GIGABYTE X299 AORUS-Gaming 3 Review

👤by David Mitchelson Comments 📅19-06-17
Conclusion

For those wanting a taste of the new Intel X299 chipset, you can’t go far wrong with what GIGABYTE has presented in the X299 AORUS-Gaming 3.

While this motherboard plays it safe with the overall aesthetics, having a neutral backdrop means the rest of your hardware will pair up very well indeed and the pre-installed RGB lighting and headers mean you can choose to add in the colour yourself – choosing a colour/theme of preference. So the styling is sleek and the overall layout of Gaming 3 arrives with the only complaint being that one of the M.2 drives will sit underneath the graphics card in the primary X16 PCI Express slot (and lack airflow) – however that’s only likely to be an issue should both M.2s be in use.

Speaking of storage, the Gaming 3 has eight SATA 3 6GB/s ports and also carries those two PCI-Express x4 Gen3 M.2 slots, so there is no shortage of available options for different storage standards. We also get up to eight fan headers which are positioned in key locations – twin CPU headers and a dedicated pump header are all found in close proximity to the CPU socket.

One particular area we are very pleased to see is the complete overhaul of USB 2.0 and even USB 3.0. On the back panel GIGABYTE has equipped this board to only have USB 3.1 – something we regard as a move in the right direction. A similar thing could be said for the wired gigabit LAN connection too – in the past GIGABYTE has opted for Killer LAN but instead they’re now embracing the benefits of an Intel-based controller, again, a wise decision.


Moving on to performance the Gaming 3 maintains good overall results throughout the range of tests we ran, offering up consistent figures no matter the scenario. However, where this motherboard shines is when we step into the overclocking department. Among the Intel X299 motherboards we’ve tested for this platform launch, the Gaming 3 was the only board able to sustain a 5.2GHz with the Core i7-7740X. Due to the fact that Gaming 3 was able to offer the best overclock with this chip we decided to use it to review the quad-core Kabylake-X offering and what’s more is that of the bunch we tested, the AORUS comes in at the lowest price too!

Current pricing indicates that our Gaming 3 will arrive with a UK price of £259 GBP and $279 USD. Against the competition we have an extremely capable motherboard which is packed with features and which offers sever-level construction while delivering rock-solid overclocking prowess.

The X299-AORUS Gaming 3 is a stunning motherboard which does not shy away from serving up a whole host of exciting features. This might be the lowest model in the AORUS lineup but it carries server-level components and can push your CPU beyond the competition.

Pros
+ Desirable neutral theme
+ Excellent performance
+ Exceptional for overclocking
+ Arrives kitted out with all-USB 3.1 ports
+ Uses strengthened PCI Express/memory slots
+ Uses server-level construction/components
+ Up to eight fan headers
+ Additional onboard buttons
+ Lots of storage including dual M.2
+ Strong audio solution

Cons
- Lacks U.2

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

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