Final Thoughts
When it comes to Gigabyte’s new “Raptor Lake Refresh” motherboards it seems like they are going in the direction of adding a lot of features that are really centered around user experience. And with this being a refresh not a new architecture that is not a bad thing at all. The things that really stand out to me are the EZ-Latch Click and EZ-Latch Plus tool-less systems for installing M.2 drives. This has to be the easiest system there is for either installing or swapping out your M.2 drives. Also there is the PCIe EZ-Latch system which makes swapping out your graphics card a much easier process, especially if you have a larger graphics card and larger CPU cooler.
Gigabyte has also done a significant update to their BIOS. This new BIOS is much more user friends and has some really cool features, most notably is the DDR5 XMP Booster which takes all of the hard work out of trying to overclock your DDR5 Memory. The Gigabyte Control Center has nice to see as well as the older App Center just seemed so dated and half the time didn’t work correctly.
Now when it comes to a Z790 motherboard for 14th generation processors this board is going to have pretty much everything you want, but the only thing I feel like it is missing is Gen5 storage. All four of the M.2 slots on the board are Gen4, which for most people will be fine, but if you were looking to run of the new super-fast Gen5 drives you’ll be out of luck. On top of all of that Gen4 storage you are going to get PCI-Express 5.0 for your graphics, USB 3.2 gen 2×2, and of course WiFi 7. It is also nice that Gigabyte has put a Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port on the rear I/O as most boards will just give you the header.
Overall my experience with this board has been great and it is nice to see Gigabyte fix a lot of the things that make building a PC a bit frustrating. Right now you can pick this board up at our favorite online retailer for $299.99. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS Elite X WiFi7 Motherboard a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– EZ-Latch Click, EZ-Latch Plus & PCIe EZ-Latch
– Good overall performance
– New user-friendly BIOS
– Rear USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port
– WiFi 7
Cons:
– No Gen5 storage
