GIGABYTE Z790 Aorus Tachyon DDR5 Intel Motherboard

The Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Tachyon is an E-ATX form factor motherboard built around the Intel Z790 Express chipset and designed from the ground up for extreme overclocking on 12th and 13th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors via the LGA1700 socket. At the heart of its power delivery sits a Direct 15+1+2 phase digital VRM solution, engineered to sustain stable voltage under prolonged high-frequency CPU operation. The board uses a 2-DIMM daisy-chain memory trace layout — branded Xtreme Memory — which minimises trace distance between the CPU and memory slots to help achieve high DDR5 clock speeds and reduced latency. The two DDR5 DIMM slots support up to 64 GB (32 GB per slot) and are compatible with XMP 3.0 profiles, with the BIOS offering pre-tuned DDR5 Memory Upgrade profiles for streamlined overclocking. Native DDR5 Auto Booster can automatically raise the base DDR5 frequency to 5000 MHz under load with a single click. Storage is handled by four M.2 connectors — one CPU-attached (PCIe 4.0 x4, type 22110/2280) and three chipset-attached (two PCIe 4.0 x4, one PCIe 4.0 x4 / SATA combo) — alongside four SATA 6 Gb/s ports with RAID 0/1/5/10 support for both NVMe and SATA arrays. Expansion slots include one PCIe 5.0 x16, one PCIe 5.0 x8, and one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot; the primary x16 slot is equipped with Gigabyte's Ultra Durable SMD PCIe 5.0 Armor reinforcement. Connectivity is provided by an Intel 2.5GbE LAN controller and an Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 module (802.11ax, 2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz, up to 2.4 Gbps, Bluetooth 5.3). The rear I/O includes one USB Type-C port at USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps), three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, one HDMI output (up to 4096×2160 @ 60 Hz via integrated Intel graphics), one optical S/PDIF output, five audio jacks, and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports. Audio is delivered through a Realtek ALC1220-VB codec with DTS:X Ultra support and WIMA audio capacitors. Onboard overclocking hardware includes dedicated Power, Reset, Cold Reset, Clear CMOS, LIMP Mode (Protection Mode), CPU Ratio up/down buttons, dual BIOS switches, an OC Trigger switch, and OC Ignition — enabling bench-top tuning without a chassis. Dual BIOS with Q-Flash Plus allows firmware updates without a CPU or memory installed. SPECIFICATIONS Form Factor: E-ATX (305 mm × 270 mm) | Socket: LGA1700 | Chipset: Intel Z790 Express | CPU Support: 12th & 13th Gen Intel Core / Pentium Gold / Celeron | Memory: 2 × DDR5 DIMM, max 64 GB, dual-channel, XMP 3.0, DDR5-4800 native to DDR5-8333 (O.C.) | PCIe Slots: 1 × PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 × PCIe 5.0 x8, 1 × PCIe 3.0 x4 | M.2: 4 × PCIe 4.0 x4 (one SATA-combo) | SATA: 4 × 6 Gb/s | LAN: Intel 2.5GbE | Wireless: Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E, BT 5.3 | Audio: Realtek ALC1220-VB, DTS:X Ultra | Rear USB: 1 × USB-C 20 Gbps, 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 4 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 | Video Out: 1 × HDMI (4K@60 Hz) | BIOS: Dual AMI UEFI, Q-Flash Plus | OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-bit