Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX Motherboard - Supports AMD Ryzen 7000 Series AM5 CPUs, Twin 14+2+1 70A VRM, Up to 8000MHz DDR5(OC), 1x PCIe 5.0 M.2, 2x PCIe 4.0 M.2, Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5G LAN, USB-C & ARGB

Product Information

We have used the Hti HT18 Thermal camera to record the thermals of the VRM area of the motherboard under load using Cinebench R23. Orange Line = top recommendation among its key competitors (form factor, price segment, features, etc.).

There are LED indicators above. These are for the VGA, CPU, BOOT, and DRAM. They provide additional troubleshooting aid to the user above the debug LED. In case of an issue, the corresponding LED will remain lit until the issue is resolved. Front Panel Then, we have the Asus Prime series, which includes the Prime B650M-A WiFi, Prime B650-Plus, and Prime B650M-A WiFi II. Unfortunately, we must recommend avoiding these. Like the ultra-affordable Gigabyte B650M K, the Asus Prime boards all use discrete MOSFETs, resulting in poor VRM thermals. The Audio solution is ordinary as it is driven by RealTek ALC897. SuperIO chip is from iTE 8689E. There are 6 fans/pump headers each rated for 24W using 2A. These are powered and controlled by nuvoton 3947S. There are 5 onboard thermal sensors. There is no external sensor. Another viable option at this price point is the Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX, which includes a dozen 60A power stages for the vcore VRM, albeit with just two PCIe expansion slots. It includes a PCIe 5.0-enabled M.2 port, an additional PCIe 4.0 M.2, eleven USB 3.2 ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, and WiFi 6E. Today is the day when we can finally present to you the results of our extensive AMD B650 motherboard testing. It's been a massive undertaking indeed. In total, we've tested 35 boards, a task that spanned several months, but it's finally complete.

One of the salient features of AMD’s new platform is the support for upcoming Gen 5 base M.2 NVMe SSDs and we are seeing some jaw-dropping read/write speeds on those drives. The B650 chipset-based motherboard provides support for Gen 5 M.2 port. GIGABYTE has employed Infineon VRM controller XDPE192C3B for integrated control of all three types of MOSFETs. EPS Connector The above picture shows the 2x M.2 ports. The top slot is wired to the CPU and is labeled as M2B_CPU. The second port is wired to the chipset and is labeled M2C_SB. Both ports are Gen 4 x4 slots. These support the 22110/2280 form factors. These ports also feature the EZ-Latch mechanism making life easy. x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@60 Hz, Support for HDMI 2.1 version and HDCP 2.3. Next, the Cinebench R23 System Stability test was run for 30 minutes to record the thermals, power, and frequency behavior.

Rename it to GIGABYTE.BIN and copy it to a FAT 32 formatted USB flash drive. Connect the USB to the above-mentioned port. Connect the 12V and 24V connectors from the PSU to the motherboard. Turn the PSU on and press the Q-Flash Plus button.

Here are all the VRM temperature results, and it won't surprise anyone to learn that the Aorus Master and Taichi are the two best performing boards here, though there are several Aorus Pro and Elite models with similar temps in the low 50s. Now, let’s turn our attention to the PCIe slots on this motherboard. This motherboard has 3x PCIe slots. The Intel Wi-Fi module is implemented on the mSATA NGGF port on the rear I/O panel. The main driving force is the MediaTek MT7922 (RZ616) chip capable of Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. The latest Wireless solution 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E with a new dedicated 6GHz band enables gigabit wireless performance providing smooth video streaming, a better gaming experience, lesser dropped connections, and speeds up to 2.4Gbps. The motherboard features Bluetooth 5.3 protocol. The CPU power delivery includes twin digital 14 phases governed by Infineon XDPE192C3B PWM controller with Infineon TDA21472 SPS 70A MOSFET. These are for the VCore. There are 2x ON NCP303160 SPS 60A MOSFET for SOC (iGPU) and 1x Renesas ISL99390 SPS 30A MOSFET for MISC (PCIe Lanes).

Behold the B650 chipset! We have a simple layout with a power delivery circuit on the right. I am guessing this chipset would draw near 7W or so hence we have a passive cooling for it.

The SilverStone Air Penetrator 120SK A-RGB was blowing focused air toward the graphics card and NVMe ports at its full speed. Thermal Imaging

The Aorus Master price doesn't make much sense at this time. The Taichi is a decent board but isn't spectacular at anything, though it does offer USB 4 support out of the box, which might be beneficial to you. That leaves Asus' E Gaming, which we think is the best high-end option here. There are tons of USB ports and hubs on this motherboard including the 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port (on the mid-board for the front panel) and 1x USB Type-C Gen port on the Rear I/O. GIGABYTE has provided Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity in addition to the Intel 2.5GbE LAN port. The WiFi module is from MediaTek and the 2.5GbE LAN is from RealTek. Not sure why but one clue would be expensive Intel equivalent chips. However, GIGABYTE has mentioned that the Rev 1.1 of this motherboard will have Intel chips for wireless and wired connectivity. For troubleshooting, there are LED indicators. There is a button that is programmable from the UEFI/BIOS. We have an iTE8689E chip for I/O control. IT5701E controller is probably for the Q FLASH PLUS and RGB.This motherboard is using 1 x 256 Mbit flash chip from winband which supports PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, and ACPI 5.0. GIGABYTE has provided a Wi-Fi antenna in the box with a magnetic base for convenient mounting. USB Connectivity