Motherboard vendors are betting big on the success of AMD's "Valhalla" desktop platform that combines a Ryzen 3000-series Zen 2 processor with an AMD X570 chipset motherboard, and have responded with some mighty premium board designs. GIGABYTE deployed its full spectrum of Aorus branding, including Ultra, Elite, ITX Pro, Master, and Xtreme. The X570 I Aorus Pro WiFi mini-ITX motherboard is an impressive feat of engineering despite its designers having to wrestle with the feisty new PCIe gen 4 chipset. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin and 8-pin connectors, and conditions power for the SoC with an impressive 8-phase VRM that uses high-grade PowIRstage components. A rather tall fan-heatsink cools the X570 chipset, with a 30 mm fan.

Connectivity options on the X570 I Aorus Pro WiFi are surprisingly aplenty. The sole expansion slot is a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, but the storage connectivity includes not one, but two M.2-2280 slots (reverse side of the PCB), each with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports make for the rest of the storage connectivity. Networking options include 2.4 Gbps 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5.0 (Intel , and 1 GbE, all pulled by Intel-made controllers. USB connectivity includes six 5 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 1, and two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (of which one is type-C), and two 5 Gbps ports by headers. The onboard audio solution has 6-channel analog output, but is backed by a premium Realtek ALC1220VB Enhance CODEC (114 dBA SNR).

Remember that ludicrous Gigabyte bundle that mixed the company's most outrageously expensive motherboard with a cherry-picked Intel Core i9-9900K overclocked to 5.1 GHz? Well, it's finally available, if that's your particular kind of beach, and the pricing is better than was expected. Solo, the motherboard sets you back $999, while a cherry-picked Intel Core i9-9900K at 5.1 GHz would set you back some $939 in houses such as Silicon Lottery. However, Gigabyte have confirmed that the bundle pricing for these components for the US stands at $1,699 - which really isn't too shabby, if you consider the motherboard to have sufficient bang for your buck.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia based water cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing its new generation of high-performance water blocks specially designed for Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX series graphics cards, based on Turing graphics processor.

The EK-Vector Aorus RTX high-performance water blocks are specially designed for Gigabyte Aorus version of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 graphics cards. The water blocks use the signature EK single slot slim look, and it covers the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful Aorus graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with accented RGB LED lighting. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side.

GIGABYTE unveiled a special commemorative package of its flagship socket AM4 motherboard, the Aorus X470 Gaming 7 WiFi. Much like the Ryzen 7 2700X AMD-50 Edition processor, this GIGABYTE motherboard is a minor variation of the original it's based on, with a handful cosmetic changes. The box package features AMD-50 markings, as does the board's model name, with a "-50" suffix. The motherboard itself features some "AMD-50" and "AORUS x AMD 50th Anniversary" markings along the acrylic RGB LED diffuser along the board's top-right corner and elsewhere. Perhaps out of the box, the board's RGB LEDs shine in a more pronounced shade of gold than the Aorus default orange-gold tint. These apart, the board is every bit identical to the Aorus X470 Gaming 7 WiFi, which currently retails for around USD $220, competing with the likes of the MSI X470 Gaming M7 and the ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero.

GIGABYTE rolled out the Aorus ATC800 air CPU cooler. Its design involves a conventional aluminium fin-stack tower-type heatsink that's ventilated by two pre-installed custom-design fans in push-pull arrangement. A plastic shroud covers the top of the fin-stack, and frames the two fans. The top-plate is studded with an RGB LED diffuser. The two fans come with RGB LED lighting, too. All three lighting elements take input from a single 3-pin addressable RGB source.

Six 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes make direct contact with the CPU at the base, conveying heat through the aluminium fin-stack. Each of the two 120 mm double ball-bearing fans take in 4-pin PWM input, spin between 600 to 2,000 RPM, push 14.05 to 51.7 CFM of air-flow, with a noise output ranging between 18 to 31 dBA. Measuring 139 mm x 107 mm x 163 mm, the cooler weighs 1.01 kg. It offers 37.4 mm of clearance to the memory module installed closest to the CPU socket. The cooler is rated for thermal loads of 200 W. Among its sockets supported are AM4, LGA2066, and LGA115x. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Gigabyte has been stretching its product portfolio for a while now, and it seems the company really wants to be the one to distribute everything on your PC if it can. Of course, no company does this based on its good heart - Gigabyte is putting up a margin on all products, as the whole spirit of business and capitalism requires. Their latest move is to bundle an overclocked, cherry-picked Intel Core i9 9900K CPU with their most expensive motherboard to date, the Z390 Aorus Extreme Waterforce. This motherboard alone retails for $999, and is built from a "Gigabytestein" of parts such as their Z390 Aorus Extreme motherboard ($550) paired with a custom waterblock.

The good part of having the CPU bundled with the motherboard is that Gigabyte has taken the pains of BIOS tweaking to ensure proper, stable operation - each combo has already been tended to by Gigabyte's engineers - stress testing included - and is guaranteed to work at the cherry-picked 5.1 GHz frequency on all cores. The bundle pricing isn't known as of yet, but pairing the $999 motherboard with a CPU that usually retails for around $525 (due to price fluctuations on account of Intel's CPU shortages) amounts to a cool $1,524 - add in a Gigabyte tax and the price of cherry-picking these CPUs (Silicon Lottery has these i9-9900K going for an out of stock $939), and a bundle price of $1,899 would still be worth it - if you really (really) want that motherboard.

GIGABYTE today rolled out the Aorus RGB AIC NVMe SSD series. Built in the full-height single-slot AIC form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, the card combines a Phison PS5012-E12 NVMe 1.3 controller with Toshiba BiCS3 TLC NAND flash, and comes in capacities of 512 GB and 1 TB, which are equipped with 512 MB and 1 GB of DRAM cache, respectively. The 1 TB variant offers sequential transfer speeds of up to 3,480 MB/s reads, with up to 3,080 MB/s writes; up to 610,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 530,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The 512 GB variant, on the other hand, gives you up to 3,480 MB/s sequential reads, up to 2,100 MB/s sequential writes; up to 360,000 IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 510,000 IOPS random writes.

GIGABYTE deployed a passive cooling system, consisting of a thermal pad that makes contact with the controller, NAND flash chips, and DRAM chips on one side, and on the other side the card's top aluminium shroud that doubles up as a heatspreader. There's an equally thick aluminium back-plate which holds the card's acrylic RGB LED diffuser that runs along the top edge. You use GIGABYTE RGB Fusion software to control the lighting on this card. Both cards are backed by 5-year warranties, provided the card stays below their rated endurance of 800 TBW for the 512 GB model, and 1600 TBW for the 1 TB model. The company didn't reveal pricing.

With ASUS monetizing its exclusivity as being the sole supplier of a Xeon W-3175X-capable client-segment motherboard by selling the ROG Dominus for1,550€, it was only a matter of time before other motherboard makers came out with halo products of their own. GIGABYTE unveiled the C621 Aorus Xtreme, and it's nothing like the board the company supplied to Intel for its 2018 demo of the W-3175X. This monstrosity pulls power from as combination of two 24-pin ATX and four 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning power for the CPU with a gargantuan 32-phase VRM that's cooled by a large aluminium heatsink that covers not just much of the upper part of the board, but also the I/O area, and much of the board's tail end. It also takes in two 6-pin PCIe connectors to stabilize power for the PCIe slots. The massive PCH heatsink extends to meet up with the VRM heatsink on the other end.

Connectivity includes everything you'd possibly want, with a riser card providing four M.2-22110 slots with PCIe 3.0 x4 wiring, each; a U.2 port, and eight SATA ports completing the storage options; two 1 GbE interfaces driven by Intel I210AT and I219LM controllers, a high-grade onboard audio solution, and an immeasurable amount of overclocker-friendly features that include diagnostic POST code read-outs, voltage measurement points, voltage stabilizers, and a feature-rich BIOS setup program. GIGABYTE didn't reveal pricing.

Remember when we brought you coverage of Gigabyte's watercooling-built Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce motherboard? At the time, we expected its design and feature set to place it some $100-$150 above the original Z390 Aorus Xtreme. Well, color us surprised, as it's being sold not at some $650-$700, but at a staggering $899 if you're lucky enough to live on the other side of the pond (speaking as a Portuguese man over here), or for an outrageous €1087 ($1247) here in my home country of Portugal. And I'm not even kidding.

Perhaps this is part of Gigabyte's push for higher profitability, via higher ASP (Average Selling Price) of its products in order to increase margins, especially on high-tier or halo products. Still, this pricing seems silly. We'll see if the market agrees with the valuation GIGABYTE is throwing behind its Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce motherboard.

GIGABYTE today updated its Aorus AC300 case with a new model featuring tempered glass panels and addressable-RGB LED lighting, and an updated front-panel. The new AC300 Glass, as its name suggests, dons a 4 mm-thick tempered-glass left side-panel, replacing the original's steel panel with acrylic window. The RGB LED embellishments of the case, such as Aorus logos on the front fascia and PSU compartment, and inserts along the front, now come with 3-pin addressable-RGB connectors, so you can control them with any aRGB LED control software, such as GIGABYTE RGB Fusion. For those without RGB motherboards, there's also a simple internal controller with a button on the front panel that toggles between lighting presets. The updated front-panel now features a USB 3.1 type-C port (standard header), in addition to a VR-Link HDMI port, two standard USB 3.1 type-A, and HDA audio jacks. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Phanteks today announced the launch of two new Glacier series GPU blocks, corresponding backplates, a vertical GPU bracket and flat riser cables to add to their product portfolio. This includes the Glacier G2080Ti XTREME and the Glacier G2080Ti STRIX for the Gigabyte AORUS Extreme RTX 2080/2080 Ti and the ASUS Strix RTX 2080/2080 Ti respectively. Both of these blocks use a minimalist design that extends the length of the PCB, allowing for a full cover fit to cool the GPU, VRAM and VRMs alike. Integrated digital RGB lighting coupled with an anodized or chrome-plate cover plate, a polished acrylic top, and a nickel-plated copper cold plate round off the aesthetics.

Phanteks made sure to give some love to the NVIDIA Founders Edition RTX 2080(Ti) cards as well with Glacier G2080Ti backplate that is designed to work with their own Glacier G2080TiFE water block, since the AIC cards come with their own backplate that can be re-used with the GPU blocks mentioned above. We get two color options here, and the backplate extends the entire length of the PCB again. The GPU blocks will be available for $149.99 each and the backplate costs $29.99/39.99 for the black/chrome versions towards the end of this month. Read past the break for more on their new accessories.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, has launched the world's first tactical gaming monitor, AORUS AD27QD, today. Heading into a new market, AORUS is well prepared and confident that the exclusive features on the monitor can give gamers a tactical advantage over their enemies while gaming. AORUS AD27QD is a 27inch flat screen frameless monitor.

It uses an IPS panel with QHD (2560x1440, 2K) resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate in 1ms (MPRT) response time. Not only is the view angle up to 178 degrees, it also meets 95% DCI-P3 standards along with 10bits color, so the monitor can provide users astonishingly beautiful pictures. On top of that, the monitor has passed VESA certified DisplayHDR 400 standards which gives users spectacular display quality; With AMD Radeon FreeSync​ technology, the monitor can provide the most fluent gaming experience to let you enjoy your gaming without picture stripping.

To go with their monitors and laptops Gigabyte also had multiple high-end motherboards and numerous graphics cards on display at CES 2019. Two of the motherboards that caught are attention were enthusiast offerings including the Z390 AORUS Xtreme which offered a 16 phase IR Digital VRM solution with Pow/Rstage. To go with the beefy VRM, they used a new cutting edge thermal design which uses a fins-array heatsink with a direct touch heat pipe and a NanoCarbon baseplate. Wireless networking has been included via an onboard Intel CNVI 802.11ac 2x2 Wave 2 Wi-Fi with AORUS Antenna. Meanwhile, standard networking is handled by an AQUANTIA 10 GbE BASE-T LAN and Intel Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed. Other additions include Intel Thunderbolt 3, exclusive RGB Fan Commander and OC Touch. Finally rounding out its features is the 127dB SNR AMP-UP audio with high-end ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, LME 49720 and OPA1622 OP-AMP, and WIMA audio capacitors. Just be prepared to pay the price of entry as this motherboard comes with a $599 price tag.

Taking things a step further, Gigabyte also had the AORUS Z390 Xtreme Waterforce motherboard on hand as well. It offers many of the same features as the Z390 AORUS Xtreme but adds in an AORUS all-in-one monoblock for both the CPU and PCH area. It also has Triple Ultra-Fast M.2 slots with PCIe Gen3 x4 interfaces along with their Triple Thermal Guards. To afford this high-end board unless you are an extreme enthusiast you might need to sell a kidney considering its eye-watering $899 price tag. Other motherboards on hand included both the X299 AORUS Master and Z390 AORUS Master which are already available at retail.

GIGABYTE's gaming brand AORUS has been expanding its product portfolio to just about any piece of kit a PC gamer can and will buy. From graphics cards to motherboards, RAM, and all manner of peripherals, there's little pieces of hardware that were missing - and AORUS is apparently preparing the last piece of the puzzle in the form of a FreeSync compatible monitor.

When GIGABYTE originally launched the Aorus RGB Memory DDR4-3200 16GB dual-channel memory kit, it included a pair of dummy modules that resemble the real thing, and let you fill up the blank memory slots of your motherboard. Dummy modules add to the cost, and some users simply don't prefer them, and so the company introduced a new kit bearing the SKU "GP-AR32C16S8K2HU416R," which lacks these dummies.

You get two 8 GB memory modules making up the 16 GB dual-channel kit, each with a chunky 2 mm-thick aluminium heatspreader capped by an acrylic diffuser that puts out light from five addressable RGB LEDs. These modules pack an XMP 2.0 profile that runs them at DDR4-3200 with 16-18-18-38 timings, at 1.35 V. Although the company doesn't specify which brand of DRAM chips it's using, it mentions support for both Intel and AMD platforms.

GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce features the most over the top illuminated design among motherboards today. A vast DIY liquid monoblock spans almost an entire diagonal of the motherboard, with a nickel-plated copper base, acrylic top, and more RGB LEDs than Times Square. This block cools everything from the CPU VRM to the CPU itself, and the Z390 Express chipset. The coolant channel even passes over the PCH. Underneath all this, the motherboard is identical in layout, connectivity, and features, as the original Z390 Aorus Xtreme. This board could be sold at a $100-150 premium over the $550 original.

GIGABYTE looks to expand their NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti lineup with the AORUS Turbo. This new offering features a blower-style cooler with a plastic shroud and no backplate. Considering the AORUS brand is typically enthusiast focused along with the fact GIGABYTE themselves already offer an RTX 2080 Ti with a blower-style cooler makes the AORUS Turbo a bit of a head-scratcher. Comparing the two shows the plastic shroud has been altered, however, outward appearance aside it is likely that the AORUS Turbo uses the same cooler as the GIGABYTE RTX 2080 Ti Turbo, which features a large vapor chamber cooler paired with a high-efficiency aluminium heatsink.

Meanwhile, power delivery is handled by two 8-pin PCIe connectors which are the standard for RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards. Display connectivity consists of three Displayport connectors, one HDMI connector, and a USB-C connector with VritualLink support. Other than that, full specifications and pricing are currently unknown. However, it can be speculated that the AORUS Turbo RTX 2080 Ti will feature stock clocks of 1545 MHz on the core and 14000 MHz on the memory with a price that should be close to MSRP at least in theory.

GIGABYTE introduced the B360 M Aorus Pro, a gaming-grade micro-ATX motherboard part of its new Aorus branding. The board features a quasi-premium feature-set that passes on savings from a more cost-effective CPU VRM to additional features, such as a more premium onboard audio, or WLAN. Built with a 240 mm x 240 mm PCB that maximizes the micro-ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS, and conditions power for the CPU with a 4+2 phase VRM that's cooled by enlarged heatsinks. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and a reinforced PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. The second slot is electrical gen 3.0 x4, and wired to the PCH.

Despite its size, the B360 M Aorus Pro packs three M.2 slots: an M.2-22110 with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring and heatsink, an M.2-2280 slot with PCI-Express 3.0 x2 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring, and a third E-key 30 mm slot with x1 wiring for CNVi 802.11ac Wave2 2T2R WLAN cards. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 gen 2 ports (including a type-C port), and four USB 3.1 gen 1. Networking is care of a 1 GbE interface pulled by an Intel i219-V controller. The onboard audio solution combines a Realtek ALC892 CODEC with audio-grade capacitors and ground-layer isolation. The board features a unique in-PCB RGB LED diffuser, GIGABYTE didn't reveal pricing, although we expect it to go for around $90.

GIGABYTE debuted liquid-cooled WaterForce editions of its Aorus Xtreme GeForce RTX 20-series graphics cards early November, with three products, two based on the RTX 2080, and one RTX 2080 Ti. While the RTX 2080 got two variants, one featuring an AIO liquid cooling solution, and another with a full-coverage water-block for DIY liquid cooling; the RTX 2080 Ti at the time only released in the full-coverage water-block trim, with no variant that has an AIO CLC. GIGABYTE changed that today, with the new "N208TAORUSX W-11GC," or Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Xtreme WaterForce.

This card features a slightly spruced up version of the Asetek-sourced AIO closed-loop liquid cooling solution its RTX 2080-based sibling features, with a larger base-plate to draw heat from the additional memory chips and MOSFETs that come with the RTX 2080 Ti. The card features the same factory-overclock as the water-block equipped twin, with a GPU Boost frequency set at 1770 MHz (vs. 1545 MHz reference). The memory is overclocked to 10140 MHz (GDDR6-effective, vs. 14000 MHz reference). The cooler features RGB LED embellishments along the front, top, back-plate, and the two included 120 mm fans for the radiator. It draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include three each of HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4, and a VirtualLink port. The card could be priced upward of $1,400.

GIGABYTE began shipping its second socket AMD TR4 motherboard since 2nd generation Ryzen Threadripper launch, the X399 Aorus Pro. If you've been paying attention to GIGABYTE's new nomenclature for Aorus, the "Pro" SKU is slotted between what was "Gaming 3" and "Gaming 5," making this GIGABYTE's most affordable TR4 motherboard, positioned below the X399 Gaming 7, and a far cry from the range-topping X399 Aorus Xtreme. The board ships with out-of-the-box support for 2nd generation Ryzen Threadripper processors. GIGABYTE appears to have reused the same exact PCB as the X399 Gaming 7, but with aesthetic updates and cost-cutting. The board's design scheme (I/O shroud and heatsink designs) are somewhat aligned with its newer generation design aesthetic introduced with its Z390 Aorus family.

Cost cutting over the X399 Gaming 7 comes in the form of the I/O shroud no longer running the entire length of the PCB, only one out of three M.2 slots getting a SSD heatsink, only two out of five PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots getting full metal reinforcement, and the lack of a WLAN module. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX, and uses an 8-phase VRM to power the CPU. Expansion slot layout is unchanged from the Gaming 7, with two x16 slots running at x16, and two taking 8 lanes from them. A fifth x16 slot is gen 2.0 x4. All three M.2 PCIe slots are wired to the CPU. The onboard audio solution is carried over, with Realtek ALC1220 CODEC, WIMA capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. The sole networking interface is a 1 GbE pulled by an Intel i211-AT controller. Available now, the GIGABYTE X399 Aorus Pro is priced at $270, a whole Benjamin cheaper than what the Aorus X399 Gaming 7 launched at.

GIGABYTE today announced its almost-flagship socket LGA2066 motherboard, the X299 Aorus Master. The Master brand-extension, if you'll recall, is positioned just a notch below the flagship Aorus Xtreme, which makes this board a successor to the X299 Aorus Gaming 7. The X299 Aorus Gaming 9 and Designare-EX remain the company's flagship LGA2066 products, until they're succeeded by a new Aorus Xtreme product. There's still plenty to go around with the new X299 Aorus Master, beginning with its updated design scheme that's in sync with the company's latest Z390 motherboard lineup. It ships with out-of-the-box support for Core X 9000-series processors. The board is wider than ATX, although not quite E-ATX. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and an optional 6-pin PCIe power. A 12-phase VRM powers the CPU, cooled by a 2-stage heatsink. Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8). The DIMM and PCIe slots feature metal reinforcement.

Storage connectivity on the GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Master includes three M.2 slots with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring, each with heatsinks; and eight SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking includes a 2.5 GbE wired interface driven by Realtek Dragon 8125AG controller, a 1 GbE driven by Intel i219-V controller, and 802.11 ac + Bluetooth 5 interface driven by Intel 9260 WLAN card. USB connectivity includes four USB 3.1 gen 2 ports (two on the rear panel including a type-C, two by header), driven by a combination of ASMedia ASM1142 controller and the X299 PCH. The onboard audio solution is quite something. An ESS Sabre 9218 DAC (130 dBA SNR!) drives the main front + headphones channel with Ti Burr Brown OPA2111KP OPAMPs and WIMA capacitors; while a 120 dBA SNR Realtek ALC1220VB pulls the remaining channels. Manually-switchable dual-BIOS, 7-segment POST code readout, USB flash-back, and a boatload of other overclocker-friendly features complete the board. Expect it to be priced around USD $399.

As a follow up to last week's all-in-one liquid cooling based product, GIGABYTE today released the Aorus Xtreme GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 WaterForceWB. These cards are targeted at enthusiasts with DIY liquid cooling setups, and come with a factory-fitted full-coverage water block, instead of the AIO cooler. The block's primary material is nickel-plated copper with mirror finish, while its top is mainly acrylic, with opaque embellishments, a part of which is an addressable RGB LED diffuser that takes input from a standarized aRGB header. The opaque portion of the top also features a glowing Aorus logo.

The underlying PCB of the RTX 2080 Ti WaterForce WB packs a 16+3 phase VRM that draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, 1770 MHz GPU Boost frequency, and a memory overclock of 14140 MHz (vs. 14000 MHz). The RTX 2080 WaterForce WB features the same PCB as its AIO-equipped twin, with a 12+2 phase VRM, 1890 MHz GPU Boost, and 14140 MHz memory OC. While the block itself is around 1-slot thick, a second row of display connectors makes the card 2-slot. Among these connectors are three each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b, and VirtualLink.

Gigabyte is now readying a new hybrid cooled graphics card, based on NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2080. Dubbed the Aorus Xtreme WaterForce (GV-N2080AORUSX W-8GC). It uses an all-in-one liquid cooler based design that makes use of a 240 mm radiator. The copper baseplate is quite large and receives heat from the cards VRM via a copper heat pipe, thus cooling all major components. The fans are of course RGB LED-equipped, which goes with the illuminated translucent wing on the shroud. Overall it is an attractive card if you have the extra space for its cooling solution.

This model isn't just a standard offering with a fancy cooler, Gigabyte has equipped it with a sizable overclock, pushing the card to 1890 MHz the same core clocks as the Aorus Xtreme air and the waterblock equipped WaterForce WB. Memory speeds see a speed bump as well of 140 MHz which pushes the overall memory clock speed up to 14140 MHz. The board design is also based on the Aorus Xtreme and Aorus Xtreme Waterforce WB cards and comes with a 12+2 phase design and dual 8-pin power connectors. Display connectivity is also the same as the other models and includes; 3x DisplayPort, 3x HDMI, and a single USB TypeC.

GIGABYTE expanded its teething DDR4 memory lineup with a new 16 GB (2x 8 GB) dual-channel DDR4 memory kit, called simply "GIGABYTE Memory 2666MHz." These modules lack the Aorus branding featured on the company's very first DDR4 modules. You instead get 32 mm tall, 7 mm-thick modules with a restrained design, and plain GIGABYTE branding.

One area where the company refined its design is the heatspreaders, which are thicker, and have more mass to them, even if they lack finnage. GIGABYTE's module does what it says on the tin - DDR4-2666 with 16-16-16-35 timings, at 1.2 Volts. Out of the box, it packs both JEDEC and XMP SPD profiles. Memory controllers that support DDR4-2666 (such as Intel "Coffee Lake" and later), should run it at the advertised speeds without any user intervention. For older platforms, an XMP 2.0 profile helps achieve the advertised settings. The modules are backed by lifetime warranty.

After NVIDIA's own $80 NVLink bridge, and ASUS' slightly more functional ROG NVLink Bridge, it's becoming clear that at $80, or higher price than entry-level graphics cards and motherboards, NVIDIA is guiding its partners to make a business of selling $5 pieces of hardware at $80. The latest entry to this contempt toward gamers is GIGABYTE, with its Aorus-branded NVLink Bridge, available in 3-slot (2 slots between cards) and 4-slot (3 slots between cards) variants. The bridge is characterized by a less pronounced C-shape than NVIDIA's bridge, through not completely trapezoid like ASUS'. The Aorus logo is capable of 16.7 million color RGB LED illumination, which you control via GIGABYTE RGB Fusion software. Like every other 2-way NVLink bridge, this one will go for $80.