Ever since we transitioned to our Corsair 570X tempered glass enclosure, our temperature data has been straightforward. Using HWiNFO for sensor readings, the Tctl delta is a steady 27C, and overall all boards in the 570X are able to achieve CPU temperatures within 2 degrees of each other.

Excellent out-of-the-box performance; Top-tier aesthetics; Good efficiency

Poor value given current price; Disappointing overclock results on our sample; UEFI GUI doesn't match board design

The GIGABYTE X399 Designare EX is an excellent alternative to the X399 AORUS Gaming 7 from GIGABYTE. Quality is excellent, component selection is top notch, and it's unique in its own right. The X399 Designare EX might seem very similar to the X399 AORUS Gaming 7, but it is not.

Redesigned VRM Heatsink; Fan Headers and Sensors; Triple Intel NICs; More Serious Look; Future Thunderbolt 3.0 Support

USB header and Clear CMOS Button

The new Designare Ex hat Gigabyte offers is a lovely piece of hardware, but features wise very close to the Aorus Gaming 7 with a near similar PCB and component design, but hey that board already was really impressive as well.

Solid motherboard, does everything I need it to do for the price. Overall, would recommend

Disclaimer: My use case is a home server for VMs. I wish they would have designed a board without wasting so many PCIe lanes on m.2 slots. Adapters are cheap and easy to use so the 2 m.2 slots in positions 2 and 6 are wasted. Having actual PCIe 4x slots instead would have been much more practical.

I did a lot of research on this board and the Asus Rog Zenith Extreme. I really wanted that Asus board but the price got to high and would not come down (899.99). The Aorus Xtreme wasn't even my second or third choice, due to the horrible reputation for support.