Motherboards are the central hub to everything, and mostly is the biggest PCB within your desktop chassis. It allocates power, and enables communication between the CPU, GPU, memory, and all other computer components. So, choosing one is a particularly important step as it dictates the performance and stability of the entire system. We are looking at a budget X570 motherboard from Gigabyte, the X570 Aorus Elite Wi-fi. I’m upgrading from a MSI B550M, does it have any performance gains, let’s find out.
Today I have the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wi-Fi with me which is surprisingly their budget AMD motherboard offering considering how much it costs. With a wide choice of x570 motherboards making a choice is mind numbing. As we purchase one motherboard generally during the lifetime of a PC, we have once chance to make a good choice.
The motherboard is AMD Ryzen 3000 ready, but as I have a 5800X hope this works directly without needing to update the BIOS. It does have q-flash where we can update the bios without the need of an older CPU, GPU or RAM, more on that later.
This motherboard is more VRM focused which is to provide a stable and adequate power to the components providing the best performance without generating too much heat. The motherboard follows the PCI 4.0 spec for maximum bandwidth between the CPU and the components installed.
The motherboard has an ATX formfactor and uses a 4 layer PCB design with an AM4 socket, which supports Ryzen processors from the 1000,2000 and 3000 series, I’m using a 5000 series processor.
To use PCI 4 speeds, you will need at minimum a Ryzen 3000 series CPU.
As I said earlier the VRM are the core highlight on this board, and with 12 plus two 50 amp vcore phases which are organized in a six plus one phases configuration.
The VRM’s are all under the heatsinks, which are big and made of metal. This is supposed to be the best compared to any X570 motherboard available at this price range.
It can provide upto 600 watts of power, which should satiate any CPU AMD has to offer at present.
We have four RAM slots in Dual channel configuration and can support up to 128 GB DDR 4 RAM sticks. RAM speed supported is up to 4000 megahertz but needs a Ryzen 3000 series CPU at minimum.
For on board storage we have two m.2 slots, with support for PCIe 4.0 which means upto 64 Gbps data transfer speeds.
Only one heatshield is provided on the motherboard, which has the X570 Aorus Elite branding. A thermal pad is provided within, to help better transfer the heat away from an installed m.2 drive.
This location is where we have the X570 chipset, and it is actively cooled using a rather well designed noiseless delta fan/heatsink combo.
We have 6 SATA ports which should be enough for most users.
The board has two single speed PCIex slots and two x16 slots . Only the one closest to the CPU will provide full x16 bandwidth so make sure to install your GPU there.
The metallic reinforcement gives the slot more strength as it has to carry the weight of the GPU on it, and newer GPUs are getting bigger and heavier. The second slot is capped at only PCIex4 speed.
PCIex16 would handle all the latest graphic cards and none of them can completely use up the total bandwidth available, so it is guaranteed you will not have any bottlenecks GPU wise at present.
I love that this motherboard has an integrated IO shield, this is a great addon which is not always available at this price point.
I/O we have 4 USB 2.0 ports,
4 USB 3.2 first gen ports , the white port is a USB 3.2 port, and is also meant to be used with Q-flash if you need to update the BIOS without a CPU or GPU otherwise It works like a normal USB 3.2 port.
We have two USB 3.2 second gen ports which support upto 10 Gbps. Sad no type-c port is included.
The HDMI port, generally unusable on AMD motherboards unless you install an APU.
Sound, we have an 8 channel ALC1200 Realtek CODEC which is a premium offering, with analog surround sound and SPDIF optical outputs available.
We also have an analog line in and mic in jacks.
WIMA capacitors are used to make sure you get pristine audio by clearing out any ground or static interferences.
LAN is only 1 gigabit , would have liked 2.5 gigabit LAN ports, which is a bit disappointing.
On the board we have front panel USB connectors which are two second gen ports, two 1st gen ports and a USB 3.2 2nd gen port within which can be used to connect some graphic cards and peripherals.
Fan connectors, we have four hybrid connectors which can be used for FANS, water pumps and even thermal sensors.
Now for the gaming soul of the board. RGB!
We have RGB accents within the heatsinks, and also within the PCB board.
Looks cool.
If you need more, of course you do, we have four RGB headers, two which are ARGB and two 12v RGB headers.
Now to upgrade the motherboard, out with the B550
CPU transplanted onto the Gigabyte x570 aorus elite
Motherboard goes in, great that the board has an integrated IO shield.
Add AIO mounts, using the Deepcool GamerStorm Castle 240 RGB
A little thermal paste
And mount the cooler
M.2 ssd
Install GPU
This is cool a front panel adapter for all the front panel buttons and leds, makes it easier to install.
All manufacturers should do this.
24 Pin and
8 pin power.
Connect fans
This is a Wi-Fi antenna provided in the box.
First boot, fingers crossed and we’re in.
Benchmarks wise, there was a gain of around 200 points in Cinebench R23
3d Mark has a small bump of around 111 points
Running the board through multiple performance tests the motherboard stayed stable throughout.
Is this the best x570 motherboard, well yes and no. If you are looking for a motherboard with all the bells and whistles this might not be it, even though it would satiate a typical user. But, if you are looking for a good budget x570 motherboard with great power delivery and efficiency, the Aorus x570 elite motherboard will not disappoint.
