On The Wings of an Eagle: GIGABYTE's X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI Motherboard Tested
by Gavin Bonshor on March 19, 2020 10:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI Conclusion
The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI as it stands is the cheapest of the small form factor options on AMD's X570 chipset. Each of the competition are more expensive, such as $240 for an ASRock (but it comes with Thunderbolt, and $299 for the ASUS ROG model. The ASRock with TB3 puts it as the most unique offering, but GIGABYTE has gone a different route altogether with the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI.
Targeting itself at the mid-range user, it has plenty to boast about, primarily dual M.2 slots which both support PCIe 4.0 x4 drives. The power delivery is also pretty good, being a scaled down version of the flagship X570 motherboard. Networking is a standard gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi 6, but there is a variety of USB 3.1 G2 Type-A and Type-C ports available.
Interestingly GIGABYTE has overloaded the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI with video outputs with two HDMI 2.0, and a single DisplayPort 1.2; perfect for driving up to three displays from a Ryzen APU. All of the other bases are covered with two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots present for users to maximise storage performance from Gen4 capable NVMe drives, and four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1 and 10 arrays also present. The full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot is standard for a small form factor motherboard, and the two memory slots allow support for DDR4-4400 with a maximum capacity of up to 64 GB. If I were to criticize, it would be the lack of a thermal pad for the rear mounted slot. The board also only has two 4-pin fan headers, and even though space is at a premium, we usually like to see at least three.
From a performance perspective, the GIGABYTE won a number of key benchmarks. The biggest win came in our power consumption tests as it consistently sits below the rest of the pack at both idle, and full load. We also saw some CPU throughput wins as well, and a quick POST time as well as good DPC latency numbers. The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI has everything needed from a mid-range model, more so from a mini-ITX sized offering, but without breaking the bank due to its very impressive $220 price tag.
Overall for users looking for a solid and consistent motherboard, and especially need to use the onboard graphics output options, the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI is a very capable product. With a price tag of just $220, it competes well.
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InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Oh, i don't doubt that. Even el cheapo fans can stay silent. For the first dozen months or so....ijozic - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
IIRC, Asus X570-E doesn't have a chipset heatsink fan. I'd presume there are others, but that's one I've noticed.InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Now, unfortunately that is neither mATX nor mITX. Also -- and this is obviously totally subjective -- does it feel normal to pay more for a motherboard than, say, for example a Ryzen 7 3700X?evernessince - Saturday, March 21, 2020 - link
Sure, assuming the fan isn't turned off completely. Passive mode exists and what many boards use when you aren't utilizing PCIe 4.0 bandwidth. I also have an old Z78 Sabertooth with an even smaller fan that's still perfectly functioning. Now that is a board built to last. In the end the quality of the fan really matters.InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Yeah, this can work for people that build an entirely new system, thus being able to select components such CPU cooler and or GPU and a mobo with an acceptable layout (with regard to the placement of the chipset hub) so that they don't spatially interfere with each other.Unfortunately, i am intending to do an upgrade of an existing system instead of building a completely new one from scratch, and i intend to keep my GPU and CPU cooler. Both are too fat (wide/long) and are not leaving enough room for any passive chipset heatsink of any meaningful size :( (Form factor in my case is mATX or smaller. ATX and E(-peen)-ATX are not under consideration.)
PeachNCream - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
I have to agree with you, moreso on the chipset fan than anything else. It feels like a significant step backwards to see them on motherboards and speaks of immature technology behind PCIe 4.0 to be in a state that the higher bandwidth bus requires active cooling.evernessince - Saturday, March 21, 2020 - link
It's in all the next gen consoles. I wouldn't call that immature.PeachNCream - Sunday, March 22, 2020 - link
And what sort of cooling do they have inside of them?Cashmoney995 - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
I currently cannot find an x570 Micro board with SP/DIF...still rocking my Z5500's from over a decade ago...Plenty of B450 board with this port, so wonder if this is a concious decision to segment the purchasers.supdawgwtfd - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
That interface is basically dead.Anything better than DVD provides better sound than it is capable of.