Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9 X299 Motherboard Review

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.”

Video Overview

First up, let’s take a quick overview of what comes included in the box, and some of the unique motherboard features found on the Gaming 9.