problem if you have a hot-running graphics card or want to ensure ample HDD cooling for your video editing machine. Smart Fan 5 allows the relevant fans to read from different temperature sensors, such as a PCIe slot or a thermistor connected to the HDD array, and adjust the speed of the relevant fans accordingly. Such control not only aids cooling performance but also noise output.

Sticking with the cooling topic, the Gaming 8 and Gaming 9 are fitted with waterblocks for VRM cooling. An EK-designed G-Frost Hybrid waterblock on the Gaming 9 uses copper tubing, an aluminium outer casing, and G1/4” thread fittings to cool the MOSFETs and PLX PCIe bridge chip. The Gaming 8 uses a Bitspower-designed G-Chill Hybrid waterblock which again features copper for the water channel and G1/4” fittings but this time features a composite outer casing for aesthetic reasons.

Other Aorus Features

The other gaming and productivity features used on Aorus motherboards are more generic in nature. These features include reference to the audio system, USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 (on higher end models) through Type-C, and Killer networking.

Creative-based audio solutions are used for the higher-end SKUs (Gaming 7 and above) whereas the lower-end Aorus boards use a Realtek codec. There are SKUs that feature support for upgradable op-amps (up to 3 on the Gaming 9) and Nichicon audio capacitors are used throughout. Another feature is USB DAC-UP 2 which allows voltage to be adjusted based on the device that is connected. This can be useful for delivering cleaner power that is better tailored to a USB audio solution, VR headset, or a games controller.

Killer NICs are used throughout the Aorus line-up largely thanks to the network control software that the solution provides. There’s also an ability to use the Killer DoubleShot-X3 Pro feature on the Gaming 9 thanks to its inclusion of dual Killer GbE NICs and Wireless-AC 1535 adapter. Speaking to Kiner regarding higher-than-GbE networking solutions, it is clear that the cost currently remains a negative point against greater adoption.

Gigabyte was keen to point out its support for both M.2 and U.2 on the Aorus motherboards. This is a positive point as U.2 support without the use of an adapter could be convenient with the launch of future SSDs. SATA-Express is also supported simply because it’s built into the chipset and, more-or-less, free to implement.

Steel-plated Ultra Durable Armor slots are used for all PCIe x16 and DDR4 slots across the Aorus line-up. Durability is the key benefit here. With regards to DDR4, Gigabyte has also validated over 1000 sets of memory in addition to 4000MHz+ XMP operation on select kits.

The 4-digit LED display seen on the Gaming 9 was another interesting feature. As well as displaying general troubleshooting codes during system POST, the display is able to show information such as temperatures and voltages when the system is in operation. I think this is a smart way of displaying temperature or voltage readings without software interference and without the requirement for an overlay during gaming (just look through your chassis side panel window).

Additional Gigabyte Products

In addition to Gigabyte’s newly-released Aorus motherboard line-up, the vendor was showing off some of its other products at the press event.

There was a presentation relating to offerings that have been associated with the Aorus brand since its inception in 2014 – notebooks. Three main models currently exist – the 14″-class X3, 15″-class X5, 17″-class and X7. Aorus’ Gordon outlined how the models are designed to be slim and light because ‘mobility is important for notebooks’. The 1.8kg X3 and 2.5kg X5 fit GTX 1060 and GTX 1070, respectively, into chassis that are just 0.9″-thick. The former supports a QHD+ (3K) IGZO screen while the X5 has more gamer-centric FHD/120Hz/G-Sync options.

At around 1″-thick, the 3.2kg X7 is still slim for a GTX 1080-powered laptop with a 17.3″ screen. All models are able to be configured with up to a Core i7-7820HK CPU.

Gigabyte’s BRIX systems were on display. There was a ‘conventional’ small BRIX featuring Intel’s Apollo Lake platform. The low-end BRIX models have proven popular with buyers thanks to their ability to run basic office and HTPC tasks with a very small footprint.

The BRIX Gaming Mini PC was also on display in its new GTX 1060 form. Updated to support Intel’s 7^th generation Kaby Lake CPUs and Nvidia’s Pascal GTX 1060 6GB GPU, the new BRIX Gaming could be a vastly improved successor to the original GTX 950-equipped model that we reviewed HERE.

A BRIX that resembles the design of many games consoles was also on display. The BRIX Gaming GT is outfitted with a GTX 1070 G1 Gaming GPU and Core i7 processor (the model we saw was a Skylake CPU but there’s no reason an updated Kaby Lake version will not come to market). A sizeable amount of 4K-capable power is squeezed into the chassis that, at around 10-or-so litres, isn’t much larger than an Xbox One.

Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE.

KitGuru says: Gigabyte will be pushing the Aorus product line hard in 2017. It is interesting to see the features that have already been deployed on the Z270 Aorus motherboards. Expect similar features on the Aorus AM4 motherboards, when they launch.

Gigabyte’s new Aorus range of Z270 motherboards spans from the ultra-high-end, £500 Gaming 9 all the way down to the mid-range, ~£170 Gaming K5. We are examining that mid-range Z270X-Gaming K5 to see how it performs and check whether Gigabyte’s choice of features maintained on the more cost-effective SKU makes sense.

You can read our Kaby Lake Core i5-7600K and Core i7-7700K review HERE.

The Gaming K5 model for Gigabyte’s Aorus Z270X range differs to its siblings (except the Gaming 8) by way of its colour scheme. Black and white styling found on the Gaming 7 and other boards is ditched in favour of a more neutral, primarily black appearance. Gigabyte is instead relying upon the significant number of onboard LEDs to add flair to this board’s looks.

Despite the difference in styling, many of the Aorus range’s key features are maintained for the Z270X-Gaming K5. RGB Fusion is present, even if the quantity of onboard LEDs is slightly reduced compared to the higher-end SKUs (though they are still at a double-digit count). Smart Fan 5 is also present, giving users access to a superb fan control system that works as well with 4-pin PWM fans as it does with 3-pin DC fans and pumps.

USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps is available in Type-A and Type-C form though this time it is powered by the ASMedia ASM2142 chipset, rather than Intel’s competing solution seen on the Z270X-Gaming 7, which also offers 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 support. Killer’s E2500 NIC is the sole offering for the Gaming K5 and Realtek’s new ALC1220 codec handles audio duties, as is common for Z270 motherboards in the price segment.

With support for multi-GPU configurations, and multiple high-speed storage drives through dual M.2 slots and onboard U.2, Gigabyte’s Aorus Z270X-Gaming K5 is shaping up to be a strong gaming motherboard option at ~£170. Let’s take a closer look at the design and see how it performs in our testing.

Features:

• Fast USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB Type-C™ and Type-A
• Triple NVMe PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 Support
• NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 U.2 Connector
• Dual Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA interface
• Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5 + ALC 1220 120dB SNR HD Audio
• Killer™ E2500 Gaming Network
• USB DAC-UP 2 with Adjustable Voltage
• RGB FUSION LED Light Show design
• Swappable Overlay for Accent LED
• Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers

With the launch of AMD’s Ryzen CPUs just a few weeks away at this point, motherboard manufacturers around the world are starting to debut their supporting hardware. Gigabyte has now done so in a recent Facebook post, showing off its new AORUS AM4 motherboard, complete with orange LEDs and large heatsinks for various important components.

Gigabyte didn’t release a lot of information about this board, only stating that it’s known as the GA-AX370-Gaming 5 and is designed with AMD’s Ryzen CPUs in mind. We can infer a few details from the pictures though.

The board features three, full size PCIExpress ports, as well as a trio of NVME M.2 PCIE connectors. The layout is very clean, with the IO ports and SATA connectors confined to the edges of the PCB.

Orange LEDs light up the four DIMM slots and each of the top two PCIExpress x16 ports. There are large heatsinks on the chipset and PWM areas and an, EMI shield for the backplate IO connectors.

The rear panel has a PS/2 combi port, what looks like four USB 3.0 ports, some USB 2.0 ports, and a reversible USB 3.0 Type-C connector. There are also three additional USB 3.1 connectors. There are twin Ethernet ports, which look to be controlled by an on board Killer NIC and Intel Gigabyte Ethernet, and five gold plated 3.5mm audio ports which are handled by Gigabyte’s on board AMP-UP audio solution.

It also features a dual boot UEFI BIOS.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

Kitguru Says: Are there any other features you guys can spot in these images?

Just like many other board partners, this week, Gigabyte began teasing its own GTX 1080Ti. The company began posting teaser images of its upcoming Aorus Extreme Edition GTX 1080TI this week, showing off the card’s cooler a bit, though this may not actually be the first time we are seeing this card.

Back in January, prior to CES, many of us were expecting Nvidia to announce the GTX 1080Ti at its keynote. Unfortunately, the company chose not to but at the time, it was reported that Gigabyte was showing off an ‘unannounced GPU’ on the show floor.

As we reported in mid-January, Gigabyte was showing off a new Auros GPU at its booth at CES. Given that sources were told that this was an unannounced card, many believed it was in fact an early GTX 1080Ti sample just hiding in plain sight.

In any case, the Aorus GTX 1080Ti is now official but unfortunately, like many other custom-cooled solutions, we don’t actually have pricing information or a release date for this one just yet. We also don’t have final clock speeds, but with the GTX 1080Ti Founder’s Edition set to start shipping at the end of this week, hopefully we start to see AiB’s reveal more details.

KitGuru Says: I already own a GTX 1080 so I’m going to try and wait a generation before upgrading myself. That said, the Ti’s reported 35 percent performance boost does seem awfully tempting for gaming at 4K. Are any of you guys thinking about upgrading to a GTX 1080Ti this year? Are you waiting on reviews first? Or perhaps holding out for AMD’s RX Vega?

If you have been following KitGuru for a while, then you have probably noticed that we like to give back to our readers whenever we can. That is why this week, we are teaming up with Gigabyte and HyperX to offer up an excellent hardware bundle.

The grand prize for this competition is a bundle including the Gigabyte AORUS Z270X-Gaming 7 Motherboard, HyperX PREDATOR 240GB M.2 SSD Drive, HyperX FURY 16GB DDR4 2666 MHz Memory Kit and HyperX CLOUD Revolver S Gaming Headset. Three runner ups will also receive Gigabyte powered by Aorus caps.

This giveaway is running via Gleam.io, so there are multiple ways to rack up entries. You can either enter through the widget below, or you can head over to the page directly.

GIGABYTE AORUS, HyperX & KitGuru giveaway

As always, there are some terms and conditions to be aware of. Due to shipping limitations, this particular giveaway is only open to residents of the UK and Ireland. The giveaway ends on the 12th of April and a winner will be announced publicly shortly after.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to those that enter! We will announce the winner soon after the competition ends. 

Gigabyte has given several of its AM4 X370 motherboards the Aorus treatment. We examine the Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 – a £205 motherboard that features Gigabyte’s Smart Fan 5 system and RGB Fusion LED lighting. Storage geeks will be happy to see the inclusion of M.2 and U.2, as well as 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2, while users looking for a straightforward running process will appreciate Gigabyte’s UEFI-based XMP memory support.

Introduced with its Z270 product range, Aorus branding for Gigabyte’s motherboards is similar to the approach that ASUS takes for Republic of Gamers products. The Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 features an eye-catching black and white colour scheme and includes a hefty set of onboard RGB LED lighting zones that fit into the vendor’s RGB Fusion system. Another staple of the Aorus product range is Smart Fan 5. This is Gigabyte’s fancy name for an enthusiast-grade fan control system that uses 4-pin ‘Hybrid‘ PWM- and DC-capable headers throughout and provides granular control in the UEFI and OS software.

The AMP-UP audio system is based around a pair of Realtek’s popular ALC1220 codecs and their inbuilt amplifiers. Dual NICs, one from Killer and one from Intel, are provided in addition to a supplementary pair of USB 3.1 10Gbps ports powered by an ASMedia chipset. Maintaining the storage focus, 32Gbps PCIe 3.0 x4 connectivity for fast NVMe SSDs is provided by way of onboard M.2 as well as U.2.

With a long list of functionality- and performance-based features, can Gigabyte’s Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 prove itself a worthy contender at £205?

Features (taken from the Gigabyte product page):

• Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Fast 4 USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB Type-C™ and Type-A
• 2-Way CrossFire™/SLI™ Multi-Graphics Support with Dual Armor and Ultra Durable™ Design
• NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 U.2 Connector
• Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 with PCIe NVMe & SATA mode support
• Creative^® Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5 support
• Dual ALC 1220 with Front & Rear 120dB SNR HD Audio with Dual Smart Headphone Amps
• Killer™ E2500 Gaming Network + Intel^® Gigabit LAN
• USB DAC-UP 2 & 4 Front USB 3.0 Ports with Adjustable Voltage
• RGB FUSION with Multi-Zone LED Light Show design
• Swappable Overlay for Accent LED
• Smart Fan 5 features 9 Temperature Sensors and 8 Hybrid Fan Headers
• 2 External Thermistors Headers with 2 Included Thermistors
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™

It isn’t taking long for motherboard manufacturers to jump in and start supporting Intel’s new Optane Memory SSDs. These tiny but speedy M.2 cache drives were first announced earlier this week, sporting 3D XPoint technology. Since then, ASUS has announced its plans to release a BIOS update to support it and today Gigabyte has joined in too.

Today, Gigabyte announced that it would be releasing a BIOS update for its own 200 series motherboards in order to add support for Intel Optane Memory, which speeds up mechanical driver performance by acting as a cache for rapid access of frequently used files.

Gigabyte seem quite excited by Intel’s latest storage boosting technology too, with its Vice President of motherboards, Henry Kao, going as far as to call it a “game-changer for the industry”.

The update to enable Optane Memory support on Gigabyte and Aorus branded 200-series motherboards will be available on the relevant product pages for each board.

KitGuru Says: We can expect a few more companies to come out and start supporting Optane Memory over the next couple of weeks. Have you guys looked into Intel’s Optane Memory at all since its announcement? Is it something you could see yourself using? 

If you are planning on making the jump to either Ryzen or Kaby Lake soon, then you may want to shop around for motherboard deals as Gigabyte announced today that it would be offering up to €60 in Steam Wallet codes for buyers of certain boards.

This promotion is running from the 11th of April until the 30th of June. There are some AMD X370 motherboards in the promotion and some Intel Z270 chipset boards too, so no matter which CPU you choose to go with, you should be able to get some free Steam games out of it.

For Intel’s platform, those buying a Gigabyte Z270X Gaming 9 or Gaming 8 motherboard will be eligible for a €60 Steam wallet code, Meanwhile, those buying a Z270X Gaming 7, Gaming 5, Gaming K5 or Gaming SOC will be eligible for a €40 Steam wallet code. Those buying a Z270X Ultra Gaming or Z270N Gaming 5 will be able to claim a €20 code from Gigabyte.

Those of you looking to upgrade to Ryzen will be eligible for a €20 Steam wallet code when buying an AX370-Gaming K7, Gaming 5, Gaming K5 or AB350 Gaming 3 motherboard.

To claim the code, you will need to register your purchase with Gigabyte. You can find details on all of that, HERE.

KitGuru Says: There are lots of cashback offers floating around at the moment, so if you’re in the market for a CPU/Motherboard upgrade, then it is worth shopping around. Are any of you guys planning on building a new system soon? 

Nvidia’s GTX Titan Xp aside the fastest single GPU graphics card of the moment aimed at gamers and PC enthusiasts is the GTX 1080 Ti. Not content with the default performance Gigabyte, using it’s burgeoning Aorus brand, has given the GTX 1080 Ti an “Xtreme Edition” makeover.

The Aorus branding of select Gigabyte graphics cards is a new strategy for 2017 with Gigabyte seeking to develop a prestige brand to better compete with rivals. Presumably, the objective is to cultivate a brand following, loyalty and reputation for excellence similar to the Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand under ASUS.

Irrespective of Gigabyte’s strategy and intentions, what Aorus has delivered can only be described as a halo graphics card product. Aorus has opted for one of the most aggressive overclocks on the market for a GTX 1080 Ti at 1607 MHz base clock, up from 1480 MHz on the stock Nvidia model, as well as an overclock to the memory.

Unfortunately for Aorus it has been narrowly beaten to the title of fastest GTX 1080 Ti on sale by Zotac, it’s GTX 1080 Ti AMP! Extreme Edition ships at 1645 MHz base clock, 1759 MHz boost clock, from the factory.

Aorus claws some of that frequency back with a special OC mode that can only be enabled by installing the Aorus OC utility. This increases the core frequency to 1632 (1746) MHz and 11448 MHz for the memory. It’s not all about clock speeds though as the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition has other tricks up its sleeves.

The first of those is bringing back the triple slot and triple fan cooler which is big and brash, but surprisingly effective as we’ll see later on. Gigabyte has also embellished the card with a 12 + 2 phase VRM, RGB lighting in multiple locations across the card, a semi-passive fan mode, a special VR HDMI port and Aorus is now using a fully automated PCB assembly process which gives a better overall construction quality. Readers may already be familiar with the ASUS take on this technology which it dubs Auto Extreme.

With a price tag about 10 to 15% higher than an entry level GTX 1080 Ti, the Gigabyte Aorus version locks horns with the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti that KitGuru recently tested. In terms of price, clock speeds, build quality and overall features the two graphics cards are very similar indeed.

We tested the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition in the out-of-the-box gaming mode, not OC mode.

In the past, Gigabyte has had to rely on traditional air cooling for its Brix series of tiny office PCs. Fortunately over the last couple of years, heat management has gotten easier as CPU TDPs have gotten increasingly lower. Now, Gigabyte has been able to ditch air cooling entirely with its latest Brix, which appears to be a PC housed in one big heatsink.

The Gigabyte Brix GB-EKi3A-7100 has been announced this week, running a Kaby Lake based Core i3 7100U processor, with support for up to 32GB of RAM and even room for an M.2 SSD. Of course, all of this is housed in a fanless, compact chassis with a heatsink fin design on top.

As with past Gigabyte Brix systems, this one is VESA mountable, so you can tuck it away behind a monitor if you wish. For I/O connectivity you get Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort and USB Type-C.

This is classed as an IoT system but could be used however you want. With HDMI 2.0, you could double this as a tiny home theatre box simply for streaming media from elsewhere. It would also work as an office PC for low power tasks.

KitGuru Says: I’m always intrigued by these tiny PCs, though I have yet to try one for myself. Do any of you have any experience with the Gigabyte Brix series?

Intel’s Z270 platform reigns supreme for compact mini-ITX motherboard builds. This isn’t just because Intel is a clear leader in power efficiency terms, even after AMD’s significant leap forward with Ryzen, but also because there is considerably more choice for Intel’s mainstream platform.

Motherboard vendors have been releasing mini-ITX motherboards for Intel’s Z-Series platforms for many years, enabling mini-ITX to achieve almost mainstream status. Gigabyte’s Z270N-Gaming 5 is another example of a motherboard championing the mini-ITX form-factor with a well-rounded combination of connectivity and features that consumers have come to demand from all mid-range and high-end motherboards.

While considerably smaller in stature than ATX equivalents the Z270N-Gaming 5 still manages to pack away USB 3.1, M.2 NVMe, Intel Gigabit and AC Wireless Networking, Realtek ALC1220 audio and a high quality power delivery system.

Gigabyte has shied away from bold colour schemes more recently but the Z270N-Gaming 5 brings back a bold orange and still offers end-user customisation with a fully configurable RGB LED lighting system. There are some other neat touches too like a shielded PCIe lane, up-rated power components, a heat pipe to cool the CPU VRM and a metal rear I/O shield. Build quality is comparable to high-end motherboards of higher price points.

On test today the Gigabyte Z270N-Gaming 5 goes up against mini-ITX rivals such as the MSI Z270i Gaming Pro Carbon AC and ASUS ROG Strix Z270i Gaming.

It is Gigabyte’s turn to show what their roughly £100 B350 offering can deliver. The AB350-Gaming 3 is built around AMD’s value-orientated B350 chipset but with sprinkles of quality from Gigabyte, such as 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2, Realtek ALC1220 audio, and strong RGB LED capability.

The Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 looks to switch the focus in comparison to B350 competitors at this price point. Instead of focussing on maintaining a particularly strong power delivery solution and ample VRM cooling, Gigabyte instead invests in faster USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, a better audio solution, and more SATA ports. Offered alongside those hardware features are Gigabyte’s crown jewel software features – RGB Fusion and Smart Fan 5.

With a recent price drop from £116.99 to £104.99, the Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 is placed to compete against the ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 and MSI B350 Tomahawk, both of which we have reviewed recently. Does Gigabyte’s offering have the correct mixture of features and performance to prove itself as a worthy option?

A few weeks back, AMD officially announced that it would be launching its new HEDT platform this summer, with the 16C/32T ‘Threadripper’ CPU set to be the star of the show. As you would expect, this means motherboard makers are now beginning to give us a look at their plans for AMD’s X399 chipset, with Gigabyte bringing its first X399 Aorus Gaming 7 motherboard to Computex this week.

While much of the details surrounding X399 are still under NDA, we are able to show you some images of the motherboard, though the socket has been kept hidden from view. For X399, AMD’s socket is officially named TP4.

From what we have heard, AMD’s TP4 socket is more expensive to make than Intel’s equivalent. However, the cost of AMD X399 motherboards are expected to sit in a similar price range to X99/X299.

Aside from that, this Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7 motherboard will retain many of the same features found on the X299 Aorus Gaming 7 board. However, AMD’s version will lack Intel LAN ports, optane memory support etc.

KitGuru Says: There has been a lot of discussion surrounding Intel’s new Core-X CPUs and X299 today, so it’s nice to see some AMD news ahead of the company’s own conference tomorrow. Still, with AMD’s chipset being called X399, I do wonder what Intel is going to do when it introduces its next HEDT chipset.

Credit to Leo Waldock for additional reporting and detail. 

While roaming the halls of Computex this year, we had a chance to catch up with 8Pack, who was at Gigabyte’s booth showcasing an all-new monster rig. His latest build was showcased inside a modded Lian-Li chassis and was powered by Gigabyte Aorus hardware, including a Z270 motherboard and three GTX 1080Tis in SLI.

This particular build is a variation of the 8Pack Infin8 system, which is available at Overclockers UK. The one on show here features an Intel Core i7-7700K, Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 RAM, a Samsung 960 Polaris NVMe 512GB SSD, a Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD and a WD Black 2TB HDD. There are three GTX 1080Tis inside, with a Superflower 2000W 8Pack Edition PSU supplying power to the whole thing.

As you can see, some modifications have been made to the Lian-Li 011WXC PC case to help incorporate all of the liquid cooling, including the dual chamber reservoir at the front.

KitGuru Says: So far, Computex has been great for announcements but there are also plenty of really awesome PC builds floating around. I’m sure we’ll see a few more before the week is done.

Yesterday at Computex, Intel officially announced its new Core-X family of processors so naturally, motherboard makers are now showing off all of their new X299 designs. Today, we had a chance to swing by the Gigabyte booth at Computex and got a good look at their new range of X299 Aorus motherboards.

These new motherboards come with several new hardware improvements, including a new ESS Sabre Audio chip and an Asmedia ASM3142 USB 3.1 controller. Beyond that, new features like Smart Fan 5 and RGB fusion aim to give users more customizability in terms of looks and functionality.

All of Gigabyte’s new motherboards featured redesigned ‘armor and plating’, with a new baseplate that offers better support for heavier graphics cards and larger CPU coolers. Similarly to other motherboard makers, Gigabyte is also offering a new gaming oriented network feature. This is known as the Gamers Private Network (GPN) and is developed in partnership with WTFast. This feature essentially aims to optimise your connection to improve things like latency in-game.

Like most hardware and peripheral makers these days, Gigabyte is taking part in the RGB craze, so these motherboards do feature ‘RGB Fusion’. This essentially places LEDs on the motherboard in various locations and using software, you can control the effect, pattern and colour of the system.

Outside of that, this new Aorus Gaming X299 range also supports Smart Fan 5 with Fan Stop technology, essentially allowing you to stop the fans from spinning as long as the system is below a certain temperature threshold. Finally, these motherboards do support M.2 with Thermal Guard and Intel’s new Optane Memory.

The entire range is expected to rollout in June 2017.

KitGuru Says: The new Gigabyte Aorus range is looking good. Are many of you already preparing your wallets for the upgrade to X299?

Today marks the final day of KitGuru’s coverage of Computex 2017, but before we finish there are just a few more stories to bring you. At the Gigabyte booth we got a look at a whole range of gaming laptops, including the Aorus, Sabre and Aero families.

Starting with the P series, this is probably Gigabyte’s more performance-focused range of laptops – the priority goes to having powerful hardware, including GTX 1070 graphics, instead of the slimmest and most beautiful chassis.

The Sabre 17 is a lower-end laptop, featuring GTX 1050 Ti graphics, so it is really for 1080p gaming. The big FHD IPS screen should make that enjoyable, though, and we can expect the Sabre to be priced a bit lower than its siblings.

The Aorus line is Gigabyte’s flagship series of products and here we find the laptops crammed with high-end hardware. The X9, for instance, features GTX 1070 SLI graphics in a chassis measuring less than 3cm thick. Meanwhile, the X5 MD has an overclockable i7-7820HK CPU alongside a GTX 1080, but you can bet it won’t come cheap.

Lastly, the Aero family is all about portability and form-factor. Gigabyte has designed the Aero 15 to use a standard 15.6″ display, but in a 14-inch form-factor, so consumers get the best of both worlds. With an i7-7700HQ plus GTX 1060 graphics, it is no slouch either.

KitGuru says: We have seen plenty of Gigabyte laptops over the years and they usually come away with awards. Of the new products shown here, which catches your eye the most?

Gigabyte has been keeping busy since the launch of X299, bringing together some veteran overclockers to put the Gigabyte X299-SOC Champion motherboard to the test. It seems the tests taking place at Gigabyte’s OC lab were successful too, as four new benchmarking records were set, using an Intel Core i7-7740K pushed all the way up to 7.5GHz.

The team of overclockers in this instance consisted of HiCookie and Sofos from Gigabyte alongside Team AU’s Dinos22, Youngpro and SniperOZ. In order to push past the massive 7.5GHz barrier, this group used liquid helium, which dropped temperatures down to -250°C. The rest of the system consisted of a Gigabyte X299-SOC Champion motherboard, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR4 memory running at 4333MHz and a Corsair AX1500i power supply.

Image Credit: Gigabyte/TeamAU

From there, world records were set in 3DMark03, 3DMark06 and Aquamark. The system configuration was a little different for benchmarking, featuring the same CPU at 7.1GHz and the same motherboard but adding an Aorus GTX 1080Ti graphics card and some G.Skill Trident-Z DDR4 memory running at 3600MHz. This system managed to set world records in all three benchmarks. Beyond that, a ‘global first’ ranking was also achieved in 3DMark06 using a tweaked system configuration using two GTX 1080Tis instead of one.

All in all, it’s an impressive first showing for Gigabyte’s X299-SOC Champion motherboard, which is already an accomplished overclocking board.

KitGuru Says: I always enjoy seeing huge overclocks like this, especially when benchmarked. While 7.5GHz couldn’t be used for benchmarking, the 7.1GHz overclock they settled on is still very impressive. 

The Aorus GTX 1080Ti Xtreme Edition is a quality entry into Gigabyte’s GPU lineup. It won in the EHA awards this year and we were impressed too, praising it highly in our own review. Now, Gigabyte is kicking things up a notch with the launch of the Aorus GTX 1080Ti Waterforce Xtreme Edition 11G, bringing the liquid cooling treatment to its flagship GPU.

The title is a mouthful, but shows a lot of important specifications about the graphics card. It will be based on Nvidia’s 1080Ti line, fitted with Gigabyte’s Waterforce water-block. It will be pushed to its limits with a factory overclock and sport 11GB of GDDR5X memory.

Since it is based on the air-cooled Xtreme Edition, the Waterforce version shares the same 12+2 phase and dual 8-pin power connection. The custom I/O bracket houses two HDMI 2.0b, three 1.4 DisplayPorts and a third HDMI on the back for VR-Link. Both the backplate and front logo are fitted with RGB lighting to suit any style of rig. Gigabyte will be continuing its lengthy 4-year warranty with the Waterforce edition, enabled through online registration.

Under the hood, the 1080 TI Waterforce WB XE features 1632 MHz core clock and 11232 MHz memory clock, boosted to 1746 MHz and 11448 MHz respectively in OC mode. This makes it one of the fastest 1080Tis on the market and with the premium Gigabyte often places over the reference designs, we can expect this card not to be cheap.

KitGuru Says: Gigabyte has made some excellent GPUs in the past, so we’ll be looking forward to seeing what the Waterforce Xtreme brings to the table. Are any of you planning on grabbing a GTX 1080Ti soon?

This week, the roster of Mini-ITX motherboards for Ryzen is expanding, as Gigabyte has launched the AB350N-Gaming WiFi. Based on AMD’s B350 chipset, this motherboard includes a bunch of features, including Gigabyte’s Smart-Fan 5, server class components and an optimised layout to support AMD’s Wraith Max cooler, which comes included with some Ryzen processors.

As Gigabyte’s motherboard VP, Henry Kao puts it, this particular Mini-ITX board is the result of great efforts in R&D: “GIGABYTE’s R&D put great efforts on re-arranging the components on the board in order to make mini motherboards achieve optimal compatibility for larger thermal cooling solutions”. For those who are unaware, with Ryzen, AMD began packing in the Wraith Max CPU cooler with some models. This is a much larger, higher performance version of the traditional stock cooler but due to its increased size, Mini-ITX motherboard makers have had to rethink their layout slightly.

With the Gigabyte AB350N-Gaming WiFi, the motherboard includes an enlarged zone between the CPU socket and RAM slots. This means larger CPU coolers can fit without interfering with RAM too much. As you can see in the image above ven DIMMs with tall heatspreaders will fit with a Wraith Max cooler installed.

Beyond that, this motherboard is built using a server-class digital power design, including 4th gen PWM controllers, 3rd gen PowlRstage controllers and new IR power controllers. This means the board will be delivering the correct amount of power to all of the board’s essential components, which should help with things like overclocking. Other major Gigabyte technologies also make an appearance, including Smart-Fan 5, Hybrid fan-pin headers and RGB Fusion support. There is an onboard 802.11ac WiFi module, Bluetooth 4.2 support and a GbE LAN port.

The final thing worth noting is that the AB350N-Gaming WiFi uses a one piece stainless steel shielding to help reinforce the PCIe connectors, so the motherboard will support even heavier graphics cards with beefy coolers. This motherboard should be available within in the next few weeks.

KitGuru Says: It’s great to see more Mini-ITX options coming to market for Ryzen. Are any of you planning on putting together a small form factor build this year?

Gigabyte has been pushing its Aorus brand in the motherboard market by outfitting the gaming-calibre motherboards with adjusted styling, enhanced fan control, and increased use of RGB LEDs. We examine the £270 X299 Aorus Gaming 3 to see what one of Gigabyte’s more ‘affordable’ X299 motherboards can offer.

You can watch our unboxing video on YouTube HERE or on Vimeo (below).

Given its Aorus branding, it comes as no surprise to see the X299 Gaming 3 featuring heavy RGB LED use and an eye-catching design. Digging a little deeper, Gigabyte outlines the motherboard’s support for digital LED strips in addition to the enhanced RGB Fusion app.

Coming in at £270, Gigabyte has plenty of flexibility to offer premium features on the Gaming 3, despite its position towards the more affordable end of the X299 market. As such, there are dual M.2 slots, 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2, Realtek ALC1220-based audio, and an Intel NIC. The International Rectifiers-based VRM and promise of proficient fan control are likely to appeal to performance junkies.

Coming in as one of the more affordable X299 options, can the Gigabyte X299 Aorus Gaming 3 prove itself as a worthy performer for a power-hungry Skylake-X CPU?