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 ESTGIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI Conclusion
The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI as it stands is the cheapest of the small form factor options on AMD's X570 chipset. Each of the competition are more expensive, such as $240 for an ASRock (but it comes with Thunderbolt, and $299 for the ASUS ROG model. The ASRock with TB3 puts it as the most unique offering, but GIGABYTE has gone a different route altogether with the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI.
Targeting itself at the mid-range user, it has plenty to boast about, primarily dual M.2 slots which both support PCIe 4.0 x4 drives. The power delivery is also pretty good, being a scaled down version of the flagship X570 motherboard. Networking is a standard gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi 6, but there is a variety of USB 3.1 G2 Type-A and Type-C ports available.
Interestingly GIGABYTE has overloaded the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI with video outputs with two HDMI 2.0, and a single DisplayPort 1.2; perfect for driving up to three displays from a Ryzen APU. All of the other bases are covered with two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots present for users to maximise storage performance from Gen4 capable NVMe drives, and four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1 and 10 arrays also present. The full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot is standard for a small form factor motherboard, and the two memory slots allow support for DDR4-4400 with a maximum capacity of up to 64 GB. If I were to criticize, it would be the lack of a thermal pad for the rear mounted slot. The board also only has two 4-pin fan headers, and even though space is at a premium, we usually like to see at least three.
From a performance perspective, the GIGABYTE won a number of key benchmarks. The biggest win came in our power consumption tests as it consistently sits below the rest of the pack at both idle, and full load. We also saw some CPU throughput wins as well, and a quick POST time as well as good DPC latency numbers. The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI has everything needed from a mid-range model, more so from a mini-ITX sized offering, but without breaking the bank due to its very impressive $220 price tag.
Overall for users looking for a solid and consistent motherboard, and especially need to use the onboard graphics output options, the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI is a very capable product. With a price tag of just $220, it competes well.
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V1tru - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
Got it since launch, usefull info:disable bluetooth/wifi powersaving in Windows device setting, or the wireless card will go crazy after standby
sonny73n - Sunday, March 22, 2020 - link
After all these years and Gigabyte motherboards’ drivers still suck.Smack0Lantern - Sunday, March 22, 2020 - link
When did Gigabyte become a designer and manufacturer of ICs for network/RF controllers? Gigabyte doesn’t write the drivers dumbassInTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Monday, March 23, 2020 - link
Yeah, and Gigabyte didn't even choose to put these network/RF controllers with those shonky drivers on their motherboard(s). No, they didn't. A ... uh ... armed and dangerous thooth fairy forced Gigabyte to include specifically those ICs on their motherboards. Gigabyte is not the one to blame here!Nephtys - Monday, April 6, 2020 - link
These drivers are provided by Intel, not Gigabyte.joaolx - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
Thanks for this! I read this before buying the board and came across this issue. I was going crazy with bluetooth disconnecting every minute after waking from sleep and remembered your comment.shabby - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
In before the "it's almost a perfect board but it's missing..." crowd.InTheMidstOfTheInBeforeCrowd - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
Well, it's not actually missing something, but rather has some superfluous stuff that would befit a board of such compact form factor much better when left out. I am talking about the squirrel cage fan here, which of course is necessary because X570. But then again, a small board such as this hardly benefits from all the I/O options the X570 offers. A chipset nod needing active cooling would be much nicer.Unfortunately, such a chipset doesn't exist presently and one either has to begrudingly accept either squirrel-cage-fan-X570 or B450-pardon-i-meant-B550A, or just refuse to buy this stuff
(Yeah, obviously the latter is me. I am at a point where i want to do a major system upgrade towards Ryzen, but AMDs underwhelming chipset strategy kind of erodes the confidence their latest CPU offerings instill. Not saying that Intel is presenting themselves in a more favourable light. So i am still holding off to see how things develop with regards to both players...)
Slash3 - Thursday, March 19, 2020 - link
I replaced the fan on my X570 Taichi with an HB-802 passive heatsink. Works great.Makaveli - Friday, March 20, 2020 - link
i've never heard the chipset fan once on my x570 build.I think people may a bigger deal over it than necessary.