The X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE is a flagship AM5 motherboard offering targeted at white-coloured PC builds, where it's part of Gigabyte's new line-up of AM5 motherboard offerings that have been refreshed in anticipation for the arrival of AMD's next-gen "Zen 6" processors.

AM5 motherboard refresh season is well and truly upon us, and it couldn't have come sooner enough, especially when you consider the fact that the first wave of AMD X870E and X870 motherboards are kind of long in the tooth now, having first hit the market back in September 2024, and the fact that AMD has committed to launching its next-generation "Zen 6" processors on the AM5 socket as well. No wonder then, that motherboard manufacturers have been hard at work launching new AM5 motherboard offerings, so as to ensure that these boards come equipped with the latest features to go alongside AMD's "Zen 6" processors when they finally launch for sale next year.

To this end, we'll be taking a look at a new flagship AM5 motherboard from Gigabyte that's targeted at white-coloured PC builds, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE. Featuring support for AMD's "Zen 5" Ryzen 9000 series of processors, the Ryzen 8000 series of APUs and CPUs, as well as the older Ryzen 7000 series of CPUs, this motherboard comes equipped with all the latest features, such as dual Ethernet ports (1x 10 Gbit and 1x 5 Gbit), a full-fledged WIFI 7 module that supports the 320MHz channel width and Gigabyte's new "X3D Turbo Mode 2.0", which are preset CPU overclocking profiles in the BIOS designed to maximise gaming performance, when used in conjunction with AMD's gaming-oriented X3D processor offerings.

The board also comes a pretty overkill VRM setup, dual PCIe 5.0 slots for those of you looking to run a dual-GPU setup alongside a whole list of quality-of-life features. More importantly, this board also comes with a better-managed form of PCIe lane sharing, where the primary graphics card slot no longer shares bandwidth with one of the PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots, a situation that's commonplace with the earlier wave of X870E and X870 board offerings. Read on to learn more about this motherboard!

Summary of Specifications

Processor Support: AMD Ryzen 9000/8000/7000 series processors
Chipset: AMD X870E
Memory: 4x DDR5 slots, max 256GB, up to DDR5 9000 support (as of December 2025)
Audio: Realtek ALC1220 audio codec with ESS ES9118 DAC
LAN: Realtek RTL8127 10 Gigabit Ethernet & Realtek RTL8126 5 Gigabit Ethernet
WIFI: MediaTek MT7927 WIFI 7 module with built-in Bluetooth 5.4
Expansion Slots: 1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (runs at x16 mode), 1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (runs at x8 mode), 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (runs at x4 mode)
Storage: 2x SATA III, 2x PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2, 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2, 1x PCIe 4.0 x2 M.2 (M.2 slots support NVMe drives only)
Form Factor: ATX
Official Product Page: https://www.aorus.com/motherboards/x870e-aorus-master-x3d-ice/

Do note that PCIe 5.0 is supported only when a Ryzen 9000 or Ryzen 7000 series CPU is installed on this motherboard - the Ryzen 8000 series of APUs and CPUs only support the PCIe 4.0 standard.

Packaging & Contents

As a motherboard targeted squarely at white-coloured PC builds, no surprises here that the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes shipped in a white-coloured box that has an AORUS eagle motif in silver emblazoned on the front. Over on the rear of the box, we get a clean-looking summary of the specs for this board.

Opening up the motherboard box's quite the occasion, where Gigabyte's included a reminder that the AORUS MASTER X3D ICE's "built for the demanding".

The motherboard comes with the following accessories:

• WIFI antenna
• Metal AORUS case badge
• Noise detection cable
• 2x SATA III cables
• DDR Wind Blade attachment (cooler fan for DDR5 memory modules)
• 1x G Connector 
• Fan power splitter (3_FANS_1 header to 3x four-pin PWM)
• 2x Velcro cable ties
• 2x thermistor cables
• Multilingual installation guide
• Regulatory information leaflet
• Sheet of AORUS stickers

Board Aesthetics

In terms of motherboard aesthetics, we see that Gigabyte's gone for a white-coloured PCB and silver heatsinks all around, which feature splashes of AORUS motifs and mesmerising iridescent wavy lines on the M.2 heatsinks for added visual interest.

Over on the rear, we get a protective metal backplate that helps dissipate heat from the board, where the backplate comes with a stylised AORUS eagle motif too for good measure.

Fans of ARGB lighting for their PC builds will be pleased to note that the board comes with a fancy-looking ARGB lighting accent on the integrated I/O shield cover, as well as beneath the bottom edge of the chipset heatsink.

For M.2 drive cooling, Gigabyte’s got you covered with M.2 drive heatsinks for all five M.2 drive slots that this board comes with, where the primary Gen5 M.2 slot has its own dedicated heatsink, and the remaining four M.2 slots share a large common heatsink.

The X870E chipset has a dual-chip design, and the said chips sit beneath a passive heatsink that’s visible once the shared M.2 heatsink's been removed.

VRM & Memory Support

As expected, the VRM heatsinks for this board are sizable, and Gigabyte's included 18+2+2 power phases with 110A power stages. In case you’re wondering, Gigabyte's utilised an eight-layer PCB design for the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE.

For memory support, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with four DDR5 slots that as of the time of publishing this article, features support for up to 256GBs of RAM and the DDR5 9000 standard.

To help those of you intending to do a fair bit of memory overclocking with this board, we’ve got what Gigabyte terms “DDR Wind Blade”, which is essentially a cooling fan for your memory modules.

The DDR Wind Blade attaches to the motherboard by means of one of the top motherboard mounting posts, and you’ll have to use one of the two included screws for this purpose. You’ll want to note that this fan should be connected to any one of the three fan headers found on the included fan power extension cable, as these three headers support DDR PMIC temperature reading, which I suppose, allows the DDR Wind Blade's fan speed to adjust dynamically according to the temperature of your memory modules.

Front Panel USB Headers

In terms of front panel USB connectivity, we get a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C front panel header along the long edge of the board, where this header provides for a USB-C port that supports up to 65W of Power Delivery for fast charging. Correspondingly, we get an eight-pin 2x4 12V power connector (as indicated above) that’s to be hooked up to your power supply unit, should you wish to enable the said fast charging feature.

We also get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A front panel headers, with one header located along the long edge of the board and another header situated along the bottom edge of the board. Each of these headers provide support for up to two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, for a total of four ports.

Rounding things off in the front panel USB connectivity section are two USB 2.0 front panel headers located along the bottom edge of the board, with each header providing support for two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, for a total of four ports.

Expansion Slots & Storage Options

For expansion slots, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with two fancy-looking PCIe 5.0 slots, with the top slot supporting x16 link speeds and the bottom slot supporting x8 link speeds. Do note that these two PCIe 5.0 slots share bandwidth with each other – if you populate the PCIe 5.0 x8 slot with say, a graphics card or any other PCIe device, the top PCIe 5.0 x16 slot will drop down to operate at x8 mode too.

Do note that PCIe 5.0 is only supported when you have a Ryzen 9000 series or Ryzen 7000 series processor installed – the Ryzen 8000 series of APU and CPUs only support the PCIe 4.0 standard.

Both PCIe 5.0 slots feature Gigabyte’s PCIe UD Slot X design that reinforces the slots for use with heavy graphics cards, and they even come with an inner rubber lining strip for each of the slots so as to protect your graphics card’s PCB from scratches during installation and removal.

Also, the Gen5 slots both come with the PCIe EZ Latch Plus Duo feature that helps make removing PCIe cards from the slots less of a painful affair – we even get rectangular windows next to the latch release buttons that indicate whether they're locked in place or not for the respective slots.

Moving on, we also get a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that operates at x4 mode - do note that this slot shares bandwidth with one of the PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, slot M2D_SB, where if you’ve got a M.2 drive installed in this slot, the PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that runs at x4 mode will be disabled entirely.

For your storage needs, Gigabyte's included two SATA III ports, with one port located along the long edge of the board and another along the bottom edge of the board.

For M.2. slots, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes equipped with two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots, two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots and one PCIe 4.0 x2 M.2 slot. Do note that all of these slots support NVMe SSDs only, M.2 SATA drives will not work in any of these slots.

As mentioned earlier, this board comes with improvements to the way that PCIe lane sharing occurs – in case you’re unaware, here’s a quick recap on why we’ve got lane sharing on most, if not all X870E and X870 motherboards. The X870E and X870 chipsets are effectively a rebrand of the previous generation X670E and B650E chipsets respectively with USB4 support made mandatory by AMD, where given that these chipsets have pretty much the same silicon and hence a fixed number of PCIe 5.0 lanes, motherboard manufacturers have had to look elsewhere for PCIe 5.0 lanes to support the USB4 controller.

As a result of this, the first few waves of X870E and X870 boards saw the PCIe 5.0 x16 slot sharing bandwidth with one of the PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slots that X870E and X870 boards have, which isn’t really ideal. With the later waves of X870E and X870 motherboards, I suppose board manufacturers have listened to consumer feedback, and lane sharing now tends to happen just between the PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot and the USB4 controller, which in my opinion is a better way of carrying out any lane sharing. In the case of the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE, the second PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot, slot M2B_CPU, shares lanes with the USB4 controller, where if you’ve got a M.2 drive installed in slot M2B_CPU, both slot M2B_CPU and the USB4 controller will run at x2 speeds instead.

Again, just a reminder that PCIe 5.0 is supported only with a Ryzen 9000 series or Ryzen 7000 series processor installed –the Ryzen 8000 series of APUs and CPUs only support the PCIe 4.0 standard, and if you do have a Ryzen 8000 series offering installed on this board, the second M.2 slot, M2B_CPU will be disabled entirely as well.

Lane sharing done and dusted, let's move on to talk about the quality-of-life features that the M.2 slots have. First up, the M.2 heatsinks feature a tool-less design called M.2 EZ-Latch Click, which makes removing and installing the heatsinks a cinch.

Both of the board's M.2 heatsinks also come with the new M.2 EZ-Match feature, which makes reattaching the heatsinks to the board very easy thanks to the use of magnets to guide the respective heatsinks into place, which definitely helps the PC build process along for sure.

Another quality of life feature that all of the M.2 slots have is M.2 EZ-Latch Plus, which makes installing and removing a M.2 drive a tool-less affair.

Finally, all of the M.2 slots come with a heat dissipation feature called M.2 EZ Flex, where we get a thermal pad on an elastic base that can help to improve contact between the SSD and the heatsink.

Audio & Internet Connectivity

This being a flagship-ish motherboard offering, it's great to see that Gigabyte's included an ESS ES9118 DAC chip to go along with a Realtek ALC1220 audio codec for a more premium audio experience.

We've also got dual Ethernet ports with the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE - the first port's powered by a Realtek RTL8127 10 Gigabit controller, while the second port serves up 5 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity courtesy of a Realtek RTL8126 controller. For your wireless connectivity needs, we've got an upgraded MediaTek MT7927 WIFI 7 part that supports the full-fat 320 MHz channel width and the Bluetooth 5.4 standard.

Fan & RGB Headers

The X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with an abundance of fan headers, ten of them to be precise, where we've got seven of them located directly on the motherboard:

• 1x CPU_FAN
• 1x CPU_OPT
• 4x SYS_FAN
• 1x FAN_PUMP

The remaining three headers require the use of the included fan power extension cable, which converts a 12-pin header (pictured above) into three four-pin PWM fan connectors. These three headers support DDR PMIC reading, where any one of them should be used with the included DDR Wind Blade attachment.

Also included are four Gen 2 ARGB headers and a single 12V RGB header in the areas as indicated above.

Other Features

Some interesting features to highlight – back at the top of the motherboard, we get a set of Status LEDs that can help with troubleshooting PC start-up issues, as well as a double-digit debug LED that can further help with said troubleshooting of PC startup issues.

We also get an onboard HDMI 1.4 port that forms part of a feature that Gigabyte calls Sensor Panel Link. Sensor Panel Link taps on the trend of end-users having a small LCD display screen as part of one’s PC case to display vital PC statistics or even static images or videos of their choice, where it allows you to connect the said LCD display screen (sold separately) via this HDMI port. This said port supports a maximum display resolution of 1920x1080@30 Hz.

Moving on, next to the 24-pin ATX power connector are two on-board temperature sensor headers that can be hooked up to the included thermistor cables to monitor the temperature of components within your PC case.

We also get a noise detection header that can be hooked up to the included noise detection cable to monitor noise levels inside the PC case.

Moving over to the bottom edge of the board, we get a TPM header for an optional discrete Gigabyte TPM module...

...along with a cluster of four headers located beneath the PCIe 4.0 x2 M.2 slot; we get a header that can be hooked up to a speaker to report your PC build’s startup status (this speaker can even serve as a spare speaker within your operating system environment), a Clear CMOS header, a chassis intrusion header as well as an additional reset header in addition to the reset leads that you already get as part of the front panel header.

In case you’re wondering where the CMOS battery for this board is, it’s located beneath the I/O shield shroud assembly, and you’ll have to remove the I/O shield shroud and likely, the VRM heatsink too in order to get to the battery, which is unfortunately going to require some effort.

Finally, like the Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE X3D that I covered a few weeks back, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with a new feature that Gigabyte terms "X3D TURBO MODE 2.0". According to their marketing spiel, this feature can boost the performance of AMD’s gaming-oriented Ryzen X3D chips with just a click in the BIOS - as per Gigabyte’s website, we get a “Max Performance” and “Extreme Gaming” setting that can be enabled from within the BIOS, where they essentially apply a set of pre-determined overclocking values to your processor - we get a certain amount of increase in max boost clock, the application of a certain value of curve optimiser and so on. For the “Extreme Gaming” setting in particular, from what I understand, it’ll disable simultaneous multithreading, or SMT for short, which can help with gaming performance on AMD’s X3D processors.

Rear I/O

The X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE comes with an integrated I/O shield design, where the I/O shield comes with a handful of rectangular ventilation openings. The following buttons and ports can be found on the rear I/O:

• Q-Flash Plus button
• Clear CMOS button
• Power button
• Reset button (multi-key)
• 1x HDMI 2.1 port (supports a maximum display resolution of 4096x2160 at 60 Hz)
• 7x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports
• 2x USB4 Type-C ports (both ports support DisplayPort Alt mode, with support for a maximum display resolution of up to 3840x2160 at 240 Hz)
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet port
• 5 Gigabit Ethernet port
• WIFI antenna connector (WIFI EZ-Plug)
• Audio jack connectors

The Q-Flash Plus feature allows end-users to update the motherboard's BIOS without needing to install a processor, RAM and graphics card - this feature will come in handy in due course, seeing as AMD's next-generation "Zen 6" processors are likely to be compatible with this board with just a BIOS update, that is, when "Zen 6" launches sometime next year.

Conclusion

To sum up, the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE is part of a much welcomed refresh to Gigabyte’s AM5 motherboard line-up, where given its high-end specifications, it’s firmly cemented as a flagship AM5 motherboard for white PC builds. We’re talking about a VRM setup that’s pretty overkill, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 5 Gigabit Ethernet controllers coupled with a full-fat WIFI 7 module that supports the 320MHz channel width, much-needed improvements to how lane-sharing is handled, on top of all the other features that one would come to expect of a high-end AM5 motherboard offering, such as PCIe 5.0 support for two graphics cards, and a whole bunch of interesting and helpful features such as Sensor Panel Link, DDR Wind Blade and so on.

The cherry on top of the icing? The AORUS MASTER X3D ICE looks really good for a white-coloured AM5 motherboard offering to boot, with its all-white hardware connectors and headers. Clearly, white-coloured motherboards are Gigabyte’s strong suit!

As of the time of publishing this video, the X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE is available to purchase from e-commerce platforms such as Newegg for a price of US$599.99, which is on the steep side of things for sure.

Get this motherboard from Amazon: https://amzn.to/490zSPu

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The motherboard featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from CDL Trading Pte Ltd, an authorised distributor for Gigabyte in Singapore.