Gigabyte Announces the B650E AORUS PRO X with USB4

[TheLostSwede]

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, introduced the latest all-round B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 motherboard. Built-in with Dual USB4 ports and comprehensive leading features, B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 enables users to enjoy the most affordable next-gen AM5 platform in advance.

With blisteringly fast and reliable transfer speeds, extensive compatibility, efficient charging, and ultra-HD display connectivity, USB4 has evidently become an essential specification on the coming next-gen AM5 platform. Among the increasing number of USB4-ready devices on the market, the B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 exclusively features dual native USB4 ports, providing up to 40 Gbps on each port with support for all Ryzen processors. Uniquely, this total 40 Gbps bandwidth can be fully used for data transferring, unlike Thunderbolt 4, which shares bandwidth between data and video. Aside from the full 40 Gbps USB4, B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 also offers superb connectivity with Wi-Fi 7 using GIGABYTE's Ultra-High Gain antenna and 2.5 GbE LAN.




B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 boasts several exclusive DIY-friendly innovations in both hardware and firmware to enable a joyful and effortless system building. The newly designed EZ-Debug Zone centralizes debug LEDs and control buttons to provide a convenient and organized troubleshooting process. The WIFI EZ-Plug design integrates Wi-Fi antenna plugs into one adapter, relieving users from the troublesome screwing required during installation. The Sensor panel Link features onboard video port simplifies Sensor Panel installation without worries about cable routing. The PCIe EZ-Latch Plus delivers screwless installation for PCIe graphics cards, while M.2 EZ-Latch Click and M.2 EZ-Latch Plus allow for tool-free installation of M.2 SSDs and heatsinks. The upgraded user-centric UC BIOS offers a redesigned UI and UX, featuring a Quick Access panel with customizable option slots.

Powered by all-digital 16 phase design with 80 A SPS per phase, the B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 can unleash exceptional performance of the latest and upcoming AMD Ryzen processors. Furthermore, the advanced thermal design includes an enlarged heatsink with a heat pipe in the VRM area and an M.2 thermal guard, providing high-efficiency heat dissipation to ensure the system stays cool while running multitasking or resource-hungry applications.

The all-round B650E AORUS PRO X USB4 motherboard with built-in next-gen AM5 will be available in early June

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Chaitanya]

If it still uses Intel NIC then a hard pass.

 

[pat-roner]

Is that antenna connector a new standard? Seems really nice! I the current ones

 

[TheLostSwede]

Is that antenna connector a new standard? Seems really nice! I the current ones

It's been around for a while, but yes, it's a kind of push-on connector, so no need to screw the connectors on any more.

If it still uses Intel NIC then a hard pass.

 

[bonehead123]

A nice looking board, but no backside connectors...and of course, NO FRIGGIN PRICE !

2x f/A/i/L

 

[Chaitanya]

View attachment 349221

Thats good to see, when I posted the comment product page was returning 404 error. Otherwise in terms of connectivity(on USB side of things) this board is a massive upgrade over anything from Gigabyte themselves or competition(hopefully its a sub $300 board in which case even X670 boards dont offer similar connectivity).

Edit: Here is screenshot of product page linked below the article:

 

[kapone32]

Let's see what else is released for Computex, looks like the next chipset may not come until the next X3D chips launch. This board has some serious features but I bet there is some serious lane sharing going on. This has 2 internal Type C headers and 2 x16 lanes. We will have to get a MB manual to see how this is wired. LED codes are for me a must on any MB. I expect this to be a pretty penny though with the Aorus tax.

Thats good to see, when I posted the comment product page was returning 404 error. Otherwise in terms of connectivity(on USB side of things) this board is a massive upgrade over anything from Gigabyte themselves or competition(hopefully its a sub $300 board in which case even X670 boards dont offer similar connectivity).

Edit: Here is screenshot of product page linked below the article:
View attachment 349227

This board has features but not as many features as better X670E boards. We will see how much it costs though.

 

[natr0n]

antenna port looks like a plug socket

 

[A Computer Guy]

If it still uses Intel NIC then a hard pass.

But doesn't USB4 mitigate this shortcoming so you can get a non-Intel USB NIC if you wanted to?

 

[Chaitanya]

But doesn't USB4 mitigate this shortcoming so you can get a non-Intel USB NIC if you wanted to?

For me USB 4 will be used for CFx Type B card reader, also right now only boards that offer native USB 4 are overpriced Shitsus boards and they come with Intel 2.5Gbps NICs(with atleast larger boards having option of 10Gbps NICs to go along with slower NIC and depending on heatsink even those 10Gbps NICs can throttle) with no solution to their issues so far.

 

[rv8000]

Is that antenna connector a new standard? Seems really nice! I the current ones

This type of wifi connector is on my apex, and my god is it one of the best changes/implementations. I hope this connector type is the new standard across the board.

Side note, weird to see them release a new X6/B6 mobo with ryzen 9000 and 800 chipset due soon.

 

[Dave65]

I know people complain about Gigabyte stuff but I have had good luck with motherboards, a couple I had trouble with but was fixed under warranty.. Their thin PCB on GPUs a different story tho... This board looks quite nice.

 

[apoklyps3]

only mic and line out?
is this a low end a620 board?

 

[Tek-Check]

But doesn't USB4 mitigate this shortcoming so you can get a non-Intel USB NIC if you wanted to?

One can get any x1 or x2 NIC and stick it into PCIe slot.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Thats good to see, when I posted the comment product page was returning 404 error. Otherwise in terms of connectivity(on USB side of things) this board is a massive upgrade over anything from Gigabyte themselves or competition(hopefully its a sub $300 board in which case even X670 boards dont offer similar connectivity).

Edit: Here is screenshot of product page linked below the article:
View attachment 349227

They have a hidden "test" site that I have access to, hence why I could see it. Apparently they have a really slow rollout of new pages from what I was told, as it can take up to 24 hours for a new page to appear on their main site...
However, it seems to be live now.

Let's see what else is released for Computex, looks like the next chipset may not come until the next X3D chips launch. This board has some serious features but I bet there is some serious lane sharing going on. This has 2 internal Type C headers and 2 x16 lanes. We will have to get a MB manual to see how this is wired. LED codes are for me a must on any MB. I expect this to be a pretty penny though with the Aorus tax.

Yeah, the x16 slot is shared with two M.2 slots. The other two x16 slots are PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x2.

This board has features but not as many features as better X670E boards. We will see how much it costs though.

Except USB4 of course, but yeah.

antenna port looks like a plug socket

It is, as pointed out above, it's the way all of the motherboard makers seem to be going.

Side note, weird to see them release a new X6/B6 mobo with ryzen 9000 and 800 chipset due soon.

Don't expect any big changes with the new chipsets.

I know people complain about Gigabyte stuff but I have had good luck with motherboards, a couple I had trouble with but was fixed under warranty.. Their thin PCB on GPUs a different story tho... This board looks quite nice.

Never had any real issues with their motherboards either. Had to take a graphics card to their service centre though, as the TIM and thermal pads they used seems to have really short life span and it was running the fans att full speed no matter what. At least they replaced the TIM and thermal pads for free under warranty.

only mic and line out?
is this a low end a620 board?

In case you've missed it, Gigabyte has been doing this across most of their boards for a while now.

 

[Chaitanya]

They have a hidden "test" site that I have access to, hence why I could see it. Apparently they have a really slow rollout of new pages from what I was told, as it can take up to 24 hours for a new page to appear on their main site...
However, it seems to be live now.


Yeah, the x16 slot is shared with two M.2 slots. The other two x16 slots are PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x2.

Except USB4 of course, but yeah.


It is, as pointed out above, it's the way all of the motherboard makers seem to be going.


Don't expect any big changes with the new chipsets.


Never had any real issues with their motherboards either. Had to take a graphics card to their service centre though, as the TIM and thermal pads they used seems to have really short life span and it was running the fans att full speed no matter what. At least they replaced the TIM and thermal pads for free under warranty.


In case you've missed it, Gigabyte has been doing this across most of their boards for a while now.

The page is fully up though only shows up using the link in article and website is still not listing board. Also checked the manual and found out 2 out 3 M.2 slots from CPU share bandwidth with PCI-e 16x slot so by default bifurcation is enabled. Also some engineer messed up placement of 3 thermal sensors on this board and they could have been better moved to under m.2 slots. Also placement of that Bios chip right under the M.2 is dicey at best(might be soldered and not socketed so its going to be an expensive repair for the users who install a SSD there).

 

[TheLostSwede]

The page is fully up though only shows up using the link in article and website is still not listing board. Also checked the manual and found out 2 out 3 M.2 slots from CPU share bandwidth with PCI-e 16x slot so by default bifurcation is enabled. Also some engineer messed up placement of 3 thermal sensors on this board and they could have been better moved to under m.2 slots. Also placement of that Bios chip right under the M.2 is dicey at best(might be soldered and not socketed so its going to be an expensive repair for the users who install a SSD there).
View attachment 349241

The board has four M.2 slots, one is above the top-most x16 slot. So two out of four slots share bandwidth with the x16 slot.
No need for socketed BIOS chips any more on the high-end boards, as they can always be flashed over USB thanks to an MCU that handles the flashing even without a CPU. You'd have to physically damage the chip before you'd run into issues flashing it.

 

[kapone32]

The board has four M.2 slots, one is above the top-most x16 slot. So two out of four slots share bandwidth with the x16 slot.
No need for socketed BIOS chips any more on the high-end boards, as they can always be flashed over USB thanks to an MCU that handles the flashing even without a CPU. You'd have to physically damage the chip before you'd run into issues flashing it.

View attachment 349243

View attachment 349242

Ok I see that what I thought was the 2nd USB C internal port was actually a HDMI port for those panels. I assume that USB4 controller is wired directly to the CPU, thus making the x16 slot 4.0. the E designation on this board is reserved to the top M2 slot.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Ok I see that what I thought was the 2nd USB C internal port was actually a HDMI port for those panels. I assume that USB4 controller is wired directly to the CPU, thus making the x16 slot 4.0. the E designation on this board is reserved to the top M2 slot.

The x16 slot is PCIe 5.0 on B650E boards, just like it is on X670E (as well as the other CPU lanes), it's X670 that gets PCIe 4.0 on the x16 slot, but PCIe 5.0 for the SSD and B650 is PCIe 4.0 across everything. This is as long as you're using a Ryzen 7000-series CPU. Gigabyte has apparently only allowed for that single CPU connected M.2 slot to be used in any scenario, whereas the chipset connected one shares lanes with the PCIe 4.0 x4/x16 slot. And yes, the USB4 host controller is connected directly to the CPU PCIe lanes.

 

[rv8000]

They have a hidden "test" site that I have access to, hence why I could see it. Apparently they have a really slow rollout of new pages from what I was told, as it can take up to 24 hours for a new page to appear on their main site...
However, it seems to be live now.


Yeah, the x16 slot is shared with two M.2 slots. The other two x16 slots are PCIe 4.0 x4 and PCIe 3.0 x2.

Except USB4 of course, but yeah.


It is, as pointed out above, it's the way all of the motherboard makers seem to be going.


Don't expect any big changes with the new chipsets.


Never had any real issues with their motherboards either. Had to take a graphics card to their service centre though, as the TIM and thermal pads they used seems to have really short life span and it was running the fans att full speed no matter what. At least they replaced the TIM and thermal pads for free under warranty.


In case you've missed it, Gigabyte has been doing this across most of their boards for a while now.

The 600 series had pretty solid i/o and connectivity in my book, there wasn’t too much to improve compared to intel. I’m just hoping 800 series based boards and the 9000 series have some improvements to memory clocking and the IMC. We’ll see soon though.

 

[trsttte]

Every AM5 seemingly does this same bullshit, they include bifurcation support and waste it on M.2 connections. I don't get it, m.2 cards are cheap and available, adapters to convert the m.2 back into a slot no so much.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Every AM5 seemingly does this same bullshit, they include bifurcation support and waste it on M.2 connections. I don't get it, m.2 cards are cheap and available, adapters to convert the m.2 back into a slot no so much.

By any chance do you know if the bifurcation for AM5 APU's (8000 series) do x8x4x4 (similar to AM4) or finally allow x4x4x4x4 ?

 

[TheLostSwede]

The 600 series had pretty solid i/o and connectivity in my book, there wasn’t too much to improve compared to intel. I’m just hoping 800 series based boards and the 9000 series have some improvements to memory clocking and the IMC. We’ll see soon though.

That's the rumour at least, but the chipset is likely to stay pretty much the same. However, due to Intel pushing out new chipsets all the time, AMD has to do the same, not to upset the motherboard makers.

 

[Chaitanya]

The board has four M.2 slots, one is above the top-most x16 slot. So two out of four slots share bandwidth with the x16 slot.
No need for socketed BIOS chips any more on the high-end boards, as they can always be flashed over USB thanks to an MCU that handles the flashing even without a CPU. You'd have to physically damage the chip before you'd run into issues flashing it.

View attachment 349243

View attachment 349242

Bios chips sits right under the M2C slot and where SSD controller will be. Depending on the SSD it can cause heat damage to the BIOS chip in long run.

 

[JWNoctis]

Is that antenna connector a new standard? Seems really nice! I the current ones

This type of wifi connector is on my apex, and my god is it one of the best changes/implementations. I hope this connector type is the new standard across the board.

Side note, weird to see them release a new X6/B6 mobo with ryzen 9000 and 800 chipset due soon.

Why? Since when has proprietary connector become a good thing? Though I guess it would work, if the stock antenna is sufficient.

I suppose it does work better than SMA connectors merely provisioned with a pair of walkie-talkie antennae that either stick out at weird angles, or get in the way of every other port on the I/O panel, and either way blocked by the case if your WiFi router is located somewhere outside the rear 180 degrees of it.