Introduction
As the great Yogi Berra said: “It’s like Deja Vu all over again.” Today, we are reviewing the GIGABYTE X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD motherboard. This is a complement to the GIGABYTE X870E AERO X3D WOOD Edition motherboard we reviewed in March. The color scheme is the exact opposite. The previous motherboard had a “light” wood-colored theme, while this one has a “dark” wood-colored theme. Otherwise, the two motherboards are exactly the same in specifications.
GIGABYTE also sent along a case that matches the motherboard with a wood-colored theme. We have a full review of the LIAN LI LANCOOL 217 Black Genuine Walnut Trimmed PC Gaming Case in a separate review with this motherboard installed, so be sure to check that out; the two pieces of hardware meld really well together.
A little background. The AERO branding is seen throughout GIGABYTE products, including motherboards and video cards. On the motherboard side, generally one AERO board is produced per chipset release. These are usually top-tier quality boards with special aesthetics, as we saw in our X870E AERO X3D WOOD edition. We found the WOOD Edition board to be very high quality, well-designed, and with some unique aesthetic touches. We also felt that the “wood” accents that gave the board its name didn’t quite rise to the level of quality the rest of the design represented.
Nevertheless, this X807E AERO X3D DARK WOOD motherboard represents a refreshed version of the X870E chipset boards initially released in September 2024. The new boards include larger (64MB) BIOS chips, enhanced cooling heatsinks, EZ Release heatsinks and PCIe slots, Gen5 PCIe and M.2 support, vast connectivity options, software additions within the BIOS to enhance overclocking of CPU and memory, and, in the case of this motherboard, “X3D Turbo mode 2.0” which we will discuss in some detail. On top of all that, we also get to show off this motherboard in a brand new LIAN LI case. We are hoping that GIGABYTE was able to tune in the wood accents on this “DARK WOOD” version.
This motherboard arrives with a price tag of $499 and carries a three-year warranty. We will discuss all the features we can to see if the board lives up to the price. For a review of the AMD chipset hierarchy, please have a look here.
Packaging and Contents
The motherboard arrived directly from GIGABYTE in a sealed retail box. This box and its construction is a bit more rugged than we generally have seen in recent releases. The package overall is quite heavy. GIGABYTE has chosen to use a double-boxed technique to protect the board. The box opens from the front to display the motherboard protected by a small empty carton covering about half the board. This little empty carton serves to protect the lower portion of the board. To ease the removal of the board, the front of the box tilts open to allow you to get your hand under the board.
Accessories are found underneath the motherboard, which is in a thick anti-static bag. Quite honestly, the accessories are scarce for $499: two SATA cables, one front panel quick-connector, three packs of rubber bumpers for M.2 slots, the WiFi antenna, and a couple of booklets. Oh, wait, yup, there’s that “AERO” keychain, too.
