GIGABYTE Z790

Gigabyte’s Z790 AORUS Elite AX is one of the cheapest DDR5 motherboards we’ve ever looked at in the office. Despite sporting the much more expensive generation of RAM, Gigabyte has managed to keep costs down while still offering a competitive amount of features for consumers to sink their teeth into. You’ve got access to a PCI-E 5.0 ready GPU slot, set to handle the next generation of graphics cards, while offering plenty of Gen4 compatible M.2 slots for those looking to pick up some blazing fast storage. The design is somewhat more simplistic by reducing the amount of heatsinks seen on the board, but what it lacks in aesthetic, it makes up for in features. Overall I’m very happy with this board. Although DDR5 isn’t quite worth upgrading to as of yet, we’ll be seeing significant returns with motherboards like the AORUS Elite AX when DDR5 starts to provide a big performance boost in both gaming and workstation applications.

GIGABYTE's Z790 AORUS Xtreme X is one of the most complete motherboards we have ever tested. If you want it all and have the funds, this is certainly one to look at!

The Gigabyte Z790M AORUS ELITE AX ICE is an all-white Micro ATX motherboard that's compact in size measuring just 24.4cm squared. It's compatible with all Intel Core processors, including the 12th Gen, 13th Gen, and the latest 14th Gen processors on the LGA 1700 socket. It uses Intel's Z790 chipset and features a 6-layer, 2X Copper PCB with Twin 16+1+1 Power Phase Digital VRM Solution, and Thermal Armour Advanced cooling with heatpipe.

Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX ICE is an extremely affordable all-white motherboard, that’s feature-packed and offers good performance. If you’re on a budget and plan to build an all-white themed PC, then seriously take a look at this motherboard. You won’t find a better all-white motherboard at this price range.

GIGABYTE's AORUS Z790 Master X is hands down the best motherboard you can buy for the money if you are building on Intel's Z790 chipset.

Gigabyte’s updated Z790 Aorus Master X ($550) is a definite (though iterative) improvement over the original. You get Wi-Fi 7, 10GbE, EZ Latches all around, 14 USB ports on the rear IO, and some of the fastest memory support for the platform. But $550, it’s not cheap, and the price increase (for all new boards) can be difficult to stomach.

The Gigabyte AORUS Z790 Elite X WiFi 7 Motherboard uses the Intel Z790 chipset and is compatible with all Intel 13th Gen and the latest 14th Gen processors on the LGA1700 socket. It supports up to 192GB of DDR5 ram with speeds of up to DDR5-8266 OC. For storage, it comes with a total of 6 SATA ports and 4 x PCIE Gen4x4 M.2 SSD slots featuring Gigabyte's EZ-Latch Design. It also includes 2 x PCIE 4.0 x16 slots and a PCIE 5.0 x16 slot featuring PCIE UD Slot X which provides strength and enchanced protection for your graphics card.

When it comes to Gigabyte’s new “Raptor Lake Refresh” motherboards it seems like they are going in the direction of adding a lot of features that are really centered around user experience. And with this being a refresh not a new architecture that is not a bad thing at all. The things that really stand out to me are the EZ-Latch Click and EZ-Latch Plus tool-less systems for installing M.2 drives. This has to be the easiest system there is for either installing or swapping out your M.2 drives. Also there is the PCIe EZ-Latch system which makes swapping out your graphics card a much easier process, especially if you have a larger graphics card and larger CPU cooler.

It will be difficult to find a motherboard that can beat the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS PRO X in terms of features and performance. It’s one of the best Z790 motherboards I’ve had the pleasure to play with so far. So make sure this is on very top of your shopping list.

While expensive, the Z790 AORUS Xtreme offers extreme connectivity, expansion and performance that can't be looked past.

It's a cracking motherboard, accompanied by a healthy serving of Biscuits.

Overall, the Aorus Master is a good-looking option in the$500 Z790 price ranget. You get an incredible 14 USB ports on the rear IO, solid power delivery, a PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket, a 10 GbE port and Killer-based Wi-Fi 6E. It also performs well against its peers, but there are no USB 4 ports, and you don’t get the latest audio codec.