Introduction
The original GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER was a big letdown in terms of value as it served more of a subordinate role rather than its mainstream role as it sat beneath the X870E AORUS MASTER AI TOP, the true upper mainstream offering of its release generation. While it has been challenging for brands to figure out how to define what their upper mainstream is, for the most part many of them don’t drop things that worked well in the past.
GIGABYTE failed to communicate this properly and many felt that last release was a step backwards not aware of the AI TOP model. For the most part, it was a mixed bag but functionality was still a win for the X870E AORUS MASTER, and GIGABYTE is correcting that with the X3D re-release of the AORUS MASTER.
Previewed last year and debuting near the end of 2025, we got the GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE, a reimagining of the original Ryzen 9000 AORUS MASTER generation but this time aimed at the more gaming-oriented X3D lineup, hence the name.
Releasing a bit later than the ICE variant is the sample we have for review today, the more traditional GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D. No non-ICE or BLACK EDITION or Stealth in the name, just classic GB naming. In this review, we’ll go over the motherboard and show you what’s new, what’s hot and what’s not so for anyone building during this trying time would know what they’re getting.
Read on to find out more!
Specifications
Official product page – GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D
X870E/X870 Block Diagram
First, a quick rundown of AMD’s 2026 chipset stack. With the help of their board partners, AMD is hoping to further distinguish the B850 options from X870 motherboards by spreading their pricing gap and audience spread. As of 2025, AMD has been more open into pushing B850 onto cheaper motherboards to as older stocks of B650 dwindle, effectively supplanting that market and pushing the B850 onto its proper price tier.
With that entry market covered, the X870 now steps in offering middleground option for users that want more modern IO features but don’t want the features usually attached to the higher end X870E.
And the X870E itself gets a more enthusiast-focused marketing push as partners now target either X3D CPU users or workstation builders.
This creates a more distinct tiering stack, which helps AMD push more users to its platform and negating the initial AMD 800 chipset burden of being to premium and pricing out entry users.
Focusing on the X870E/X870 family, we have a quick diagram below:
AMD AM5 Chipset Comparison Table
| Feature/Spec | AMD X870E | AMD X870 | AMD X670E | AMD X670 | AMD B650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chipset Link | x8 PCIe Gen4 | x4 PCIe Gen4 | x8 PCIe Gen4 | x4 PCIe Gen4 | x4 PCIe Gen4 |
| PCIe Lanes | 8 x PCIe Gen4, 8 x PCIe Gen3 | 8 x PCIe Gen4, 4 x PCIe Gen3 | 8 x PCIe Gen4, 8 x PCIe Gen3 | 8 x PCIe Gen4, 4 x PCIe Gen3 | 4 x PCIe Gen4, 4 x PCIe Gen3 |
| M.2 Slots | Supports multiple Gen5 and Gen4 M.2 | Supports Gen5 and Gen4 M.2 | Supports multiple Gen5 and Gen4 M.2 | Supports Gen5 and Gen4 M.2 | Primarily Gen4 M.2, limited Gen5 |
| USB Ports | USB4 (40Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen2 (20Gbps) | USB 3.2 Gen2 (20Gbps) | USB4 (40Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen2 (20Gbps) | USB 3.2 Gen2 (20Gbps) | USB 3.2 Gen2 (20Gbps), limited Gen2x2 |
| Networking | 2.5GbE + 5GbE support | 2.5GbE | 2.5GbE + 5GbE support | 2.5GbE | 2.5GbE |
| SATA Ports | Up to 4 SATA 6Gbps | Up to 4 SATA 6Gbps | Up to 4 SATA 6Gbps | Up to 4 SATA 6Gbps | Up to 4 SATA 6Gbps |
The AMD X870E chipset, AMD’s current flagship, features a x8 PCIe Gen4 chipset link, 8 PCIe Gen4 lanes, and 8 PCIe Gen3 lanes, supporting multiple PCIe Gen5 M.2 SSDs and advanced USB4 (40Gbps) connectivity. It also includes dual Ethernet (2.5GbE + 5GbE) and Wi-Fi 7, ensuring top-tier networking. USB options are extensive, with USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20Gbps) ports and multiple USB 3.2 Gen2 ports for high-speed external devices.
The X870, with its x4 PCIe Gen4 chipset link, scales back bandwidth but retains 8 PCIe Gen4 lanes and 4 PCIe Gen3 lanes. It omits USB4 but still supports USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20Gbps) and single Ethernet (2.5GbE) with Wi-Fi 6E or 7. Its reduced lane allocation makes it more suitable for high-performance builds that don’t require extreme I/O flexibility.
Compared to the X670E which offers similar lane configurations to the X870E but lacks USB4 and advanced networking. Meanwhile ,the B650 focuses on PCIe Gen4 M.2 storage and budget-friendly USB 3.2 Gen2 options, making it ideal for mainstream systems. Both chipsets are still functional for the Ryzen 9000 processors and should not warrant an upgrade if you’re already on one.
On the CPU side, AM5 processors provide x16 PCIe Gen5 lanes for GPUs, x4 PCIe Gen5 lanes for NVMe storage, and direct access to DDR5 dual-channel memory.
Packaging & Content
GIGABYTE is blessing this motherboard with a premium flip packaging. Its a premium feeling box and definitely sets you up for a good time during the unboxing experience. The packaging itself is still signature colored AORUS styling with a predominantly black box with the AORUS stylized logo and the model name. GB did drop the marketing bullets on the front and more surprisingly, the back (or bottom?) of the box doesn’t have the layout info spread we normally see. Still, good impressions just from this alone.
Opening up the box, we have the flip cover revealing the board (not in the photo) and removing the board you will see a piece of cardboard which is another flap for the bottom compartment. The AORUS 3M badge is sticking out thru a peephole which is a nice touch.
I was really hoping there’s more to this board but aside from the telemetry sensors. Pretty slim inclusions.
Package contains:
- X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE or X870E AORUS MASTER X3D motherboard
- User’s Manual
- Quick Installation Guide
- One antenna
- Two SATA cables
- DDR Wind Blade
- One fan power extension cable
- One noise detection cable
- Two thermistor cables
- Two Velcro cable ties
- One G Connector
Board Layout
Now let’s go around the GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D now. A glance of the entire board, I get a more premium vibe from this versus the more metallic aura of the non-X3D MASTER but still feels more cleaner than whatever you’re supposed to feel with the AI TOP version.
The back of this board is effectively what you’d be looking at in terms of conveyed emotions when you look at the previous designs of this board. Literally a brutalist design for a board with hard lines and sharp angles made of dull, solid material.
Thankfully that stays at the back this time and double thanks for the backplate’s return as well. Overall, a nice motherboard to look at even in plain lighting.
The upper half of the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D is a cleaner version of their previous releasing, removing ther obvious LED lines that formed the RGB traces for the motherboard when its powered-on, they changed to a sleek black plate with a duotone trim that blends in to the duotone slash on the rest of the shroud. Its clean and premium-looking is a better design choice.
From a layout perspective, GIGABYTE is still riding 50/50 on that metal bracing for their memory slots. With RAM pricing right now, I’d want my slots to all be reinforced to carry the burden of all my sorrow. Kidding aside, this is a standard AM5 layout with the power delivery configuration arranged in a 18+2+2 array (CPU+SOC+Misc.) with mostly SPS stages used with DrMOS for the misc. stages.
Notice the fin stack beneath the main IO shroud. This has been a mainstay since the original AM4 boards and is a nice way to balance cooling performance without denser aluminum.
The surrounding area of the socket shows us the 8+8 CPU power ports, a binary readout LED display, and an HDMI port for internal display monitors for your case.
Reinforced power sockets on the right side for the PD-power PCIe 8-pin and the main ATX24 pin connectors. Right angled connectors on the lower edges gives us front panel USB-C and USB3.0 just below that. That header between the USB3.0 and USB-C angled connector is the fan splitter header where you need to connect the cable included with the board.
Before we move to the lower half, I want to point out the Gen5 PCIe upper slot of this board’s heatsink. As usual, its needlessly thick which presents problems for abnormally shaped ones. Previously I reported that Arctic’s Liquid Freezer III causes problems for boards that have massive top slot heatsinks but with more recent AIOs now bearing obnoxiously large OLED screens, some will bump against these kinds of heatsinks so be aware.
While some SSDs may generate plenty of heat, we need a better solution to combat this compatibility issue.
I really love how when GIGABYTE chooses to be consistent, it’s really some of their best features and this single shroud design is easily one of my favorites that they’ve kept around. Essentially, the entire shroud cover is 1 giant piece of metal and pops of with just 1 release tab. Speaking of release tabs, all covers on this board are done with release tabs, and M.2 SSDs are locked down with simple locking tabs. No tools needed and that’s great.
Another cool quality of life feature is the release buttons. I guess brands are still undecided how they handle lockless PCIe slots so they now went back to a button activated locking notch which activates a notch to lock the PCIe slots in platce (well both Gen5 slots) and releases disengages the notch to free up the device connectived.
This doesn’t push up the GPU for release though but allows effortless removal once disengaged.
The lower corners are header rich with plenty of USB and fan headers concentrated on the bottom ridge edge. The opposite end is for modules and RGB and also shows us the audio ARarea. The PCB separation for the audio segment isnt as pronounced here.
And now my biggest complaint of this motherboard: they put the onboard power and reset button on the rear IO. Anyone with a gigantic case will know how hard it is to reach that far behind and its faster yanking on the cable in most cases. This is a weird design, GIGABYTE. Don’t do it again. The reset button is also recessed a bit making it harder to press. Its an intentional design choice to make it more intuitive but putting the button on top of that internal HDMi port would’ve been the more sensible choice.
Anyway, going from the top we have the Clear CMOS button and QFlash+ buttons, followed the pair of Power/Reset buttons. HDMI for the IGP follows, then the big array of USB3.2 ports plus the pair 10Gbe + 5Gbe LAN ports. I have to highlight that this board supports a pair of USB4 (effectively Thunderbolt) but please check your device and cable compatibility. Then after that a single USB3.2 Gen2 20Gbps port and a 10Gbps port rounding out the USB-C ports.
Then we have the quick connect WIFI antenna connector followed by a pair of 3.5mm audio jacks and the SPDIF optical out port.
Here’s some shots of the VRM layout and the heatsink. The torn pad is for the IO component not the MOSFETs.
Load Behavior and VRM Thermals
Test Setup
Processor: Ryzen 9 9950X
Motherboard: GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000 C26
Storage: TeamGroup T-Force Z5 Gen5 SSD
PSU: FSP Vita GM 1000W
Cooling: Arctic Freezer LC III Pro 420
Monitor: ROG Strix XG32UQ 4K
VGA: ASUS Phoenix GTX 1050 Ti / ASUS ROG RTX 5080 Astral
To test VRM stability and cooling, PBO is enabled on the motherboard (set to Manual not Auto or Enhanced, just Manual) with 720/480/640 limits and Curve Optimizer is set to (-20), Scalar 10x, +200Mhz. The CPU can do 280W+ but under OCCT Enterprise Extreme AVX2 CPU test, we’re pushing around 250W on this setup. To log VRM temperatures, I physically put flat probes at the middle-most MOSFET and are logged directly via an external temperature logger or Benchlab. I do not log from the back of the PCB or on top of the heatsink.
Benchlab is recording actual CPU power draw at 300W and most of that is pushing to the CPU at a rock stable 5.4Ghz but sitting at a reported 95*C for the 9950X PBO. This isn’t some carefully tuned setting, just quick PBO setting to try and get some extra performance in.
The VRM itself is mostly chilling <50*C taking around 15 minutes before reaching its peak and then stays there. AORUS has very good thermal pads on this VRM heatsink and that heatpipe is doing a good job evening out the temperatures on the heatsink with only a minimal difference on both areas.
X3D Turbo Mode 2
This motherboard also introduces a new X3D Boost mode that intends to push your CPU and go further beyond. If you have an X3D CPU, it will prompt you immediately on boot. Going into the UEFI BIOS settings, you’ll be presented with multiple options. I tried Extreme Gaming immediately but its PBO setting was causing instability on the CPU which leads to unpredictable behavior like crash on boot or during gaming. Max Performance was a bit more relaxed so that’s what I went with.
I tried it on some games, and depending on your configuration, you’ll probably have either negligible benefits or none at all with X3D-benefitting games that are CPU depending going to be the biggest winners here like CS2. In mostly GPU bound games, finding an efficiency sweet spot would be the wiser choice if you don’t want to go balls-to-the-walls in performance tweaking.
| CPU | FPS | P1 Low |
|---|---|---|
| 9850X3D Stock | 626.6 FPS | 287.9 FPS |
| 9850X3D Boost | 647.7 FPS | 288.4 FPS |
| CPU | FPS | P1 Low |
|---|---|---|
| 9850X3D Stock | 222.72 FPS | 177.20 FPS |
| 9850X3D Boost | 224.21 FPS | 178.77 FPS |
| CPU | FPS | P1 Low |
|---|---|---|
| 9850X3D Stock | 271 FPS | 92 FPS |
| 9850X3D Boost | 271 FPS | 94 FPS |
User Experience & Conclusion
Wrapping things up, the GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D is a nice rehash of a tried formula and while the things we see here are minor polishes from in their regular cadence, anyone coming from a AM4 B450/B550 or an older 8th-gen Intel or so would appreciate this motherboard more.
Polishing many of the missteps that Aorus took with the original X870E AORUS MASTER, the new X870E AORUS MASTER X3D is the black version of the earlier released X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE.
Many quality-of-life improvements and revisions, and overall, a more mature package versus the budding X3D generation of AORUS’ earlier attempts.
Overall, this is a likable motherboard if you’re in its target market but take note it sits just a smidge above the non-X3D boards and below the AI TOP high-end versions.
GIGABYTE backs the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D and its white sibling the AORUS MASTER X3D ICE with a 3-year warranty. Check with your local dealer for pricing and availability.
I give it my personal Editor’s Choice.
