Seeking Advice: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ICE for Intel i7 14700K Compatibility?

[Alan Mattano]

Hello LTT Community,

I'm planning a new PC build and am considering the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ICE motherboard for my Intel i7 14700K CPU. Before finalizing this choice, I wanted to gather insights from this knowledgeable community.

1. Compatibility Concerns: Are there any known compatibility issues between the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ICE and the Intel i7 14700K?
2. Performance Feedback: If anyone has experience using this motherboard, particularly with the i7 14700K, how has your experience been regarding performance, stability, and overclocking capabilities?
3. Alternative Recommendations: I would appreciate suggestions if there are better-suited motherboards for the i7 14700K. My priority is balancing performance, future-proofing, and reliability for gaming and professional workloads.

Thank you in advance for your help and advice!

[rippy4500]

Its an ok board, I have the Z790 aorus elite ax which is very similar. And im using a 14900kf without any major problems so the 14700k should work just fine assuming you have the right bios. Ive had a few technical issues with this board in general though like not starting up every now and then (which happened on my old 13700k as well) so id recommend a different board probably.

I heard the asrock z790 nova is a pretty good choice, its supposed to be able to oc memory better than most boards as well. It costs a little more than the gigabyte one but should be a better board overall.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813162148

[Alan Mattano]

1 hour ago, rippy4500 said:

Ive had a few technical issues with this board in general though like not starting up every now and then (which happened on my old 13700k as well) so id recommend a different board probably.

The Z790 AorusPro X ICE, which is white and within the same price range, is also an option? I'm attracted to (out of stock) its Nova debug display feature. However, considering the price, I might opt for a less expensive motherboard and RAM, allowing budget room to upgrade to an i9 processor.

1 hour ago, rippy4500 said:

the Z790 aorus elite ax which is very similar

Based on driver updates and listings on Newegg, it appears that the ICE version is about a year newer than the Z790 Aorus Elite AX. Here's a comparison link:
Gigabyte Comparison.
This newer model might offer improvements or refinements over the older version.

 

[rippy4500]

3 hours ago, Alan Mattano said:

The Z790 AorusPro X ICE, which is white and within the same price range, is also an option? I'm attracted to (out of stock) its Nova debug display feature. However, considering the price, I might opt for a less expensive motherboard and RAM, allowing budget room to upgrade to an i9 processor.

Based on driver updates and listings on Newegg, it appears that the ICE version is about a year newer than the Z790 Aorus Elite AX. Here's a comparison link:
Gigabyte Comparison.
This newer model might offer improvements or refinements over the older version.

 

It might just be the new 14th gen refresh of the same board with slight changes, but overall it should be very similar. To be honest id stay away from gigabyte boards, they are good value but in my experience they have problems sometimes.

3 hours ago, Alan Mattano said:

The Z790 AorusPro X ICE, which is white and within the same price range, is also an option? I'm attracted to (out of stock) its Nova debug display feature. However, considering the price, I might opt for a less expensive motherboard and RAM, allowing budget room to upgrade to an i9 processor

What is your exact budget for everything? The aorus pro x looks to be a higher teir board than the aorus elite, so its probably better if the price is the same.

 

Also with ram you can get anything 6400mhz+, since it will probably be hynix-a die which overclocks to super high speeds.

 

Also you can save a little by getting a KF model cpu, theres no difference except theres no igpu.