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At Computex 2024, AMD unveiled its new Ryzen 9000-series processors along with a new line of motherboard chipsets to support them. Naturally, the new silicon has sparked a new wave of motherboards, with Gigabyte showing off several during the show. Gigabyte also had a few Intel “Arrow Lake” motherboards on display, though Intel hasn’t officially announced those 15th Gen desktop chips yet. (However, these new motherboards show they can’t be far off.) We didn’t see much that’s changed from the previous generation, but Gigabyte’s new AMD and Intel motherboards do show some interesting features you’ll want to keep an eye on.AMD: X870E, USB4, and ThreadripperThe key changes in the upcoming AM5 motherboards are derived from AMD’s new X870 and X870E chipsets. These are similar to their X670 and X670E predecessors, but add integrated USB4 support. The X870 chipset also has support for a PCI Express 5.0 M.2 slot, which was only available on the X670E chipset previously.
(Credit: John Burek)
Since the X870E chipset is targeted as an enthusiast platform, Gigabyte went all out with its new X870E Aorus Xtreme motherboard. In addition to the usual LED lights, this board features a sizable OLED screen set over the rear I/O shroud. This can play animations and gives the board a degree of customization and uniqueness that many other motherboards lack.
(Credit: John Burek)
The Gigabyte X870E Aorus Xtreme will also feature USB4 support and sports handy ease-of-use features like a quick-release PCIe button that makes changing graphics cards less of a chore. Somewhat more surprising was the company’s new B650E Aorus Pro X USB4 motherboard, announced just days before Computex started. Its B650E chipset has been out for some time now, but it’s upgraded with a USB4 controller.
(Credit: John Burek)
Gigabyte also had a new AMD Ryzen Threadripper motherboard on display. The TRX50 AI TOP motherboard was built to support four graphics cards to maximize compute and, especially, GPU-based AI performance. Each of its PCIe x16 slots is configured with PCIe 5.0 lanes, and the motherboard features two 40Gbps USB Type-C ports. The AI TOP is being supported by a series of Gigabyte AI TOP-branded components (an RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU, and high-write-endurance AI TOP SSDs). The GPUs are twin-slot and can be installed in a brace of four on this board without interference; the SSDs are engineered for the heavy write needs of training AI models. Gigabyte is also ramping up a twin-slot version of AMD’s Radeon Pro W7900 workstation card that can work in similar multi-GPU fashion on this board. Intel: Arrow Lake and LGA 18XXWe know very little about Intel’s upcoming Arrow Lake processors and supporting platform, yet it’s clear this new hardware cannot be far from release, as not only Gigabyte but other motherboard vendors like MSI had next-gen motherboards on display. The new boards vary in their features and uniqueness, but each has something interesting.
(Credit: John Burek)
First are two next-gen Z Aorus Elite motherboards. These appear almost identical at first glance, with the next-gen Z Aorus Elite X Ice looking like just a white and silver version of its Z Aorus Elite WiFi 7 sibling. Some subtle differences on the rear I/O panels and around the audio codecs, however, suggest the Aorus Elite X Ice is the higher-end of the two motherboards: Not only does it have more capacitors and an EMI shield over the audio hardware, but it appears to have more USB ports.
(Credit: John Burek)
More interesting on both boards is the inclusion of a new connection for Wi-Fi antennas that promises to be easier to connect than the old-fashioned screw-in antennas that are common in the industry today. Both boards also have HDMI ports set on their right edges, a curious inclusion that could possibly be there to support displays built into cases. A next-gen Z Aero motherboard and a next-gen Aorus Master board that Gigabyte had on display also share these new features.
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(Credit: John Burek)
Even more interesting is Gigabyte’s Z Aorus Tachyon Ice motherboard. It also has the new antenna connection, but its layout is more intriguing: The RAM slots, which are almost always set to the right of the CPU socket, are above the CPU socket instead, with the power regulation hardware that usually sits there moved below the processor socket. The CPU socket as a whole has been rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise to support this change.
(Credit: John Burek)
The primary reason for the new arrangement is for memory overclockers; this design reduces the length of the traces between the CPU and the DIMM slots for incremental performance benefit, and most memory mavens don’t go to more than two DIMMs. A few M.2 slots are where the RAM is usually located. The motherboard’s primary power connector is also set at a right angle and moved further down the motherboard to support these changes. Overall, it’s a curious design, though we’re not sure how beneficial it will be outside the pro overclocker circuit.
(Credit: John Burek)
Last and less unique is a new Mini-ITX Aorus motherboard that looks quite well made but doesn’t seem to have distinguishing features apart from its compact size. Space is quite limited on boards like this, making it hard to fit the same features you’d see on a larger one, but we don’t see anything missing.
(Credit: John Burek)
One last thing to note about Gigabyte’s new Intel motherboards is that the sockets show “LGA 18XX” on the metal mounting hardware for the CPU. Intel has not yet confirmed what socket it will use for the Arrow Lake processors; we knew it wouldn’t be the current LGA 1700 as Intel makes it a point to change sockets every few years, but we don’t have a name yet. This gives us our first hint that the socket will be called something like LGA 1800, though those last two digits could be anything. We’ll likely know more when these products are closer to their release dates.
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