Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice review: A brilliant white motherboard

If you wish to construct a clear white PC you then’ll want a motherboard that matches your coloration scheme too, and the Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice is considered one of a number of boards based mostly on the X870 chipset to take action. It appears to be like incredible, however because it makes use of the X870 chipset versus the dearer X870E chipset, you continue to get premium options similar to USB 4, Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 5.0 M.2 and PCIe slots, however with out the $500 price ticket.

After all, in case you’re simply on the lookout for one of the best gaming motherboard and wish to pair it with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, there are many different choices, with those who use the older B650 chipset saving you much more cash. Nevertheless, Gigabyte is aiming this board at those that need cutting-edge options that can stand the take a look at of time, similar to Wi-Fi 7 and USB 4, along with its snazzy design. What’s extra, this motherboard has bigger heatsinks than many B650 and X670 boards, which means you may add a PCIe 5.0 SSD with out it getting too toasty.

Retailing for $290, the Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice is without doubt one of the extra inexpensive motherboards to have been launched since AMD’s Zen 5 Ryzen 9000 CPUs hit the cabinets a number of months in the past.

Whereas all Socket AM5 motherboards assist Ryzen 7000 and 9000 CPUs, the brand new 800-series motherboards are designed with PCIe 5.0 SSDs and graphics playing cards in thoughts and embrace a spread of improved tool-free options too. Gigabyte has additionally up to date its EFI and software program to make them extra user-friendly, so we count on the Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice to be straightforward to put in and arrange, and never only a fairly face.

Specs

Options

You would possibly suppose all of Gigabyte’s price range for this motherboard has gone into the colour scheme, however fortunately you’d be improper. All 4 of the M.2 ports are tool-free and simple to take away and reinstall when you’ve added your SSDs. The truth is, it’s somewhat simpler to cope with Gigabyte’s heatsinks than these of different producers we’ve seen not too long ago too. Nevertheless, solely the highest port above your graphics card is cooled above and under the drive, with the opposite three ports missing the decrease thermal pads you usually see on dearer motherboards.

As a result of tightly-packed nature of the PCB and utterly inaccessible graphics card locking latch, Gigabyte additionally features a PCIe EZ-Latch Plus button to your graphics card. This opens the locking latch on the bolstered slot and is situated subsequent to the reminiscence slots. This isn’t simply vital but additionally makes eradicating your graphics card a lot simpler than traditional on the whole. Gigabyte has improved the Wi-Fi aerial ports too, with a single connector now catering for each sections of the antenna, saving you some unnecessary fiddling.

The headline options for X870 chipsets are wider assist for USB 4.0. in addition to PCIe 5.0 on each the first PCIe 16x slot and at the very least one M.2 port. The truth is, this board has three PCIe 5.0-capable M.2 ports, however it’s value noting that the decrease two PCIe 5.0-capable M.2 ports will steal PCIe lanes out of your graphics card, so we propose solely utilizing the primary slot, whereas slot two can be accessible, however restricted to PCIe 4.0 speeds. Nonetheless, two M.2 SSDs are more likely to be sufficient for many of us.

You additionally get Wi-Fi 7, which is an improve on what you see on 600-series chipset boards, however the 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port isn’t any quicker than we’ve seen for the previous few generations. The audio, in the meantime, comes from Realtek’s ALC1220 codec, which once more isn’t an improve on what you’d see on X670 boards, however is normally strong when it comes to audio high quality.

There are many helpful options for tweaking and cooling too. There are onboard energy and reset buttons, an LED POST code show, and a BIOS Flashback button on the I/O panel too. Along with eight 4-pin fan headers, there are two thermal probe inputs as effectively, which you’ll assign as fan pace inputs.

There aren’t as many USB-C on the I/O panel as you will discover on among the competitors, however each Sort-C ports are USB 4.0 and there’s an enormous tally of ten USB-A ports as effectively, with a combination of USB 2.0, 3.2 Gen 1 and three.2 Gen 2 ports. In the meantime, the entrance panel USB-C header is your commonplace USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port (20Gbps), however subsequent to it’s an HDMI port. That is along with the one on the rear I/O panel and helps third-party 1080p 30Hz case screens that can be utilized to show animations or system data graphics inside your system.

Gigabyte has additionally utilized the white theme to its up to date BIOS, which is a pleasant contact, and the BIOS itself appears to be like lots cleaner than earlier Gigabyte layouts. Likewise, Gigabyte’s motherboard management software program has been simplified, and is now principally restricted to RGB lighting and fan management, with the latter providing wonderful management over your PC’s cooling.

Design

After all, the engaging coloration scheme is the principle motive you’d purchase the Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice. It sports activities a combination of very mild grey and white, and even the PCB joins the occasion, which is a uncommon transfer. In the event you’re planning to construct a white-themed PC, you then’ll love the eye to element right here, as the colour even extends to the fan headers, AMD socket cooler mounts, LED POST code show, and built-in I/O panel protect.

The format can be principally wonderful, particularly due to the PCIe EZ-Latch Plus button to your graphics card we talked about earlier – it could be extraordinarily tough to take away your graphics card with out this characteristic. Gigabyte has in any other case positioned key ports and connectors on the fringe of the PCB to assist cable tidying, however we do have one grievance, which is the placement of six of the eight 4-pin fan headers.

These are all situated on the underside of the PCB, which means that powering the roof or rear followers from a supply aside from the CPU headers may have extension cables. Fortunately there are each 4-pin and 3-pin RGB headers on the prime of the board, with an extra two 3-pin RGB headers on the base.

Benchmarks

The Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice recorded Cinebench R24 scores of two,344 factors within the multi-core take a look at and 139 factors within the single-core take a look at, that are proper on the cash. Additionally, in our Whole Warfare: Warhammer 3 sport take a look at at 1080p, it managed a 1% low of 159fps and 209fps common utilizing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Tremendous graphics card.

The audio efficiency in Rightmark Audio Analyzer was first rate too, as anticipated for a Realtek ALC1220 codec, with 102dBA dynamic vary and -102dBA noise stage measurements, each of that are first rate outcomes. We’ve seen larger, however that is higher than you’d see from a price range board with an older ALC892 codec, for instance. In the meantime, the highest M.2 slot dealt with our PCIe 5.0 SSD effectively, with a peak temperature of 61°C in our stress take a look at, which is simply in addition to that is the one slot that helps PCIe 5.0 SSDs and doesn’t steal lanes from the graphics slot.

Likewise, the voltage regulator module (VRM) temperatures sat at an inexpensive 55°C in each the software program and utilizing our thermal probe, whereas dealing with our Ryzen 9 9950X take a look at CPU. Lastly, the entire system peak energy consumption was 361W from the wall, which is according to different Socket AM5 boards I’ve examined.

Value

The Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice value is $289, which represents good worth in comparison with the competitors and its predecessors, primarily due to Gigabyte’s obsession with creating a very icy white motherboard. It affords added options over B650 fashions and, to a lesser extent, over X670 boards as effectively.

Clearly, in case you’re on a decent price range, saving $100 or so is the best way to go along with a B650 motherboard. Nevertheless, in case you’re trying to construct the white PC of your desires, with a motherboard that has your again when it comes to options and enlargement, however nonetheless leaves you with change from $300, then the Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice affords an honest worth for the worth.

Verdict

The largest drawback motherboard producers face when getting fans to purchase X870 motherboards is that X670 and B650-based choices typically provide an identical efficiency with the most recent AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs. It’s solely extra options and aesthetic tweaks that warrant spending extra, however at $290, that is nonetheless a well-priced motherboard, even in comparison with the older B650 mannequin of this board.

With the Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice you get a motherboard that adheres way more extensively to its white coloration scheme, has improved tool-free options, and consists of Wi-Fi 7 in addition to USB 4.0 Sort-C ports, all of which add a contact of future-proofing to the equation too.

There are cheaper choices on the subject of white X870 motherboards, however Gigabyte has nailed the eye to element in guaranteeing virtually each part on the PCB is both white, or near it.

Mixed with first rate cooling for one of the best gaming SSDs and the VRMs, full PCIe 5.0 assist, loads of scope for controlling an intensive air or water-cooling system, in addition to Wi-Fi 7, USB 4.0 plus first rate BIOS and software program, in case you want a white motherboard to your AMD Ryzen 7000 or 9000 CPU, then we are able to totally suggest the Gigabyte Aorus Elite X870 WiFi7 Ice.

In the event you’re trying to improve to one of many newest AMD CPUs with this board, then try our Ryzen 7 9800X3D overview, the place we take the present greatest gaming CPU for a spin in our benchmark suite.