IT HAS BEEN a somewhat bizarre launch for Intel, with its Core Ultra desktop processors crashing and burning (thankfully not physically this time) in reviews, and sales figures are said to be poor. Indeed, it’s only because of ongoing microcode updates and fixes for Intel’s new Arrow Lake chips that we’d even consider opting for Intel’s new platform and a motherboard such as the new Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice.
BIOS updates, driver updates, Windows updates—they’ve been coming thick and fast for Z890 motherboards in the hope of improving performance. It’s time to see if the latest tweaks for the platform—specifically the Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice—make it worth considering, particularly when compared with its AMD X870 counterpart that costs a touch more and the review for which you can catch a few pages later this month.
Like that AMD board, the focus is on Wi-Fi 7, PCIe Gen 5 support, tool-free features, and high-speed USB Type-C ports. Being Intel, that means Thunderbolt 4. Oh, and that signature all-white icy aesthetic, which even extends to the PCIe and memory slots, as well as small details on the PCB. It’s pretty impressive, considering this board leaves you with change from $300.