Gigabyte X870E Aorus Master Review

Overview

Overview

Eventually we’ll reach a point at which the Aorus series of products isn’t worthy of special comment. We still think that Gigabyte deserve massive credit for realising things needed changing, and adjusting their entire company. That’s not common in the corporate world. To say it’s been a success barely touches it. You can tell Gigabyte agree. Look at this box and the confidence of the branding. It’s bold, almost brash. Lovely.

It might seem crazy to suggest that a heatsink has become recognisable, but Gigabyte Aorus products have that quality. The incredibly high fin density and graphene coating give it a matte textured appearance that cannot be confused for another manufacturer.

An extra heat spreader on the back of the motherboard helps keep your main M.2 drive running at peak performance. Regular readers will know how much heat affects transfer rates and Gen5 M.2s generate plenty.

We rag on ASUS for their insistence upon glitched text and too many lines, so… blimey these stickers. Designed by an optician? What’s wrong with simplicity? Thankfully the case badge is fabulous.

The Aorus Master has a DIMM fan for extra DDR5 cooling. Thankfully the fan is controlled via a header and recognised by the Gigabyte software so you only get cooling, and noise, when you need it. We do take against Gigabyte describing it as innovative though. Memory cooling fans have been around forever.

We’re going to go through all the parts on the next couple of pages, but we know that getting an overview helps get a feel for things before you delve into the details.