Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master Review

Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master Preview

Introduction

We’ve just reviewed the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme version of the TRX40 chipset and if you’ve read that rreview – and you definitely should – then you’ll be aware that the Xtreme most definitely lives up to its billing with pretty much every single thing you can think of included onto the PCB.

Naturally when it comes to high end motherboards with so many features the pricing can be a little steep. If you’re in the market for one of the upcoming 3rd generation Threadripper CPUs then you understand that such a system isn’t the kind of rig you can build on a tight budget, but nonetheless there are systems that fall within the price range of enthusiasts, and ones that will make the majority of people balk. Perhaps you want to take advantage of the enormous computing power of the Threadripper but don’t want to completely bankrupt yourself in the process? If so, then the Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master might be just up your street. It has all the key elements of the Xtreme but with some of the more, ahem, extreme features stripped off.

If the Xtreme is the motherboard of choice for people who demand their system has absolutely everything, then the Master is the motherboard for people who want the full range of features that the majority will use. A quick look at most peoples motherboards will tell you that we all own elements that never get touched, so why pay for them if you don’t use them?

Don’t be misled into thinking the Master is some stripped down bare bones number though. It’s extremely high end, just relative to the ultimate premium nature of the Xtreme it seems to have less to offer. Compared to anything currently available though it’s still a blinder, so let’s give you a run through before our full review on launch day.

Technical Specifications

As you would expect from a new chipset based upon the clawhammer calculation capabilities of the Threadripper CPUs, the Master has a massive selection of high bandwidth features wherever you look. Although we’ll cover everything in the subsequent pages we just wanted to highlight the LAN port which supports all possible speeds from 5G down to 100. Although we can’t remember the last time we used a network device so old that it couldn’t cope with Gigabit speeds, it’s a demonstration of how flexible and backwards compatible the technologies built into the Master are.

Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master Preview  
Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master Preview Â