Gigabyte officially unveils premium ice-themed motherboard and GPU — XTREME Prestige Limited Edition lineup arrives

PR image of Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme Prestige Limited Edition Graphics Card and Motherboard combo
(Image credit: Gigabyte PR)

Gigabyte has officially announced a new XTREME Prestige Limited Edition graphics card and motherboard combo to the world, featuring an RTX 4080 SUPER and Z790 motherboard both filled with intense cosmetic and performance upgrades. We've known about the existence of their new graphics card and motherboard for a few weeks now, but Gigabyte is now officially launching them into the marketplace for sale.

Gigabyte's new hardware pairing is among its most luxurious hardware offerings of all time. Both components, sold separately, are covered in titanium and ornamented with gold, including unique engraved serial number plaques. Gigabyte has yet to confirm how many units will be released, saying to Tom's Hardware earlier this month that "Availability is expected to be very tight." But leaks and other sources estimate between 300 to 500 units of the limited edition hardware set will be produced and serialized.

Image of the Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme Ice RTX 4080 Super graphics card.

(Image credit: Gigabyte PR)

The engine of the pair is the Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 4080 Super Xtreme Ice 16G, which comes equipped with some exciting upgrades from the stock 4080 Super. Most notably, its core clock of 2.7 GHz is a 150 MHz overclock from the stock card, and Gigabyte estimates its Xtreme Ice model will put out 885 AI TOPs performance to overtake the stock 836 AI TOPs. Dual BIOS overclocking beyond the impressive core clock is also seen onboard. Cooling the workhorse down are three "bionic shark" 110 mm fans and a large vapor chamber. And for the fans of pretty colors and customization, all three fans are surrounded in addressable RGB rings and the face of the card features an LCD monitor with customizable GIF support.

The Z790 Aorus Xtreme X Ice motherboard will also excite customers. Aesthetically, the board is intriguing with a crystalized titanium finish, golden CPU socket, and a truly massive removable M.2 heatsink. Feature-rich as well, you can find DDR5 speeds of up to XMP-8266 and beyond, AI-boosted CPU overclocking that promises speeds of up to 6.3 GHz on a i9-14900KS, and bonus features like the included external DAC for increased audio quality. 

The two products will be sold separately, but are likely to be included in a bundle with additional Xtreme Ice products in the future. It's unclear who would buy one without the other, or purchase the two separately and risk mismatching serial numbers. Each product will be sold in a bespoke "unboxing experience," however, complete with high-end packaging, "exquisite" tools, and anti-static gloves. Pricing for the components is also still unknown, with the Gigabyte press release promising pricing details on the Gigabyte website which could not be found. We will update the story with the correct price when it comes, but we estimate a price tag north of $1,299 for the graphics card alone, based on other overclocked variants of the 4080 Super.

Dallin Grimm
Contributing Writer

Dallin Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom's. From APUs to RGB, Dallin has a handle on all the latest tech news. 

  • jkhoward
    This is a waste of precious metals.
    Reply
  • DotNetMaster777
    Clear and understandable article for me
    Reply
  • 35below0
    jkhoward said:
    This is a waste of precious metals.
    This is pretty smart. They're trying to create a new segment. I don't know if it will work. There are people who aren't particularly interested in things unless they're decked out in gold.

    If there's rich guys out there who don't care about what computer they have, but get a chance to show off classy or heavy duty bling...
    It's not a cheap poser motherboard either.

    To enthusiasts this may be a waste of precious metals, but Gigabyte is trying to attract new customers. If this works they might even spin off a luxury brand.

    I don't mind if rich guys get their jollies being richer than everyone else. That's a superhigh tier i don't shop in anyway. So if someone creates another even higher, more luxurious tier above it, i can just shrug.
    We might get priced out of some features in the future but if one of them is over-overclocking motherboards, it's not a loss.
    Reply
  • Notton
    I can understand Gold, but Titanium?

    Titanium would have zero functionality on a mobo.
    It's not as good at conducting heat as aluminum, copper, silver, or gold. It's main advantage is usage in structural elements, but a mobo doesn't need that.
    IMO and AFAIK, it has no bling value unless it's a structural replacement for aluminum/steel, like a laptop shell, or car/bike frame.

    Titanium is also not a precious metal. That would be something like Iridium or Platinum.

    My guess is Apple used Titanium in their phone and sold it as a premium. And Gigabyte was like "yeah, I'm going to copy that and ride the bandwagon without fully understanding why it is a premium feature."

    But, at the very least, I applaud Gigabyte for not going with a carbon fiber PCB.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Another generation, another new flagship series. Nothing new. Back in the days, I believe Gigabyte's Ultra Durable series was somewhere in the mid to mid lower tier, and now, its like the last second lowest end range. That mid range got replaced by the Gaming series, which is now replaced by a segmented Aorus series.
    Reply
  • 35below0
    Notton said:
    I can understand Gold, but Titanium?

    Titanium would have zero functionality on a mobo.
    It's not as good at conducting heat as aluminum, copper, silver, or gold. It's main advantage is usage in structural elements, but a mobo doesn't need that.
    IMO and AFAIK, it has no bling value unless it's a structural replacement for aluminum/steel, like a laptop shell, or car/bike frame.

    Titanium is also not a precious metal. That would be something like Iridium or Platinum.

    My guess is Apple used Titanium in their phone and sold it as a premium. And Gigabyte was like "yeah, I'm going to copy that and ride the bandwagon without fully understanding why it is a premium feature."
    I think you hit the nail on the head. It's the name, or the idea that sells. (Well, Gigabyte is trying to sell it)
    Titanium sounds cool. Rule of cool invoked...
    Notton said:
    But, at the very least, I applaud Gigabyte for not going with a carbon fiber PCB.
    ...you just gave them their next idea.

    Back in the days, I believe Gigabyte's Ultra Durable series was somewhere in the mid to mid lower tier, and now, its like the last second lowest end range. That mid range got replaced by the Gaming series, which is now replaced by a segmented Aorus series.
    They didn't bump the UD series down. It's a base that they add various other features or combinations of features to. Maybe ARGB, maybe extra storage slots, VRM, memory OC support, and so on.

    The z790 UD for example is a ... good motherboard. I have it. I saw no value in Gaming or Aorus models because the extras they offered were irrelevant to me. Probably wouldn't be for others.
    I'm not even sure what the Gaming is supposed to be? And there are Eagle models as well.
    Aside from the Aero G motherboard all Gigabyte motherboards are base level UDs or tiers of Aorus. Tiers that add price mostly without much value, in my opinion. But if there's a feature you really want, you need to buy that higher tier motherboard.

    Part of the reason the z790 UD is good is the chipset itself. Lesser chipset UD models have cut features and maybe lesser quality. Which is annoying because the branding is the same, but the product is different.

    It's a little bit of silly to even tout Ultra Durable as something special when ALL Gigabyte motherboards are UD by default. Except maybe the dirt cheapest ones.

    10-12 years ago UD3H, UD4H and UD5H were differentiated by that number after UD. Higher number, more features. Marketing-wise, the Aorus name is better than random looking letters and numbers.
    It doesn't help determine how suitable or how good a motherboard is. For that you have to look at the chipset and check the mobo specs.
    Reply
  • Phaaze88
    'Premium ice theme'
    *looks up ice and hard ice

    I ain't seeing the connection to ice, Chief. Marketing fail?
    Reply