Introduction

In today's review, we will be looking at the Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX, aimed at PC gamers and budget conscious consumers alike. Gigabyte uses the AORUS naming convention to serve as the company's gaming-orientated line of Intel and AMD motherboards. These AORUS B650/X670 branded motherboards come in multiple models consisting of the Ultra, Elite, Tachyon, Master, and Xtreme, some of which overlap in features and suggested price points.

AMD's AM5 platform and Ryzen 7000 processors launched in late 2022, bringing PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 support. Waiting that additional year after Intel improved the availability and cost of DDR5 for AMD. With these new Ryzen processors come two big changes. AMD has made the transition to LGA (Land Grid Array) for the AM5 (LGA 1718) socket. All previous desktop Ryzen processors (minus Threadripper) used the AM4 PGA (Pin Grid Array) socket. What this means for consumers is that there is no Zen 4 CPU upgrade path for AM4 based platforms. If you want these new processors, they require a brand-new motherboard. The platform change also requires new memory, since the AM5 socket exclusively uses DDR5 for its system memory.

This new AM5 socket carries a host of options for connecting high speed devices that weren't previously available to AMD customers. Motherboard manufacturers now have an opportunity to innovate and create products catered towards users with high bandwidth needs. There are four primary chipset configurations; B650, B650E, X670 and X670E. The "E" stands for Extreme, and any motherboard carrying this title will have PCIe Gen 5 support. The ones without, like this X670 AORUS Elite AX will forgo PCIe Gen 5 support in favor of the current PCIe Gen 4 standard. Moreover, the B series, like the previous AM4 iterations, feature fewer connections for USB, M.2 and PCIe lanes, designed to be more budget friendly. The X670 and X670E use the same chipset, with two X670 chips daisy-chained together, sharing a PCIe 4.0 x4 link to the CPU. For more in depth coverage, check out TechPowerUp's AMD Ryzen 7600X, 7700X, 7900X and 7950X reviews.


With the AORUS Elite AX focusing on the core features that a AM5 system can provide to the consumer, Gigabyte is still packing a lot into this using the X670 chipset. This allows for more bandwidth for peripherals, offering eight additional PCIe Gen 4 lanes over the B650 Chipset, which in turn allows Gigabyte to offer more external and internal connections in various configurations. Designed to last the entire AM5 lifecycle, supporting CPU future upgrades, Gigabyte has deployed a 16+2+2 VRM design using 7 W/mK thermal pads and an 8 mm "mega-heatpipe" passing through the heatsink to keep all the critical components in peak condition for those intense workloads. There is a lot to cover in this review, so let's take a closer look at what the Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX is all about!

Specifications

*Caution is advised for use of memory kits running above DDR5-6000 due to the high voltage requirements for AMD Ryzen 7000 series. This can lead to premature degradation or outright failure of CPU in some instances.

Packaging and Contents

Looking at the X670 AORUS Elite AX box, we can see Gigabyte give the same visual treatment as the rest of the AORUS series. The orange, black and purple color palette makes this easily identifiable as a Gigabyte product. The front of the box gives a clear indication of what you're buying, with the X670 AORUS Elite AX name in the middle. If that wasn't clear enough, the bottom corner also has the AMD chipset branding as well. Flipping around the box, we can see a depiction of the motherboard on the left, followed by a few highlight features on the right. Below that are the motherboard specifications along with a visual layout of the rear IO panel.


Being that this is geared towards budget conscious consumer, a lot of the extras accessories are cut in favor of providing just the essentials. It isn't necessary to include more, but it would have been nice to see the motherboard drivers included on a USB flash drive.

The full list of accessories includes:

• 1x User's Manual
• 1x Antenna
• 2x SATA cables
• 1x G Connector
• 1x M.2 screw/standoff

Board Layout

The Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX is an example of a product that does not have much stylistic flare, but rather keeps the visuals basic. Over the last 10 years, as with many motherboard manufacturers, gone are the trends of brightly colored heatsinks and RGB PCIe slots. Over the last four years, these companies have drastically toned down the appearance to keep up with current market trends. Here, the AORUS Elite AX motherboard actually has no RGB elements to speak of. Instead, you get the black and space gray accents found on all the current Gigabyte AORUS products, but nothing extra. This particular motherboard does not include a backplate either. While not a requirement, it can relieve stress in a uniform manner, and provide additional cooling with thermal pads sandwiched in between.

Being that this is a dual-chipset motherboard (X670), many alternatives deploy the E-ATX form factor due to the limited space the standard ATX form factor provides. Here we see Gigabyte actually still managed to cram everything necessary into the ATX form factor that usually has only a single chipset (e.g. B650).


AMD's change to the socket type also comes with some engineering compatibility challenges as well. Many brands currently selling AM4 CPU coolers already have forwards compatibility, but not all will work without an adapter from the cooler manufacturer. Here we can see that Gigabyte provides a generous amount of space around the socket that will allow for higher compatibility with larger air coolers and reduce conflict issues. It should be mentioned that compact sized units such as the AMD Wraith Prism will not have any problem.

Note: AMD recommends a 240-280 mm AIO (or better) for the Ryzen R9 7950X/7900X to keep the turbo frequency on target. Thermal observations from using the AMD Ryzen 7950X during this review place the CPU at 95°C, which is perfectly normal. The AIO solution isn't a requirement if heavy multi-threaded application performance is not a priority, though it will provide the highest boost clocks overall. Undervolting and using PBO is also an option, to circumvent CPU cooler thermal limitations. For more information regarding Ryzen 7000 cooling requirements, TechPowerUp has a great article covering this specific topic. Article Link.


For those who are wondering what is the main difference between X670 and X670E chipset, is that the "E" variation supports PCIe Gen 5, whereas the non-E version does not. Gigabyte takes a different approach from other motherboard vendors for this X670 AORUS Elite AX and does not disable or re-route bandwidth away from the PCIe slots when all the M.2 sockets are populated. There are only so many total PCIe lanes available and instead of routing based on what is used, the lower PCIe slots are just physically limited. A cheap solution, but it has some drawbacks. Mainly that those lower slots now have a limited use case for add-on cards.

The Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX offers three PCI Express x16 slots, but not all of them are internally wired to support the bandwidth of a x16 PCIe add-on card. In fact, only the first slot (top) is a true x16 PCIe Gen 4 slot. The lower ones are Gen 4 (x4) and Gen 3 (x2) respectively. Interestingly, the lowest PCIe slot is officially listed to support PCIe Gen 3 x2 but is physically wired for x4 if you look a the pinout from the back. However devices do not get recognized as being connected to a X4 slot though. In any case, what this means for the user is basically a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot disguised as a full x16 for a practical use-case.


Gigabyte deploys four M.2 sockets on the motherboard itself. Interestingly enough here, even though this is the non-E version of the X670 chipset, we find the top is M.2 Gen 5 x4 compliant. This is routed through the CPU, which is the only reason this is possible to have it here. The rest are M.2 Gen 4 x4 compliant sockets. The bottom two are routed through the X670 chipset, while the one directly below the first PCIe slot is also directly connected to the CPU as well.


For the M.2 sockets, a screwless design is implemented here. These are called "M.2 EZ-Latch" by Gigabyte and are extremely easy to use. However, they do have a downside. If you have an SSD with a heatsink, these are not compatible and require removable of the plastic clip. These are also setup for M.2 2280 by default and will need to be moved for larger 110 mm (M.2 22110) drives.


On the motherboard itself is a Power, Multi-Key and Clear CMOS button for use on a test-bench or basic troubleshooting. The Multi-Key functions as a system reset button (default), but it can be reassigned in the BIOS to LED On/Off, Enter BIOS or Safe Boot. While Safe Boot is great on Intel platforms, it usually doesn't work on AMD once you're really stuck. This has been noted in numerous TPU motherboard reviews since the launch of the AM5 platform, Safe Boot has been hit or miss.

For best overclocking practices, it is encouraged to backup (save) the active profile instead of relying on Safe Boot to get you unstuck from when you invariably get into a infinite boot loop caused by a failed memory overclock.


Gigabyte uses four LEDs for the boot sequence instead of a code-debugger. This is a small cost saving tactic, but for AMD, it is preferred to see a code readout when performing any sort of overclocking.


After removing the heatsink, we can get a closer look at the X670 chipsets in tandem (PCH).


For those who are not aware, the biggest difference between X670 and B650 chipsets is the amount of PCIe lanes available to be allocated towards SATA ports, USB and PCIe slots. Of course, motherboard vendors can rework the allocation to a certain degree. Here, Gigabyte is using the X670 chipset(s) and we can find two USB 2.0, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) and a single USB-C (20 Gbps) header on the motherboard.


The Gigabyte X670 AORUS Elite AX uses two 8-Pin EPS connectors for higher power delivery to the CPU. While it is certainly unnecessary for any current AMD Zen 4 based CPUs (7000 series), the AM5 socket still has a few CPU generations to go. We may eventually have a processor that needs a bit more power when it comes to overclocking.


The motherboard has five RGB headers for fans, coolers and whatever else needs the RGB treatment. Technically it would be four headers, as one is "reversed" for the CPU cooler. However, besides being labeled such in the Gigabyte software, nothing is preventing the use of the that header for other means. At the top, next to the onboard start button section is a single 12 V (4-pins) and one ARGB 5 V (3-pins), along with the CPU 12v RGB header mentioned already. Down below the last PCIE slot are a single 12 V (4-pins) and ARGB 5 V (3-pins) header.

Information provided by Gigabyte X670 Elite AX manual


Each X670 chipset in the X670 pair can supply up to four 6 Gb/s SATA ports natively. Gigabyte a implemented a total of four, with the remaining bandwidth used elsewhere.


Here, Gigabyte has used the basic Realtek ALC897 Codec. This isn't the lowest audio chip Realtek sells, but is certainly far from the top end. It comes with 7.1, 24-bit / 192kH support but isn't going to win any awards. However, it will be good enough for many gamers and casual users.


Hidden beneath the M.2 heatsink is the 256 Mbit flash for the BIOS. This X670 AORUS Elite AX motherboard doesn't have dual BIOS, but does offer Q-Flash BIOS Flashback to update or restore from a corrupted state.


Removing the WiFi card, we can see it is the Mediatek (MT7922A22M). This supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2


Getting a closer look at the Rear IO panel, we can see a number of USB ports in different colors (480 Mbps, 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps), making it handy to identify quickly which ports are best for high bandwidth devices. These are grouped into sets of four, with RED being the highest speed of the Type-A ports. A single 20 Gbps USB-C port can be found below near the 2.5 GbE LAN port as well.

Since all Ryzen 7000 (X) CPUs (currently) support onboard graphics, HDMI 2.1 has been included. Continuing along, there is a Q-Flash Plus button which allows the motherboard BIOS to be flashed without a processor present. It just needs power to the motherboard.

• 1x Q-Flash Plus button
• 2x SMA antenna connectors
• 1x HDMI 2.1 port
• 6x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (5 Gbps)
• 4x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (10 Gbps)
• 1x USB Type-C port (20 Gbps)
• 1x RJ-45 port
• 3x audio jacks