Colorful’s iGame X870E Vulcan OC V14 is a capable premium mid-range motherboard built for overclocking, thanks to its robust power delivery, cooling, and design. It faces tough competition at its price point, but remains a solid, feature-rich option under $700.

Gigabyte’s X870E Aorus Xtreme X3D AI Top delivers flagship-class hardware and excellent performance at a comparatively lower price, balancing high-end features, comprehensive connectivity, and even AI-focused tools for premium AM5 builds.

New AGESA updates are bringing EXPO 1.2 support to more and more 800-series AM5 motherboards, but CUDIMM support remains only partial. Because Zen 4 and 5's IMC is incompatible with CUDIMM, it can only run in bypass mode with limited speeds. Moreover, older 600-series motherboards are now also expected to get EXPO 1.2 support later.

Nvidia's N1 SoC leaks yet again, but this time in the flesh, with potentially a laptop motherboard featuring the long-rumored chip. It was spotted on sale on a Chinese marketplace for roughly $1,400. The pictures show the PCB rocking 128 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 RAM, robust power delivery, and a decent I/O selection.

We take a deep-dive into the past, present, and future of the ubiquitous PCIe standard, and look ahead at the challenges that await manufacturers when integrating PCIe 6.0 and beyond into real-world hardware.

The Gigabyte X870E Aorus Xtreme AI Top delivers strong performance, premium features, and a slick appearance, but high pricing and newer refresh boards, like the X3D version, make it a tough sell unless you snag a refurb deal.