EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new Socket TR4 based monoblock made for several GIGABYTE X399 motherboards. The EK-FB GA X399 GAMING RGB Monoblock has an integrated 3-pin RGB Digital LED strip which makes it compatible with GIGABYTE Fusion, thus offering a full lighting customization experience.

This is a complete all-in-one (CPU and motherboard) liquid cooling solution for two GIGABYTE AMD X399 Chipset based motherboards that support AMD Socket TR4 AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. This monoblock is compatible with the following GIGABYTE motherboards:

• GIGABYTE X399 Aorus Gaming 7 (rev.1.0)
• GIGABYTE X399 Designare EX (rev.1.0)

GIGABYTE finally gave its socket LGA2066 motherboard series the silvery Designare treatment, with the new X299 Designare EX motherboard. The board features the same silver+blue styling the company implemented on its X399 Designare EX, but unlike its Z270X Designare, the silver theme doesn't continue onto the PCB. This is probably also because the X299 Designare EX is based on the same exact PCB as the Aorus X299 Gaming 7.

All that's changed between the X299 Designare EX and the Aorus X299 Gaming 7, is an included Thunderbolt 3 add-on card, the silver colored VRM, chipset, and M.2 SSD heatsinks, the silver-colored rear I/O shroud, and GIGABYTE Designare branding replacing the Aorus branding, wherever applicable. The LED inserts are still RGB multi-color, although out of the box, they're configured to be soft-blue. You can configure them with the GIGBAYTE RGB Fusion software. Unlike the Aorus X299 Gaming 7, this board features a silver back-plate that covers most of the board's reverse side, and an integrated rear I/O shield. The rest of its feature set is identical to that of the Aorus X299 Gaming 7. One can expect the GIGABYTE X299 Designare EX to be the company's most expensive socket LGA2066 motherboard, above even the Aorus X299 Gaming 9, on account of its included Thunderbolt 3 add-on card, and Designare-specific features.

GIGABYTE formally launched its flagship socket TR4 motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, the X399 Designare EX. Positioned slightly above the company's current (and only) offering for this platform, the Aorus X399 Gaming 7, the new Designare EX is based on the same PCB, and a nearly-identical feature-set, except for cosmetic changes, such as its silver-metallic color-scheme dominating the VRM and chipset heatsinks, the M.2 SSD heatspreaders, the I/O shroud and integrated shield, and a back-plate covering most of the reverse side.

Built in the ATX form-factor, the X399 Designare EX draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS, and 4-pin ATX, conditioning it for the CPU using an 8-phase VRM with "server-grade" chokes, and a VRM heatsink that offloads its heat onto a second heatsink via a heat-pipe. Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 3.0 x16, all of which are wired to the CPU. Storage connectivity includes three 32 Gb/s M.2 slots, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, from which four are directly wired to the CPU.

The X399 Designare EX, to which we were privy to a sneak peek already, stands to be Gigabyte's flagship X399 motherboard for AMD's Threadripper platform. Gigabyte, however, seem to have taken a little too much inspiration from their own AORUS X399 Gaming 7, since even the PCB color has been appropriated form that board. Changes are mostly aesthetic: black heatsinks have turned silver, with some added bluish bling that would make any Halo fan smile, and the backplate has a premium feel to it. Overall, I quite like the design accents in this board, though again, this seems to be a case of a slight redressing of an already existing product - with an accompanying increase to its price-tag. If the AORUS Gaming 7 retails for $389, you should see this one crossing the $400 threshold easily.