Computex 2024 hosted many hardware showcases, but AI was a particularly high focus across the board—to such an extent, in fact, that Gigabyte's flagship Aorus brand barely received any attention.
Gigabyte mostly seemed focused on pushing its "AI TOP" series of boards and related hardware instead. When we visited the Gigabyte Aorus booth, we were given no briefing on its hardware, though closer inspection of the pedestals reveals that Gigabyte is showcasing its designs for yet-to-be-revealed Intel CPU sockets. Its current-gen Aorus Xtreme X Ice Z790 is paired with a white RTX 4080 Super, as seen in our header.
While there are no specifications yet available for the next-gen Intel socket Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme boards, we can surmise a fair bit from our eyes and a quick glance at the existing Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X Ice Z790 specifications page, which it didn't have when it was revealed back in April.
These boards shouldn't have issues with supporting up to 192 GB of high-speed DDR5 at or faster than 8266 MT/s, at least two PCIe x16 slots*, and the (current) Gigabyte extras. These include Q-Flash and related BIOS functionality, several fan and lighting connectors, integrated Wi-Fi 7, and in the case of Aorus boards especially, particularly swole VRM designs.
*A notable downside of the Aorus Xtreme X Ice is that one of its two x16 slots is restricted to Gen 3 speeds. The full-speed one also can't be used simultaneously with one of the NVMe slots onboard. While desktop chipsets ultimately enforce limitations like these on increasingly premium boards, how these high-impact design decisions are balanced is worth noting.
In any case, the next generation of Gigabyte's staple Aorus brand is looking pretty good, at least if you don't mind paying the price premium associated with pretty, high-end hardware. AMD isn't being neglected either, though, in the Aorus booth, you'd be forgiven for assuming the lone Aorus AMD RX 7800 XT was just an afterthought. "And yes, Mr. Wayne...it comes in black."
