Board Layout

The layout doesn't pose too many issues, and it's fairly clear that the board will be easy to work with thanks to a push-button release for the graphics card and tool-free M.2 ports and heatsinks. It's a good-looking motherboard too, but RGB fans may be a little disappointed as only the chipset heatsink is illuminated and modestly so. Big heatsinks usually mean good cooling so we'll hopefully see some good M.2 SSD and VRM thermals later in the review. If you have a need for PCIe expansion cards in addition to your graphics card then you're in luck as there's a PCIe Gen 4 x16 slot and PCIe Gen 3 x16 slot beneath the lower heatsinks, but it's worth nothing the latter on operates in x2 mode. The rear of the PCB lacks any additional cooling by way of backplates, but does have PCIe slot strengthening for the graphics card.


The upper two fan headers you see here are it. You get no more in the upper half of the PCB and in fact the other six are all right down below at the base of the PCB. Two fan headers should be enough for most cooling systems but if you have roof fans, pumps and radiator fans to deal with, you might have issues here if your cooler doesn't have a splitter cable for the fans. A case with a fan hub might help too as any rear case fans you'll struggle to power as well without one. We're glad to see all the usual overclocking and testing aids such as power and reset buttons as well as an LED POST code display, all of which were absent on the more expensive ASUS ROG Strix B850-F Gaming Wi-Fi we looked at recently. While there's minimal RGB lighting on the board itself, you do get 3-pin and 4-pin RGB headers with one of each in the top right corner of the board.


Despite its sub $300 price tag, Gigabyte impresses with both premium and unique features. For example, you get a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C header for more speed and power compared to a more basic USB 3.0 header. As with many Gigabyte boards, there's now an HDMI port on the PCB. This is limited to 1,920 x 1,080 and 30 Hz and is designed to be used with small case displays. It's a nice touch, but the resolution is maybe a little low for offering maximum compatibility, as many offer higher resolutions and refresh rates than this and have done for some time. There's no cutting back of SATA ports either as you get the usual four ports rather than the paltry two we've seen on some B850 boards recently.


The lower end of the PCB is packed with ports and headers and this is where the vast majority of the fan headers are - six in total. Each fan header offers up to 24 W/ 2 A. This is where you'll also find an additional two 3-pin ARGB headers and Gigabyte even includes two thermistor inputs so you can control your fans using thermal or coolant probes, with the latter being particularly useful for custom watercooling and usually reserved for more expensive boards. As mentioned above, the PCIe Gen 4 x16 and PCIe Gen 3 x16 slots offer additional expansion but with relatively small clearances, in addition to the latter only offering x2 mode.


We don't have any complaints and only praise for Gigabyte's PCIe EZ-Latch Plus, which is a simply push-button release mechanism for your graphics card, with the card inserting as normal. It feels very positive, which you definitely can't say about the ASUS implementation and honestly, we don't feel this mechanism needs to be changed at all. It just works. This is needed too as the large heatsink for the upper PCIe Gen 5 M.2 port means you'll stand little chance of getting at the slot release lever otherwise.


The upper M.2 port is the only port to cool your SSD on both sides, so this is likely going to be the one you'll want to use with PCIe Gen 5 SSDs. As we've seen elsewhere, though, contact pressure and graphics card proximity can all impact M.2 thermals so check out the SSD Performance page to see where you need to install your SSDs to make sure you get the lowest temperatures. A combination of Gigabyte EZ-Latch Plus and EZ-Latch Click mean that both heatsinks and all M.2 ports are tool-free. The upper heatsink seems large enough to handle the heat from a PCIe Gen 5 SSD, but we'll see how it fares later on. It wasn't as easy to install, though, as slotting the thin metal prong into the corresponding slot on the M.2 port was very fiddly. Take your time and avoid damaging the thermal pad underneath.


The lower slot is cooled top side only and features a single enormous heatsink cooling the two remaining PCIe Gen 5 and single PCIe Gen 4 M.2 ports. Using either of the former two ports will see your graphics card drop to x8 mode though as they share bandwidth. The lower heatsink was especially easy to install compared to similar sized ones that are secured with screws and often result in being fiddly to install as a result.


It's a little bit of a shame not to see a CMOS clear button anywhere, but that's our only real complaint here. You get a decent 10 Type-A USB ports, although four of these are only USB 2.0. Still, with two being USB 3.2 Gen 2, that's likely enough for any high speed Type-A devices you have. Of course, the main feature here is USB4 and you get two 40 Gbps Type-C ports that also double as DisplayPort outputs. Wi-Fi is handled by a MediaTek MT7925B22M Wi-Fi 7 module, Realtek's RTL8125D controller offers 2.5 Gbps Ethernet and audio is courtesy of Realtek's ALC1220 codec.