GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme Motherboard Review: Flagship Z790 With Impressive VRM Thermals

Over nan years, motherboard manufacturers person consistently pushed nan limits connected top-end motherboards pinch striking designs and PCBs filled to nan brim pinch nan latest controllers and characteristic sets. Although these typically travel pinch a precocious value premium, these 'flagships' correspond nan latest components, designed to run nan fastest processors to present leading-edge capacity while offering nan champion controllers disposable astatine nan clip of manufacture.

One specified exemplary is nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme, which is nan nonstop successor to nan Z690 Aorus Xtreme, and boasts a premium characteristic set, including support for DDR5-8000 memory, dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, arsenic good arsenic 10 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. Sitting astatine nan apical of GIGABYTE's Z790 scope of motherboards, nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme is designed for Intel's 13th (and 12th) procreation Core bid processors, and arsenic such, benefits from advancements specified arsenic PCIe 5.0, autochthonal USB 3.2 G2x2 connectivity done a beforehand sheet header, and 10 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports straight located connected nan backmost panel.

In a marketplace pinch a monolithic prime of motherboards, nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme has plentifulness of bells and whistles and appeals to users looking for nan champion motherboard designs and technology. Despite not being cheap, GIGABYTE, complete nan past mates of generations connected some AMD and Intel chipsets, has offered bully levels of worth while offering coagulated capacity levels. Today we're taking a person look astatine nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme to spot really it stacks up against different LGA1700 motherboards pinch our Intel Core i9-13900K and if there's immoderate worth to beryllium had amid nan coagulated and premium characteristic group offered by GIGABYTE.

GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme Overview

With plentifulness of options for users and catering to each budgets, GIGABYTE has a divers prime of Z790/LGA1700 motherboards to suit a circumstantial user's needs. For nan entry-level and much emblematic desktop systems, GIGABYTE's UD aliases Ultra Durable bid connection a coagulated yet simplistic group of features acting arsenic an introduction constituent onto Intel's 13th/12th Gen Core series, while for contented creators, GIGABYTE besides offers a number of Aero branded models which attraction much connected premium connectivity and networking options.

The GIGABYTE Aorus bid chiefly targets gamers but consolidates each of nan champion features and controller sets into galore offerings from nan mid-range to nan high-end, and nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme falls into nan second category. Sitting astatine nan apical of GIGABYTE's Z790 motherboard stack, nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme has each of nan champion controller sets and features that GIGABYTE has to offer, including a blend of immoderate features to make cablegram guidance easier for users, arsenic good arsenic a ample and powerful powerfulness transportation designed to tally Intel's 13th and 12th Gen Core bid processors to their limits.

Looking person astatine nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme motherboard, it has a ample E-ATX-sized PCB, allowing GIGABYTE to instrumentality much controllers and features onto nan committee itself. Looking astatine an wide position of nan committee from a birds-eye view, nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme is predominately covered by waves of Aorus-inspired armor, which besides includes a ample metallic chipset and PCIe armor screen crossed nan halfway of nan PCIe slot area, arsenic good arsenic a ample rear sheet cover. Interestingly, nan rear sheet screen features a 2.8-inch integer LCD monitor, which displays real-time strategy accusation specified arsenic CPU temperature, CPU timepiece speed, representation timepiece speed, and VRM temperatures. Typically a characteristic connected high-end premium models specified arsenic this, nan LCD show is simply a bully touch, but it does require a chassis pinch a clear windowed broadside sheet to return advantage of this.

Touching much connected GIGABYTE's implementation of cablegram management, nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme, each astir nan edging of nan board, features right-angled headers, connectors, and powerfulness inputs. Designed to let users to plug a cablegram successful astatine a correct angle, this makes it easier arsenic nan cables don't straight instrumentality retired and tin seamlessly beryllium directed done nan grommets wrong a chassis for a much azygous and little cluttered look. GIGABYTE besides includes PCIe and M.2 EZ-latches, meaning PCIe and M.2 drives are easy installed and re-installed into nan chassis astatine nan pat of a move aliases nan flick of a thumb.

Removing nan ample metallic mid-plate crossed nan mediate of nan PCIe slot area and nan CPU thrust PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot reveals nan bulk of nan board's M.2 slot array. The sheet itself acts arsenic a ample PCIe M.2 heatsink for nan 3 cardinal PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, arsenic good arsenic a screen for nan chipset heatsink. In total, nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme has 5 M.2 slots, pinch 1 PCIe 5.0 x4 fed from nan CPU arsenic mentioned pinch a ample heatsink covering it, 3 PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots sandwiched successful betwixt nan apical 2 full-length PCIe slots, and 1 PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA M.2 located beneath nan chipset heatsink. For SATA, GIGABYTE includes 4 right-angled SATA ports which are tin of supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.

Regarding PCIe slot support, interestingly, GIGABYTE opts for conscionable 1 full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, pinch 2 full-length PCIe 3.0 slots operating astatine x4 and x1. Having less PCIe 5.0 lanes designated to full-length slots provides benefits and disadvantages, but fixed galore aftermarket PCIe add-on cards can't usage nan immense bandwidth of PCIe 5.0 astatine coming different than NVMe SSDs, nan bandwidth, and nan consequent lanes tin beryllium directed to different areas specified arsenic controllers. Other users whitethorn reason that having 2 full-length PCIe 5.0 slots tin present other lanes to faster PCIe M.2 retention devices done a multi-M.2 slot adapter, but pinch 5 M.2 slots integrated onto nan board, there's still plentifulness of scope for retention here.

Focusing connected nan powerfulness transportation connected nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme, GIGABYTE has gone for a ample 20+1-phase design, pinch premium componentry expected from a committee of this caliber. For nan CPU, GIGABYTE has included 20 x Renesas RAA22010540 105 A smart powerfulness stages, which run successful a teamed configuration and are driven by a Renesas RAA229131 PWM controller. There's besides a azygous RAA22010540 150 A powerfulness shape for nan SoC. Interestingly, GIGABYTE has employed a teamed setup for nan VRM and not a afloat 20-phase nonstop configuration, but nan output equates to a maximum of 2100 A for nan CPU to play with, which is overkill.

Keeping nan powerfulness transportation cool is simply a very ample brace of heatsinks interconnected by a azygous 8 mm heavy power tube pinch a nanocarbon-coated fin array. GIGABYTE claims that utilizing a 22-micrometer heavy nanocarbon coating connected nan thins tin trim VRM temperatures by up to 10%. Looking astatine nan indentations wrong nan 12 W/mk thermal pads utilized by GIGABYTE, nan heatsink makes bully interaction pinch nan mostly of nan powerfulness stages and chokes, which is simply a bully parameter that interaction and thermal dissipation should be, successful theory, optimal.

On nan premium Z790 motherboards specified arsenic this, we typically spot support for overmuch faster memory, and nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme is nary exception. GIGABYTE supports up to DDR5-8000 (OC) representation successful a dual transmission (1DPC) configuration, pinch up to 192 GB supported crossed 4 slots. The slots characteristic a one-sided latch system to instal nan DRAM, and CPU cooler support, particularly of nan air-cooled variety, depends connected nan tallness of nan DRAM being used.

Spearheading nan onboard audio solution connected nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme is simply a Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec pinch an ESS Sabre ES9280AC DAC and 2 ESS E9080 DAC chips. As it stands, this is 1 of nan astir high-end integrated audio solutions we've seen connected a motherboard extracurricular of those bundled pinch an outer PCIe sound card. Although nan Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS DACs aren't complimented pinch immoderate EMI shielding, GIGABYTE does screen nan audio PCB pinch a bladed expanse of metallic armor, truthful contempt nary EMI shielding to speak of, it astatine slightest looks bully and cleanable to look at.

On nan rear sheet of nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme is simply a wide assortment of premium connectivity and networking disposable for users to descend their teeth into. Starting pinch nan astir premium input and output, GIGABYTE includes a Thunderbolt 4 controller, which includes 2 Type-C connectors that tin double up arsenic DisplayPort inputs for compatible displays. Other USB connectivity includes 10 USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, while nan Realtek ALC4082 and nan 3 ESS DACs thrust nan 2 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output.

The networking array connected nan Z790 Aorus Xtreme is high-end, pinch 1 Marvell AQtion AQC107 10 GbE controller, a 2nd Ethernet larboard powered by an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller, while a Killer AX1690 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi provides some 6 GHz set entree and support for BT 5.3 devices.

As is erstwhile looking astatine a flagship motherboard specified arsenic nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme, these do travel pinch a typically higher value tag than accepted mid-range motherboards. Despite nan further cost, these are offset by featuring premium controllers specified arsenic 10 GbE, Thunderbolt 4, and much bells and whistles. As of its first launch, nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme costs $800, which aligns pinch existent pricing depending connected nan retailer of choice. As such, arsenic pinch banal level fluctuations, prices whitethorn vary. Compared to nan competition, MSI's flagship MEG Z790 Godlike has akin high-level features but costs $1200, while ASUS's flagship, nan ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme, is besides feature-rich and arsenic costly astatine $999.

At present, and not including ASRock's Z790 Taichi and Taichi Cararra (<$500), which are their top-tier Z790 boards, they are technically devout of being a existent flagship aliases halo model, nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme is presently nan cheapest flagship Z790 committee astatine nan clip of writing. Even coming pinch a precocious value of $800, nan pricing is almost surely subjective, and connected paper, nan GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Xtreme is simply a very high-end illustration utilizing overmuch of what Intel's Z790 chipset has to offer.

Of course, arsenic we for illustration to say, capacity is nan cardinal constituent (along pinch features) successful which users acquisition motherboards, arsenic good arsenic pricing and really overmuch worth tin beryllium had from immoderate peculiar motherboard. With that being said, publication connected for our extended analysis.