GIGABYTE offers five Z370 AORUS series motherboards

With the full release of the new Z370 platform on the horizon, plenty of details about the latest Intel Z370 platform have surfaced online regarding GIGABYTE boards, namely the AORUS Gaming 7, Gaming 5, Gaming 3, Ultra Gaming and Gaming K3 as well as Z370 UD3H and Z370 motherboard models.

These LGA1151 motherboards vary in features and connectivity options to cover a wide range of user preferences and come with refreshed aesthetics, thanks to redesigned heatsinks and new PCB decals. All of them support 8th Gen Intel™ Core® processors, code name Coffee Lake, which start at 4 cores 4 threads and go up to 6 cores 12 threads. These are fully supported by a new VRM and PWM design where each power phase provides up to 60 amps as well as strengthened signal transfers between the processor and voltage regulator controller.

For now, the line-up consists only of ATX motherboards but small form factor models are expected to be released in the future.

Z370 AORUS Gaming 7
Starting off we have the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7, the flagship model from GIGABYTE for the new Z370 platform. The new armor design of this series brings a robotic and futuristic theme to the table without making it over the top. The base color scheme is pretty simple with black and grey as the predominant colors.

The motherboard comes to life with the LED lighting powered by RGB Fusion technology on the four independently programmed lighting zones and supports external RGB LEDs with additional headers located at the top and bottom. The Gaming 7 model also offers support for Digital LEDs allowing for an even greater number of lighting patterns, styles, and effects making use of either 5V or 12V LED strips, rings or even matrices. All this RGB lighting action is backed up by the UEFI BIOS and RGB Fusion APP, where users can customize their style.

Across the motherboard, there are 8 total 4-pin hybrid fan headers and users have the ability to control each fan and temperature sensor on their PC with Smart Fan 5. The Fan Stop feature has also been implemented on these motherboards, deactivating any or all fans when the temperatures are below certain thresholds, for complete fan silence. This top of the line model even comes with a hidden fan under the I/O Thermal Armor that actively cools the VRM area.

The Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 supports a maximum of 64GB DDR4 in dual channel configurations and memory modules overclocked up to 4133 MHz.

Looking at the expansion slots, this model makes the most out of this platform offering 3 PCI Express x16 slots and 3 PCI Express x1 slots. This allows for the ultimate graphic card configurations in 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ and up to 3-Way AMD CrossFire™. Durability features such as Ultra Durable Armor and Double locking brackets protect all the PCI-E x16 slots from the heavier graphic cards on the market.

Storage performance will never be an issue on the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 since it boasts triple NVMe PCI-E x4 M.2 slots, with thermal guard included on one slot, and additional 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports. The board is ready for Intel® Optane™ Memory which means even high capacity storage solutions can perform at SSD levels. GIGABYTE offers an AORUS M.2 Thermal Guard on the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7, as well as making it available for all others as an additional accessory.

Other internal connectors worth mentioning are USB Type-C™ with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support and Thunderbolt™ add-in card connector. This motherboard also comes equipped with an onboard Power, Reset, Clear CMOS and OC buttons.

What makes the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 sound even better is its audio system. A combination of Realtek ALC1220 codec with ESS Sabre DAC and the use of high-end WIMA capacitors is the key to audio quality and fidelity.

On the back I/O, this premium model from GIGABYTE offers DisplayPort and HDMI with resolutions up to 4K UHD, 5 USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports and also includes 2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, one in Type-A and another in Type-C. The dual Ethernet ports are backed up by Intel GbE and Killer E2500.

Z370 AORUS Gaming 5
Next on the line, with a very similar look, is the Z370 AORUS Gaming 5. Most features found in the flagship model can be found here. Such as the VRM heatsink design with a heat-pipe for heat dissipation, turbo B-Clock tuning IC for better overclocking and support for Sound BlasterX 720º with Radar capabilities are also present on this model but there are some subtle differences to note.

This model includes 3 PCI-Express x16 slots with support for 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and up to 3-Way AMD Crossfire. The first two slots are equipped with Ultra Durable PCI-E Armor. With the triple NVMe PCI-E Gen3 x4 M.2 design together with 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports all bases are covered when it comes to storage performance.

For wireless communication this board takes advantage of the Intel 802.11ac 1x1 3165 chip, providing the latest in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies.

Regarding DDR4 memory, there’re 4 DIMM slots with support for overclocked modules up to 4133 MHz.

Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming
The Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming comes with slightly different overall aesthetics, especially noticeable on the I/O shield and VRM heatsink design. Key features of the premium models made their way to this model, namely the Accent LED Overlay and USB DAC-UP 2 ports.

This motherboard supports DDR4 dual channel with frequencies up to 4000 MHz on overclocked modules and the most advanced multi-graphics technologies such as 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and 2-Way/3-Way AMD CrossFire thanks to the design with 3 PCI-Express x16 slots.

Top of the line storage performance is established via 2 M.2 PCI-E x4 connectors and 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports as well as compatibility with Intel Optane Memory.

Z370 AORUS Gaming 3
Features as RGB Fusion and Smart Fan 5 with Fan Stop are transversal to all Gaming models but the Z370 AORUS Gaming 3 also brings out some of those that are usually exclusive to flagship models as the Killer E2500 gaming network.

The two PCI Express slots include PCI-E Ultra Durable Armor and allow for multi-graphics support with 2-Way AMD CrossFire while the four DDR4 memory slots, now in black and red color scheme, can support modules rated at 4000 MHz with overclock.

The two M.2 PCI-E slots provide support for what’s best in SSD technology and together with 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports, offer plenty of different storage possibilities.

Z370 AORUS Gaming K3
In terms of design, the Z370 AORUS Gaming K3 looks considerably different than the models above. It comes with simple but effective heatsinks to take care of the heat generated on the VRM area.

Multi-graphics cards configurations are supported with two the PCI Express slots that also provide enhanced durability thanks to the PCI-E Ultra Durable Armor. It supports DDR4 dual channel memory with overclocked modules up to 4000 MHz.

Having M.2 PCI-E slots is crucial to take advantage of the speeds next gen SSDs have to offer and the Z370 AORUS Gaming K3 comes with 2 of them. 6 SATA 6Gb/s connectors are also available for the high capacity storage disks.

Z370XP SLI
This is the Ultra Durable line with support for the 8th Gen Intel Core processors. The Z370XP SLI houses four DDR4 DIMM slots which support dual channel memory with speeds of 4000 MHz on overclocked modules.

Expansion slots include three PCI-E 3.0 slots, three PCI-E x1 slots and two M.2 slots. Looking at its name, this motherboard obviously supports 2-Way NVIDIA SLI and also up to 3-Way AMD Crossfire. With this heavy cards and configurations in mind, GIGABYTE added PCI-E Ultra Durable Armor on the first two slots.

Storage ports include 6 SATA 6Gb/s connectors. There’re also 5 fan headers to take advantage of Smart Fan 5 and USB 3.1 in Type-A and Type-C connectors.

Z370 D3H
The last motherboard is the Z370 UD3H that brings a different flavor to the PCB color and cooling solutions. It fully supports Intel 8th gen processors powered via a single 8-pin connector.

There are four DDR4 DIMM slots which are be able to support up to 64 GB memory capacity and modules with frequencies up to 4000 MHz.

Expansion slots include three PCI-E 3.0 slots, three PCI-E x1 slots and one M.2 slot. It supports multi-graphics cards configurations with AMD CrossFire technology.

For storage it comes with 6 SATA 6Gb/s connectors and, as all the above, it’s Intel Optane Memory ready and supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10.