On The Wings of an Eagle: GIGABYTE's X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI Motherboard Tested
by Gavin Bonshor on March 19, 2020 10:00 AM ESTBoard Features
The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI is the only mini-ITX offering on the X570 platform from GIGABYTE, and despite being the cheapest mid-range mITX X570 board on the market, it caters towards the mid-range. With its small form factor frame, it has one full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and includes two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, as well as four SATA ports which have support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. A restriction to using a smaller form factor is apparent in the memory slots, with the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI including just two slots. These have support for up to DDR4-4400 and up to 64 GB of system memory. Although the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI includes support for Ryzen's 3000 series processors including the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, the board has just two 4-pin fan headers with one designated to CPU coolers and a single fan header for a chassis fan.
| GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI ITX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $220 | ||
| Size | ITX | ||
| CPU Interface | AM4 | ||
| Chipset | AMD X570 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Two DDR4 Supporting 64 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-4400 |
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| Video Outputs | 2 x HDMI 2.0 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 |
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| Network Connectivity | Intel I211-AT Gigabit Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 |
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| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220-VB | ||
| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | N/A | ||
| Onboard SATA | Four, RAID 0/1/10 (X570) | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4 | ||
| USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel |
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| USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 4 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports) |
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| USB 2.0 | 1 x Type-A Header (2 x ports) | ||
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8pin CPU |
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| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x System (4-pin) |
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| IO Panel | 4 x USB 3.1 G1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 G2 Type-C 1 x Network RJ45 1 G (Intel) 3 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 2 x Intel AX200 Antenna Ports 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 Output 2 x HDMI 2.0 Outputs |
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GIGABYTE has included a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec to power the onboard audio, while the rear panel offers just three 3.5 mm jacks, with no S/PDIF optical output. This is primarily down to the smaller size of the mini-ITX form factor. The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI does include an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which includes BT 5.0 connectivity, while the board also features a single Intel Gigabit Ethernet controller for wired networks. On the rear panel is just two USB 3.1 G2 ports with a single Type-A and Type-C, with a total of four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports to assist these. A trio of video outputs which consist of two HDMI 2.0 and a single DisplayPort 1.2 output can drive up to three displays at the same time and makes this board a primary contender for users looking to create a low-cost small form factor Ryzen APU system.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
While we have been able to measure audio performance from previous Z370 motherboards, the task has been made even harder with the roll-out of the Z390 chipset and none of the boards tested so far has played ball. It seems all USB support for Windows 7 is now extinct so until we can find a reliable way of measuring audio performance on Windows 10 or until a workaround can be found, audio testing will have to be done at a later date.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 3700X, 65W, $329 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI (BIOS F12e - ABBA) | ||
| Cooling | ID-Cooling Auraflow 240 mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
| Memory | 2x8GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 16-16-16-36 2T | ||
| Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Open Benchtable BC1.1 (Silver) | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 1903 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches | ||
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
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SSTANIC - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
for X670 GIGABYTE could do: 1. lose all video out 2. double USB inputs 3. double fan connectors 4. real fins on VRMs 5. keep the price because noone will buy this for 300$ and maybe 6. who needs WIFI really? 7. another LAN portdanturbo316 - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
The video out will be worth it with next gen apus, but right now I agree that it's a waste as the 3400g is a weaklingeek2121 - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Just because you don’t have a use case for it doesn’t mean others don’t. ITX is a relatively popular form factor. Not everyone is a gamer, and of those who are, some want to use GPU passthrough for gaming on Linux and other virtualization scenarios.Check out cases like the DanPC case or the louqe ghost s1.
jospoortvliet - Sunday, March 22, 2020 - link
I get that but if you want to run a cheap APU why on earth would you buy a x570 motherboard??? I understand using one video out just in case but 3 does seem like a waste for a high en board that people most likely will use with a high end cpu and GPU...spikebike - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
Yes another motherboard with a fan. Testing on similar motherboards show there's not much heat to dissipate. Why is there only one very expensive motherboard without a fan? I'm hoping B550 motherboards fix this.Marlin1975 - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
The B550 boards will not need a fan as they do not support PCIe 4.0 on the B550 chipset.The B550 looks like it will support PCIe 4.0 from the CPU to video card and M.2 port. But that is all.
InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
No. It has to be more. Like the chipset offering PCIe 3.0 lanes. Just the requirement of the motherboard having PCIe 4.0 slots tied to the CPU is not enough. AMD could have done that with the B450 months ago(!) with little hassle. Basically the B550A play.If after so many months, AMD would release a B550 that is merely a rebranded B450 with the added requirement that motherboard manufacturers support the PCIe 4.0 lanes of the CPU (basically the same as the B550A rebrand), then AMD is basically presenting itself to the world as an incompetent and inept clown posse. I don't think they are that dumb, though...
a5cent - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Ehm... Wat? B550 will not support PCIe 4.0, but that doesn't mean it's just a rebranding of B450!B450 is PCIe 2.0, not PCIe 3.0. Just supporting PCIe 3.0 is already a huge upgrade in itself. More importantly, B450 has a ridiculously low number of PCIe lanes, forcing motherboard makers to jump through all sorts of performance reducing hoops if they want to support even just a second M.2 drive. B550 is expected to support the same number of lanes as X570, so that too is a very significant upgrade. Lastly, not requiring the chipset to be actively cooled is also an improvement. Sacrificing PCIe 4.0 in order to ditch the fan is a very reasonable trade-off to make, as almost nobody will notice the difference between PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 coming off the chipset anyway.
B450 was hopelessly outdated last year already. It is a bargain bin chipset, as it was itself a rebranding of B350. B550 is not like that at all.
InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Erm ... i never said that B550 will be a rebranded B450. I was saying "If...", addressing the implication made in the comment above mine that B550 will only bring support for the CPU PCIe 4.0 lanes to the table (which essentially is the same as implying that B550 would be merely a rebrand of B450)a5cent - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
Yeah, sorry, I misread your comment. The comment you responded to is so ridiculous that it didn't register in my brain the way it was written.It seems a lot of people here don't understand that the CHIPSET is a separate thing that has no bearing on the PCIe lanes coming off the CPU. The traces between the CPU and the GPU on B450 motherboards were simply never validated for PCIe 4.0 (resistance, signal reflections, etc), so they deactivated PCIe 4.0 in firmware to protect the motherboard manufacturers from warranty claims. I guess some people's imaginations associated that downgrade to the chipset, which really has nothing to do with it.