Gigabyte X870E AORUS Master ICE X3D Motherboard Review: AMD X3D Keeps On Getting Faster With AORUS’s Top-Class Design

Conclusion - Master of X3D CPUs

Gigabyte's refreshed X3D motherboard lineup has one feature that's the talk of the town, and that's X3D Turbo Mode 2. This is an enhanced version of the original X3D Turbo Mode, which the company launched with its previous AM5 offerings. This time, the solution is not only better, but Gigabyte has made it much more useful through BIOS and software-side revamps. In our tests, the CPU sees an average 10% uplift in app and around 10-20% improvement in games using the Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU. That's a strong uplift & you get to see improvements on both fronts, which is great. Furthermore, the 110A 20 Phase VRM with 18 phases from the CPU is solid enough, and DDR5-9000 memory support is top-tier.

The overall design of the motherboard has a lot of work and effort put into it. Gigabyte has been a pioneer in the motherboard heatsink department for a good time now, from its early days, where the company was the first to implement a finned-heatsink solution on its motherboards. The new design cools the motherboard superbly, offering some of the lowest temps that we have seen on X870E series boards. The M.2 slots also utilize new cooling solutions, which should keep your Gen5 and Gen4 drives running cool and stable.

Five M.2 slots and three PCIe slots, of which two (each) are Gen5, are great. The EZ-Latch design on the PCIe slots and M.2 slots is DIY Friendly. There are plenty of onboard buttons and switches for tuning & there's also a DEBUG LED.

Things I liked about the Gigabyte X870E AORUS Master X3D ICE motherboard:

• X3D Turbo Mode 2 delivers boosted gaming and app performance
• Tuned BIOS with new features and tons of tuning options
• X3D ICE goes for a white design, looks awesome
• Solid 18+2+2 VRM with 110A power stages
• 256 GB DDR5 support & up To 9000 MT/s Speeds
• 64 MB BIOS (Ready For Current / Next-Gen Ryzen CPUs) & includes WIFI drivers
• Five M.2 slots with Thermal Guard M.2 heatsinks
• Dual Gen5 M.2 Slots
• Dual Gen 5 x16 Slots
• EZ-Latch Mechanism on M.2 Gen5 & dual x16 slots
• 22 USB ports, including two USB4 Type-C
• 10 GbE LAN + 5 GbE LAN + WIFI 7 + BT 5.4 for connectivity
• 65W PD 3.0 support
• EZ WiFi Plug
• Lots of Fan headers, ARGB+RGB headers

Things to be concerned about:

• High Price

WIFI7+BT5.4, along with dual LAN ports including 5GbE and 10GbE, enables strong connectivity and wireless technologies, while the full list of USB (22 in total) options includes:

CPU+ASMedia USB4 controller:
- 2 x USB4 USB Type-C ports on the back panel
CPU:
- 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) on the back panel
Chipset+USB 3.2 Gen 1 Hub:
- 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports available through the internal USB headers
Chipset:
- 1 x USB Type-C port on the back panel, with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 support
- 1 x USB Type-C port on the back panel, with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support
- 1 x USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 support, available through the internal USB header (Supports up to 65W PD 3.0/QC 4+ fast charging)
- 6 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red) on the back panel
- 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports available through the internal USB headers

The motherboard supports built-in RGB lighting and external RGB support through 4 ARGB & 1 RGB headers (all controllable through the RGB Fusion software). The motherboard itself has a nice display of RGB LEDs. WIFI 7, ALC 4082 7.1 channel audio, and tons of USB ports.

The 64 MB BIOS also ensures that users not only have enough firmware flash storage for future AGESA BIOS updates, but it also comes packed with built-in drivers for WIFI, which means that you don't have to worry about installing WIFI drivers to get internet working when building a new PC. Audio with internal DAC is also a major plus.

The Gigabyte X870E AORUS Master X3D ICE is a premium product, designed for enthusiasts, and the new X3D Turbo Mode 2 technology works amazingly, boosting the performance of AMD's already powerful X3D CPUs to the next level. With plenty of IO options, a stunning design, and a powerful component layout, the X3D AORUS Master ICE is our top choice of an AM5 motherboard that has it all and takes it one notch higher with advanced BIOS and tuning features.

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