Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9 X299 Motherboard Review

Peter Donnell / 7 years ago

Introduction

Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster of hardware releases this year, with both Intel and AMD revealing and releasing all kinds of crazy CPUs. Of course, you can have these new multi-core CPUs hitting the market, without another huge range of motherboards to back them up; enter X299, the new LGA 2066 socket motherboards! Of course, these new motherboards come with support for the latest Skylake X processors, most importantly, the motherboards support the new Intel Core 19-1900X 10-core CPU which we have in the eTeknix office!

RGB Fusion, Digital LED, Triple M.2 with Thermal Guard, ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, Killer DoubleShot™ Pro, Front & rear USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, and more!

The Gaming 9 is packed full of features, which is no surprise, the Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9 is the company’s flagship motherboard. Of course, you get just about every extra you can think of. If you’re building a high-end workstation, gaming system, VR rig, or even just doing some extreme overclocking, then you’ll find everything you need built-in.

Supports Intel^® Core™ X-series Processor Family
Quad Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 8 DIMMs, DDR4400+(OC)
Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready
ASMedia 3142 USB 3.1 Gen 2 with USB Type-C™ and Type-A
Front USB 3.1 Gen 2 Header
3-Way Graphics Support with Dual Armor and Ultra Durable™ Design
Ultra Durable™ Base Plate Armor and Integrated I/O Shield Armor Design
Server-Class Digital Power Design
127dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with High-End ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, LME 49720 and OPA1622 OP-AMP, WIMA audio capacitor
Sound BlasterX 720°, the top-of-the-line audio engine solution for 4K gaming and entertainment
Killer DoubleShot™ Pro and Intel^® GbE LAN for the best gaming networking experience possible
Killer 2×2 802.11ac Wireless – AC 1535
RGB FUSION with Multi-Zone Digital LED Light Show design, support digital LED & RGB LED strips
Swappable Overlay for Accent LED
Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
Triple Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen3 x4 interface and Thermal Guard
PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 Add-In Card with Thermal Guard
NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 U.2 adaptor
USB DAC-UP 2 with Adjustable Voltage
Precise Digital USB Fuse Design for Stronger Protection
Anti-Sulfur Resistor Design
Ultra Durable™ 25KV ESD and 15KV Surge LAN Protection
Lightning-Fast Intel^® Thunderbolt™ 3 support by option AIC
GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™ with Q-Flash Plus USB port

Armor

“AORUS X299 Gaming Motherboards are designed with an aggressive stance, but looks are just the beginning. The armor on the AORUS Gaming Series are created to offer best-in-class performance while still staying cool.”

Base Plate

“AORUS Motherboards are the perfect choice when starting your PC build. With an integrated base plate, AORUS Motherboards give users a strong foundation to build their Gaming PC. With larger and heavier coolers, graphics cards, and even memory modules the AORUS Base Plate is perfect to help support any enthusiast’s build while reducing cuts and stings from sharp areas of the motherboard.”

I/O Shield Armor

“With an integrated I/O shield building an AORUS Gaming PC is even easier.* Gone are the days of realising that the rear I/O was forgotten or lost.

ESS SABRE DAC

“AORUS AMP-UP Audio now offers ESS SABRE with a DAC that adopts the concept of a high-end audiophile sound system design into a micro system within the motherboard. It provides a pure yet powerful sound, resonating classical orchestra or blasts in your virtual warzone.”