Gigabyte Launches its first Mini-ITX X870 Motherboard, the X870I Aorus Pro Ice

[TheLostSwede]

When the initial batch of AMD X870/E motherboards were announced, there were no signs of Mini-ITX motherboards, but now Gigabyte has launched its first X870 Mini-ITX board and it's a bit of a hit and miss in our opinion. The X870I Aorus Pro Ice comes in white, as per the Ice moniker that Gigabyte likes to use for its white products and this might really appeal to some and put others off. Feature wise, we're looking at a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot—as per most Mini-ITX boards—two NVMe M.2 slots, one PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0, but for some reason, Gigabyte decided that a single USB4 port was enough.

What makes the single USB4 port decision even worse is the fact that the board only has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps USB Type-C port and the front panel header is also limited to 10 Gbps. On a brand new board, this is really quite disappointing, but the Pro SKUs are usually feature limited models from Gigabyte. The rest of the ports around the back consists of an HDMI 2.1 port, although it too is limited to 4K 60 Hz output, which again is disappointing—the USB4 port is capable of 4K at 240 Hzvia DP Alt mode—two USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps USB Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a 2.5 Gbps RJ45 Ethernet jack, a WiFi antenna connector for the onboard RTL8922AE WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 module and a pair of 3.5 mm audio jacks mounted on a separate PCB. There's also a BIOS flashing button around the back.




Admittedly Mini-ITX boards have limited space, but this feels sub-par for the category. Internally there's also a USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps USB header, two SATA 6 Gbps ports and for some reason, Gigabyte decided to add their PCIe EZ-Latch Plus quick release button to this board, a feature that doesn't quite make sense. Also note the really odd location of the fron audio header, which appears to connect via a wire to the actual header on the motherboard.The board sports a 8-2-1 VRM design and we're looking at a 110 A setup for the vCore. The board does at least have debug LEDs to help troubleshoot basic issues. Overall, we're not blown away by Gigabyte's first Mini-ITX X870 board and we hope the company has something better coming down the road, especially as they want US$300 for this rather basic motherboard.

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[Chaitanya]

Lacking atleast 2x USB 2.0 ports on back panel else looks like a decent mITX board.

 

[Ten Shin Han]

Because of Windows 10 EOL scheduled for next year, I will decomission my current Intel Skylake based setup and I will switch to AMD Ryzen Zen 5 9000 series platform.

And I am hoping for a Micro ATX motherboard (to reuse my current casing) that will have 2 x nvme M.2 gen5x4 port configurable as RAID 0 just for fun

I am kind of surprised to see a mini ITX mobo coming first...

 

[Gucky]

Only 2 Sata ports on a high-end chipset...

 

[DBGT]

No RJ45?!

 

[Mack4285]

Only 2 Sata ports on a high-end chipset...

They should get rid of them... including the old USB header. Old technology, taking up space. Possibly instead offer an adapter from a modern header/connector to these legacy ports.

 

[Yttersta]

What a ridiculous IO and lack of on board connectors. CPUs installed onto this board can do incredible levels of compute, yet only two fan headers and 3 RGB headers truly show their priorities and target audience. Not to mention the insanely low amount of ports at the rear. Sad.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Because of Windows 10 EOL scheduled for next year, I will decomission my current Intel Skylake based setup and I will switch to AMD Ryzen Zen 5 9000 series platform.

And I am hoping for a Micro ATX motherboard (to reuse my current casing) that will have 2 x nvme M.2 gen5x4 port configurable as RAID 0 just for fun

I am kind of surprised to see a mini ITX mobo coming first...

No X870/E boards will have two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 NVMe slots, since the USB4 host controller is using up four PCIe 5.0 lanes. At least not unless you're willing to share bandwidth with the PCIe 5.0 x16 slot.

Only 2 Sata ports on a high-end chipset...

Pretty common for Mini-ITX boards.

No RJ45?!

Yes, the 2.5 Gbps Ethernet is there.

They should get rid of them... including the old USB header. Old technology, taking up space. Possibly instead offer an adapter from a modern header/connector to these legacy ports.

You could do that with pin-headers, but SATA is too fast and would cause signal degradation, unless you do a costly solution like what Asus has done on their Mini-ITX X870 board with two USB Type-C connectors for the daughter board.

 

[rb2ndom]

kind of disappointed how mobo makers keeps making X-series chipset into mITX board but not mATX :\
guess mATX boards only reserved for B-series chipsets for long while

 

[_roman_]

Very nice white board with special feature according to the homepage: https://global-test.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X870I-AORUS-PRO-ICE#kf

It's nicely made. All white, except a few surface mount device chips.
I agree the board most likely audience is for the buyer who wants something white. Who most likely only looks at the processor number and size of DRAM. Who barely cares for the other connectors.

The USB 2 ports are for bios flash back usually. I think I saw only one board so far with usb 3 for bios flashback on the amd side. They are included in the cpu anyway

I did not found a picture of the backside of the mainboard.
Someone has to explain to myself DIY friendly. Do it yourself friendly, when one M2 Slot is on the backside of the mainboard.

1 x M.2 connector on the back of the motherboard (M2C_SB), integrated in the Chipset, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 SSDs

Only Windows 11 compatible, not compatible with other software, ... according to gigabyte as of now.

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_X870I_AORUS_PRO_ICE_1001_e.pdf?v=c586604aa8785d9d3c61353006e68a94

Careful M2 only supports NVME without cooler

DIY friendly

 

[ErikG]

Now one m-ATX please.

 

[csendesmark]

This backplate with it's lean options is just sad

 

[dgianstefani]

View attachment 371255
This backplate with it's lean options is just sad

Yep.

Perfectly possible to have good IO on ITX.

Here's mine on X670E-I, two TB4 ports. Internal headers for more 20 Gb/s ports too.

Newer boards have slim SAS which is a great port.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Now one m-ATX please.

I would guess that we'll see an updated version of this.

B650M AORUS ELITE AX ICE Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

View attachment 371255
This backplate with it's lean options is just sad

What irks me the most is the single USB4 port, since the controller supports two.

There's at least a dozen ATX sized X870 boards available that are cheaper than this board.
Yes I know, different target audience, but this is too expensive for what it is.

Yep.

Perfectly possible to have good IO on ITX.

Here's mine on X670E-I, two TB4 ports. Internal headers for more 20 Gb/s ports too.
View attachment 371262

View attachment 371264

Newer boards have slim SAS which is a great port.

The X870 version of that board is US$450 though.

 

[Ten Shin Han]

No X870/E boards will have two PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 NVMe slots, since the USB4 host controller is using up four PCIe 5.0 lanes. At least not unless you're willing to share bandwidth with the PCIe 5.0 x16 slot.

I see.

I am definitely not a mobo design expert, and I often don't understand the rational between pure marketing & functional specifications versus the technical specifications of individuel components.

For instance, what is confusing me is that all Ryzen 9000 Series have 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes which is (theoretically) just enough for GPU x16 and the 2 x nvme M.2 Gen5x4 I was mentionning earlier.

But is it a realistic design to have

** direct connection between CPU <-> GPU => this one I konw it is OK

** direct CPU <-> 2 x nvme *ONLY* M.2 ports with software RAID 0 support => this one I don't know, but I wish for


as far as I am concerened, everything else can be managed by the chipset, and I don't care about USB4

what do you think ?

 

[TheLostSwede]

I see.

I am definitely not a mobo design expert, and I often don't understand the rational between pure marketing & functional specifications versus the technical specifications of individuel components.

For instance, what is confusing me is that all Ryzen 9000 Series have 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes which is (theoretically) just enough for GPU x16 and the 2 x nvme M.2 Gen5x4 I was mentionning earlier.

Maybe have a read here? It should hopefully give you a better explanation of how the PCIe lanes between the CPU and chipset(s) work.

AMD Zen 4 & Socket AM5 Explained: PCIe Lanes, Chipsets, Connectivity

There has been a fair bit of confusion about AMD's upcoming AM5 platform when it comes to connectivity and we're going to break things down and explain what the difference is between the B650 and X670 boards. We're also going to cover the processor connectivity, since that's an integral part of...

www.techpowerup.com

But is it a realistic design to have

** direct connection between CPU <-> GPU => this one I konw it is OK

** direct CPU <-> 2 x nvme *ONLY* M.2 ports with software RAID 0 support => this one I don't know, but I wish for

Yes, get an X670/E board, many of them offers that configuration.

as far as I am concerened, everything else can be managed by the chipset, and I don't care about USB4

So don't get an X870/E board then.

 

[Xaser04]

ITX... the one form factor where stealing lanes for USB4 actually makes sense (last of physical space for more M2 / PCI-E) and they go and balls that up...

 

[Ten Shin Han]

Maybe have a read here? It should hopefully give you a better explanation of how the PCIe lanes between the CPU and chipset(s) work.

AMD Zen 4 & Socket AM5 Explained: PCIe Lanes, Chipsets, Connectivity

There has been a fair bit of confusion about AMD's upcoming AM5 platform when it comes to connectivity and we're going to break things down and explain what the difference is between the B650 and X670 boards. We're also going to cover the processor connectivity, since that's an integral part of...

www.techpowerup.com

Yes, get an X670/E board, many of them offers that configuration.

So don't get an X870/E board then.

Many thanks

 

[csendesmark]

Yep.

Perfectly possible to have good IO on ITX.

Here's mine on X670E-I, two TB4 ports. Internal headers for more 20 Gb/s ports too.
View attachment 371262

View attachment 371264

Newer boards have slim SAS which is a great port.

I understand the concept of an USB hub
And your backplate is still a lot better than this Giga board.

I would trade the 3.5 jack and the q flash button for an other USB 3.2 and USB 4 ports any day

 

[dgianstefani]

I understand the concept of an USB hub
And your backplate is still a lot better than this Giga board.
View attachment 371268
I would trade the 3.5 jack and the q flash button for an other USB 3.2 and USB 4 ports any day

Why not both, there's space. E-I just has these on a easy to access desktop hub.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

Gigabyte now assumes everyone to run a dongle box for their ITX builds.... nice board but the lack of USB Type-A ports is a turn-off.

 

[PixelTech]

Oooo! A white ITX. I can't remember the last time I saw one.

Edit: Do we really need SATAIII ports for ITX anymore? M.2 NVMe drives are getting higher in capacity and cheaper as the months go on. With the little space that ITX boards have, the space can be used for something else. In some ITX cases the space is really tight, so people aren't opting for SATA drives anymore especially not spinning rust in something like the CM NP200. Maybe if there weren't these SATA ports we could get more USB ports in the back I/O? (but I know the wiring is going to the other side of the board so maybe not)

Can't wait to see how CAMM2 RAM changes things up for ITX boards. New low profile coolers that extend into previous RAM form factor space.

And even more into the future, can we get a new form factor smaller then SFX for power supplies that has zero SATA power and... 2x 12v-2x6 connectors? (Also, with ITX boards being so small, is the 24 pin connector necessary? Is it even using all the pins?)

 

[csendesmark]

Why not both, there's space. E-I just has these on a easy to access desktop hub.

That is why I posted about "my sorrow" here.
So many unused real-estate, and there is so little to lose there.

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

What irks me the most is the single USB4 port, since the controller supports two.

Came here to post the same thing.

I dont know who to blame, but its on AMD best interest to push these USB 4 ports on their systems.

Places will still buy POS Intel systems just because they have more than 2 thunderbolt ports.

I would trade the 3.5 jack and the q flash button for an other USB 3.2 and USB 4 ports any day

Screw that, both of those plates show lots of empty space for more ports.

I have observed that for a while now and dont understand why AMD mobos have so few ports in the here.

Another thing, its sad that HDMI seems to be winning on PCs now, given their anti-open source stand.

I guess that Display Port lost and its on its way out.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I guess that Display Port lost and its on its way out.

USB4 and Thunderbolt does DP Alt mode, so all you need is the right cable and you have at least one, if not two DP ports.