Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Firmware
Gigabyte updated its BIOS on some X670 refresh boards, and that carried that layout over to the X870 line and the Aorus Master. The updated Easy Mode is laid out logically and displays plenty of information about the system, processor, RAM, fan speeds, and has several selectable options, including XMP profiles and RAM tweaks, Re-Size BAR support, Smart Fan 6 access, and more. The black background and white text familiar to the Aorus line is easy to read, while the orange accents on the AOrus line provide a much-needed visual update.
The Advanced mode also received a facelift. While all headings are still across the top, they are now larger ‘buttons’ and easily selectable with a mouse. The highlight bar (where you are on the page) is Aorus Orange and easy to see. Every option you need and want is at your fingertips, and you don’t have to drill down several layers to reach the most commonly used functions – especially if you populate your selections in the Favorites section.
Software
Several months back, Gigabyte released a new software suite called the Gigabyte Control Control (GCC). GCC is a one-stop shop that controls several functions, from RGB and Fan control to hardware monitoring and overclocking. It’s also helpful in finding, downloading, and installing driver updates to your system. It’s a simple application that does its job. It’s also a much cleaner tool than the previous App Center and gets our approval for the breadth of functionality it brings users.
Test System / Comparison Products
We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 (23H2) 64-bit OS with all updates applied as of late September 2024 (this includes the Branch Prediction Optimizations for AMD). Hardware-wise, we’ve updated the RAM kits (matching our Intel test system), cooling, storage, and video card. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public. Thanks goes out to Asus for providing the RTX 4080 TUF graphics card and Crucial for the 2TB T705 SSDs in our updated testbed. The hardware we used is as follows:
Test System Components
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 9900X | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| Cooling | Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420 | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| Storage | Crucial 2TB T705 M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| RAM | Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL36 | (KF560C36BBEAK2-32) |
| RAM | Teamgroup T-Froce Delta DDR5-7200 CL34 | (FF3D518G7200HC34ABK) |
| RAM | Klevv Cras XR5 RGB DDR5-8000 | (KD5AGUA80-80R380S) |
| GPU | Asus TUF RTX 4080 16G | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
| PSU | EVGA Supernova 850W P6 | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
| OS | Windows 11 64-bit (23H2 - 22631.4169) | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
| Sound | Integrated HD audio | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
| Network | Integrated Networking (GbE to 10 GbE) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
| Graphics Driver | NVIDIA Driver 561.09 | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
Benchmark Settings
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | Row 0 - Cell 1 |
| Procyon | Version 2.6.848 64 |
| Row 2 - Cell 0 | Office Suite (Office 365), Video Editing (Premiere Pro 23.6), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.0, Lightroom Classic 12.5) |
| 3DMark | Version 2.27.8177 64 |
| Row 4 - Cell 0 | Firestrike Extreme (v1.1) and Time Spy (v1.2) Default Presets |
| Cinebench R24 | Version ‘build unknown’ |
| Row 6 - Cell 0 | Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded |
| Blender | Version 3.6.0 |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Full benchmark (all 3 tests) |
| Application Tests and Settings | Row 9 - Cell 1 |
| LAME MP3 | Version SSE2_2019 |
| Row 11 - Cell 0 | Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 1.2.2 |
| Row 13 - Cell 0 | Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX) |
| Corona 1.4 | Version 1.4 |
| Row 15 - Cell 0 | Custom benchmark |
| 7-Zip | Version 21.03-beta |
| Row 17 - Cell 0 | Integrated benchmark (Command Line) |
| Game Tests and Settings | Row 18 - Cell 1 |
| Far Cry 6 | Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON |
| F1 2022 | Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, Ultra High (default) Bahrain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON |
MORE: Best Motherboards
MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard
MORE: All Motherboard Content
BadRAM attack breaches AMD secure VMs using a Raspberry Pi Pico, DDR socket, and a 9V battery
AMD nearly beats power efficiency goal a year early — AMD's new AI servers are 28.3 times more efficient than 2020 versions
Marvell develops custom HBM memory solutions — interface shrinks and higher performance on the menu
