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 ESTBIOS
GIGABYTE's firmware features two primary modes, basic and advanced. Even from the GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Xtreme model which is its flagship X570 board, the firmware throughout the range seems consistent. The GUI of the firmware consists of a black background, orange highlights and white text.
Along the top of the advanced mode is five primary menus including Tweaker, Settings, System Info, Boot, and Save & Exit. The GIGABYTE Aorus BIOS also includes the Smart Fan 5 utility which allows users to create custom fan profiles for the two 4-pin headers onboard, with a Q-Flash utility to allow users to update the board's firmware.
The GIGABYTE Aorus firmware is easy to navigate, with a very basic array of menus and options for users to select from. The firmware itself is responsive and we didn't experience any instability or input lag. Users looking to overclock will find plenty of settings available for tweaking including CPU, power, voltage and memory-related settings. There aren't quite as many overclocking settings as models such as the MSI MEG X570 Godlike, especially in terms of memory latency settings, but the GIGABYTE Aorus firmware looks good and works well.
Software
With many vendors starting to switch from including bundles of software utilities to condensing them into one primary package, GIGABYTE has opted to stick with its usual range of applications for the X570 series. All of the software applications operate around its GIGABYTE App Center utility, with this acting as a general hub not only for GIGABYTE applications but Windows and third-party applications too.
The stand-out applications available on the driver and software installation disc bundled with the X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI include the RGB Fusion 2.0 software, the EasyTune overclocking utility, and the @BIOS software.
GIGABYTE offers users plenty of avenues to update the board's firmware with the @BIOS software, as well as the Q-Flash button which allows users to update the BIOS without a CPU or memory installed in the box. This is a huge plus point for users offering multiple avenues to make system critical firmware updates. The RGB Fusion software gives users the ability to customize RGB LED lighting via a range of different lighting effects, while the EasyTune utility allows users to monitor the system and do overclocking within the software. It's not as extensive as AMD's Ryzen Master utility and doesn't offer as many options as the latter. For those looking to enhance the auditory experience with the integrated Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, users will need to download the Realtek Audio Control Center direct from the Microsoft store as only the core audio drivers are supplied on disc.
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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.