Gigabyte, in a bid to further differentiate itself from its competitors' products, has decided to start bundling Intel's high-performance, 3D XPoint memory-based Optane drives with select AORUS motherboards. The initiative, which is available for the company's Z370 Aorus Gaming 7-OP and Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming WIFI-OP (where the OP suffix denotes the Optane bundle) delivers Intel's 32 GB Optane module at a price that's lower than the sum of its parts.

The Z370 Aorus Gaming 7-OP, for example, comes with an MSRP of just $269, $20 more than the non-OP version of the same motherboard - and can now be had for the same $249. This means you'll snag a full 32 GB Optane module for free with this bundle. The Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming WIFI-OP delivers a slightly less sweet deal, but it's still interesting: it's available at an MSRP of $214, while its non-Optane-equipped equivalent is available for $164.99 (this means the usually $74 Optane module will set you back a much more manageable $32). And have I mentioned these are absolutely beautiful motherboards?

GIGABYTE X470 Aorus Gaming 7 was the first X470 motherboard to be shown off to the world. With its chipset name redacted, the board was even shown off at the 2018 International CES, early January. Now closer to its mid-April launch alongside AMD Ryzen 2000-series "Pinnacle Ridge" processors, we have the first clear picture of the board.

The board features the same design scheme GIGABYTE introduced with its Aorus-branded motherboards based on Intel 300-series chipset. There are subtle changes in the retail board, compared to the prototype shown off at CES, such as more decals over the VRM heatsinks and the rear I/O shroud. As detailed in our CES coverage of this board, it has all the bells and whistles to be the company's next flagship socket AM4 product, and could be priced north of $200 or even $250. There could be a sub-variant that lacks the WLAN module.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, has unveiled the new X299 AORUS Gaming 7 Pro motherboard. With support for the new Intel 18-Core i9 7980XE processor, the new motherboard is ready to elevate performance to the next level. Featuring an updated VRM design paired with Smart Fan 5 technology to satiate the power demands of the new 18-core processor while keeping the system icy cool, the new X299 AORUS Gaming 7 Pro is the definitive motherboard of choice for users who value performance first and foremost.

"The X299 AORUS Gaming 7 Pro motherboard is designed to fully support Intel's newest Core i9 7980XE processor." said Vincent Liu, Senior Associate Vice President of GIGABYTE's Motherboard Business Unit. "With our tried-and-true approach and seasoned experience, we have designed a motherboard that truly fulfills enthusiasts' highest expectations."

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is still dictating the pace as they are releasing their third LGA-2066 socket based monoblock made to fit several GIGABYTE X299 motherboards. The EK-FB GA X299 GAMING RGB Monoblock has an integrated 3-pin Digital RGB LED strip which makes it compatible with GIGABYTE Fusion, thus offering a full lighting customization experience!

EK-FB GA X299 GAMING RGB Monoblock
This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for five GIGABYTE Intel X299 Chipset based motherboards that support new Intel Core X-series LGA-2066 socket processors. This monoblock is compatible with the following GIGABYTE motherboards:

• GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Gaming 3 (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Gaming 7 (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Gaming 9 (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X299 Aorus Ultra Gaming (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X299 UD4 (rev.1.0)