Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Wifi Review

AMD has recently released its Ryzen 3000 series CPUs for which a new chipset has also been provided to the motherboard manufacturers. This socket is called X570. The naming convention has continued from earlier version aka X370/X470. AORUS lineup of X570 motherboards packs a multitude of functions including PCIe 4.0, WiFi 6, USB Gen 2 3.2 to name a few and not to mention powerful VRM design using the same AM4 socket. GIGABYTE has sent us for Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Wifi Review.

As the case has been, the AORUS lineup starts with Elite going up to Pro then Pro WiFi, Ultra, Master, and Extreme. One thing that is common now in the AORUS lineup of motherboards is similar VRM design no matter which end of segment one picks up. They have gone all out on VRM design across the AORUS range from the release of Z390 series motherboards from the Intel platform. X570 is no different either.

Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro Wifi Review

The X570 AORUS Pro WiFi is similar to Pro only version with the difference coming from the addition of WiFi Antenna. Some of the features of X570 AORUS Pro WiFi are:

• Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics Processors.
• Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs.
• 12+2 Phases IR Digital VRM Solution with PowIRstage.
• Advanced Thermal Design with Fins-Array Heatsink and Direct Touch Heatpipe.
• Dual Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Dual Thermal Guards.
• Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5.
• ALC1220-VB Enhance 114dB(Rear)/ 110dB(Front) SNR in Microphone with WIMA Audio Capacitors.
• Intel® Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Networking.
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Supports Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips.
• Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP.
• Front & Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C™ Header & HDMI 2.0 support.
• Integrated I/O Shield Armor.
• Q-Flash Plus update BIOS Without Installing CPU, Memory and Graphics card.
• Product: X570 Aorus Pro WiFi
• Manufacturer: GIGABYTE
• Price: Check Price on Amazon

Gigabyte Aorus Pro Wifi X570 Unboxing:

The motherboard is shipped inside a cardboard-based packing box. The opening side of the box has an AORUS brand name and logo printed on the top left. The Eagle logo is printed up top. X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming Motherboard text is printed at the left bottom side. AMD Ryzen 3000 Desktop Ready is printed on the right side. Salient features like 12+2 power phases, WIFI 6 Ready, PCIe 4.0 Ready etc are printed as well.

The backside of the packing box has a picture of the motherboard printed on the top left portion. The model of the motherboard is printed up top. Salient features along with the relevant pictures are printed on the main section. Salient specifications are printed below the picture of the motherboard.

This is the front side and has an identical layout is on the left and right sides.

Opening the box will show the motherboard placed inside the anti-static wrapper. Accessories and guides are placed underneath the motherboard.

Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro wifi Box Accessories:

These include:

• 1x Motherboard
• 1x WiFi Antenna
• 1x G Connector
• 2x Installation Disk
• 1x User Manual
• 1x Installation Guide
• 2x SATA Cables
• 1x RGB Extension Cable
• 2x M.2 Standoffs and Screws

Aorus x570 Pro Wifi Closer Look:

GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Pro Wifi Review based on the AMD X570 Chipset provide full support for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors. GIGABYTE X570 motherboards offer a rich list of features such as support for PCIe 4.0 and USB Type-C™ interfaces on select boards, refined audio, high speed of Ethernet and latest standard of WIFI design.

The new, advanced power and thermal design enable users to unleash the performance on AMD Ryzen™ 3000-series Processors. The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi review provides all these functionalities more or less but in better pricing as we all know that AMD X570 series motherboards are launched at high price tags.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi motherboard packs powerful 12+2 Phases IR Digital VRM, Fins-Array Heatsink & Direct Touch Heatpipe, Dual PCIe 4.0 M.2 with Thermal Guards, Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax, Intel® GbE LAN with cFosSpeed, USB Type-C, RGB Fusion 2.0 and plethora of utilities and applications for the user convenience to squeeze every bit of ounce from the Ryzen 3000 CPUs. This motherboard has an integrated I/O shield which is another common becoming trend from the various manufacturers.

The above picture highlights the main selling points and features of the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard.

Taking a quick glimpse of the motherboard will give you silver and black color combination that has been used on the motherboard. The stenciling is mostly in the silver color which adds a subtle touch to it. We have 4 DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM, 5 PCIe 4.0 slots at X16/X8/X4/X1, 6 SATA ports, USB 2.0 ports, USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, on-board sound solution, Intel NIC which is GbE, and nice handy I/O connectivity options. We will be taking a closer look at each down the road. The PCB has ATX form factor measuring 30.5cmX24.4cm and has support for Microsoft Windows 10 x64.

As is the case with the X570 chipset, there is an integrated fan in the chipset cover to keep the thermals of the chipset in check. This fan a default Balanced profile curve and the user can control this fan through the UEFI Fan Control or System Information View (SIV) software. I have observed that this fan was not spinning up to 60°C temperature on the chipset under Balanced profile. Even setting the profile to Performance did not see any tremendous reduction in the chipset thermals as it was still peaking to 59.8°C with fan-powered on all the times.

Let’s start by taking a look at the board from the top side.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has AMD AM4 socket; the same socket which we have seen on all of their Ryzen generation CPUs. This has allowed the AMD for backward compatibility as the users of their X370 chipset can still use the 3000 series CPUs on this platform. AMD is using PGA packaging on their CPUs. The socket is the through-hole design which is obvious. There is a latch on the side that needs to be pulled up before inserting the CPU in the socket and then pushed down to lock the chip on the socket.

There is a small arrow on the socket indicating the corner to which the arrow marked side of the CPU has to be aligned. The AMD socket AM4 on The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard supports AMD Ryzen 3rd generation CPUs, AMD Ryzen 2nd generation CPUs/APUs (Vega and Radeon Vega Graphics).

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has AMD stock backplate and retention brackets pre-installed for installation of CPU coolers and AMD stock coolers as the case may be.

Related: 7 Best Z690 Motherboards 2022

Looking at the stylish and bold looking I/O shroud, we can spot Fins-Array Heatsink in the black color. The GIGABYTE is using LAIRD 1.5mm thick thermal pads between the heatsink and the MOSFETs. These pads have a rated conductivity of 5W m/K. There is a single heat pipe connecting both heatsinks.

This design allows for more surface area of effective heat dissipation as compared to the traditional heatsink designs and the use of these thermal pads allows the heat transfer of up to 2.7 times more than the traditional thermal pads. These statistics are provided by the GIGABYTE.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard uses an all IR digital CPU power design which includes both digital PWM Controller and PowlRstage MOSFET, and is capable of providing at least 40A of power from each phase, for a total of 480A. The 12+2 power design is actually using doubles to achieve the power delivery target. It has 6 IR Phase doublers with 12 IR PowlRstage MOSFETs. And on top of all these, we have IR digital controller (PWM).

GIGABYTE’s exclusive 2X copper PCIe 4.0 Ready PCBs design provides sufficient power trace paths between components to handle greater than normal power loads and to remove heat from the critical CPU power delivery area. This is essential to ensure that the motherboard is able to handle the increased power loading that is necessary when overclocking.

The CPU power connector is located on the top left side which is the standard ATX implementation. The GIGABYTE has provided 8+4 connectors for power delivery to the CPU. This additional 4-pin power connector will come handy for high-end power-hungry chips like 39xx CPUs. I have used only an 8-pin connector for this testing and 4-pin connectivity is optional.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard features solid plated ATX 24pin & ATX 12V 8pin + 4pin power connectors to offer a stable power supply during CPU overloading. This feature is found on all of their AORUX X570 series motherboards. Its advantages are:

• Larger contact area for electricity
• More metal quantity to sustain higher power and generated heat
• Ultra-durable and longer lifespan

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard features Dual Channel 4 DIMM slots with Ultra Durable Memory Armor plating. The maximum supported frequency on DDR is 4400 MHz (OC) for AMD Ryzen 3rd gen CPUs. The supported frequency for AMD 2nd gen CPUs is 3600MHz (OC).

The total supported capacity for all 4 slots is 128GB with a maximum of 32GB per slot. XMP support is enabled on these slots and they have support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8 and 2Rx8 memory modules along with support for Non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules.

For two modules configuration, use the DIMM slots A2 and B2 (second and fourth slots from the CPU Socket). The latches on both ends of the DIMM slots are to be opened to install the RAM which is unlike the typical design these days in which one end is fixed and the other is used to secure the installation of the RAM.

On the top right side of the PCB, we have a Q-Flash button with an LED indicator. There are many ways to update the BIOS on the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard. One of which is the intuitive Q-Flash button. You don’t need to install the CPU, RAM and graphics card to power on the system and enter the BIOS to update it. Just download the BIOS (ROM) file from their website. Rename it to Gigabyte.bin and copy it to the FAT32 formatted flash drive.

Insert the flash drive in the white color USB port on the rear I/O panel of the motherboard. Press the Q-Flash button. It will start searching for the BIOS file on the connected flash drive and will update the BIOS from that file. LED will continue to flash during the process and it will go off once the updating is completed. That simple!

We have a 24 ATX connector located on the right side of the DIMM slots. The PCB of this motherboard is made in China while designed in Taiwan. Going further down, we can see three fan headers and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 header.

From what we can see on the right side of the DIMM slots there is a Realtek RT8120D for a single-phase PWM with a driver. For that, we have MOSFET configuration in the solution of 3 On Semiconductor 4C10N in a two-low one-high.

Coming further down, we could see 4 LEDs with VGA, CPU, BOOT, DRAM marking printed along. This is the troubleshooting mechanism provided on this motherboard. Each of these 4 LEDs is dedicated to the VGA, CPU, BOOT, and DRAM. In case of any issue or error, the corresponding LED will lit up continuously until the problem is resolved.

I was expecting Debug LED in this price range though it only starts with AORUS Ultra motherboards. But, thankfully, Gigabyte was thoughtful to provide some basic troubleshooting mechanisms to help the users out.

Going further down this line, we have 6 SATA ports rated at 6 Gbps. This motherboard supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. To help the users in setting up the RAID, a dedicated software utility has been provided by the Gigabyte.

Looking at the bottom side of the motherboard, we have a system panel connector. The pins are the color-coded base for ease of identification and the corresponding configuration is labeled below the connector.

On the left side of the system panel connector, there is another system fan header labeled System Fan Header 3. On its left, we have two 9-pins USB 2.0 connectors followed by 11 pins TPM connector.

There is a 2-pin jumper right on the top of the system panel connector. This is a Clear CMOS jumper. There is no dedicated clear CMOS button on the rear I/O which is understandable. In order to clear the CMOS to reset the settings, shut down the PC, disconnect it from the power source and touch both pins with something like a tip of the screwdriver or by using a jumper if available to short the circuit. Take off the jumper or the screwdriver and power up the PC.

Next, we have 2x USB 3.0 headers and a 4-pin system fan header. Next, we have two USB 2.0 headers followed by a TPM header (Trusted Platform Module).

Next, we have a 4-pin non-addressable RGB LED lighting connector. It is using the +12V GRB pin format so make sure to connect the supported 5050 RGB LED strip. This header is controlled using the RGB Fusion app. Next, there is a 3-pin digital RGB LED lighting connector. The last connector is the front panel audio one. It is clear that Gigabyte has provided almost all the required connectivity options on this motherboard.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is using IT8795E as a main SuperIO controller chip.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is also using IT8297FN to control the RGB LED functions.

The Nuvoton 3947S IC is on the board as well which is controlling the fans, and system monitoring.

Gigabyte x570 USB Ports:

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a USB 3.2 Gen 2/Gen 1 Type-A ports on the back panel. These are taking lanes from the CPU (Only third-gen Ryzen chips). Following ports are coming from Chipset:

• 1x USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support from mid-board
• 1x USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support on the back panel
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port on the back panel
• 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports from mid-board

X570 Aorus Pro PCIe Slots:

X570 AORUS Series Motherboards feature built-in PCIe 4.0 slots, delivering superior bandwidth compared to that from previous generation technology. Performance of Graphics cards and PCIe NVMe AIC SSDs will not be limited by insufficient bandwidth. This motherboard has a total of 5x PCIe 4.0/3.0 rated slots.

Two slots are PCIe 4.0/3.0 X1 rated. There is only one dedicated PCIe 3.0 X16 slot which is electrically wired to the CPU socket. PCIe 4.0 slots have higher slot signal stability and lower impedance, maximizing PCIe bandwidth while also being backward compatible with PCIe 3.0. Here is the configuration information of these slots:

Integrated into the CPU (PCIEX16/PCIEX8):

3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 4.0 and running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 4.0 and running at x8 (PCIEX8)

2nd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 3.0 and running at x16 (PCIEX16)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 3.0 and running at x8 (PCIEX8)

2nd Generation AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics processors/AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics processors:

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 3.0 and running at x8 (PCIEX16)

Integrated into the Chipset (PCIEX4/PCIEX1):

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 4.0*/3.0 and running at x4 (PCIEX4)
• 2 x PCI Express x1 slots, supporting PCIe 4.0*/3.0

* For 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors only.

SLI and CrossFire support is as follow:

• Support for NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ and 2-Way NVIDIA® SLI™ technologies
• Support for AMD Quad-GPU CrossFire™ and 2-Way AMD CrossFire™ technologies

The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When using the 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors/2nd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode.

The two slots are stainless steel armor reinforced on the outer shell. These brackets feature a double locking mechanism; first from the top and the second from the bottom for better retention.

As is the case with the AMD X570 chipset designs, all motherboards featuring this socket come with a fan included in the Chipset Cover for effective cooling. The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is no exception to this. The Cover of the chipset is not a low-profile design and it has vents on one side for heat dissipation. It has a bold and aggressive design outlook in gray and silver color finishing giving an impression of brushed aluminum. There is a stylish shiny Eagle logo on the lower side of the cover.

GIGABYTE is calling the integrated fan as Smart Fan. They have provided its control to the users through UEFI/BIOS or Smart Fan Control app. Its default profile is balanced. I have observed that during the testing the chipset was hitting 74°C most of the time with the Ryzen 7 2700X.

Changing the profile to Performance the temperature drop was about 60°C. But when Ryzen 5 3600 was installed the chipset was continuously hitting 60°C regardless of the fan mode. The user can select from Silent, Balanced, and Performance modes. This fan has a ball bearing with 60000 hours MTFF.

x570 Aorus Pro Wifi Audio:

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is using all new Realtek High-End HD Audio Codec ALC1220 120dB(A) SNR HD Audio with Smart Headphone Amp automatically detects the impedance of your head-worn audio device, preventing issues such as low volume and distortion. With the new VB series audio controller, stream your voice to the world vibrantly with both front/rear microphone SNR up to 110/114dB(A).

This motherboard is using a combination of Hi-Fi grade WIMA FKP2 capacitors and high-end Chemicon audio capacitors. While the high-end audio capacitors are suited for high-grade audio equipment, using state-of-the-art technology to provide rich sound in the bass and clearer high frequencies, the WIMA FKP2 capacitors are being used widely in premium grade Hi-Fi systems. The addition of this to the exclusive AOURS AMP-UP Audio technology makes for the ideal onboard sound solution for the most demanding audiophiles.

The audio section is implemented on a dedicated layered PCB. The audio solution is backed by 4 high-end Hi-Fi grade WIMA KFP2 Capacitors. These high-quality capacitors help deliver high resolution and high fidelity audio to provide the most realistic sound effects for gamers. LED trace path lighting Illuminates to show the separation of the PCB layers. Channel support is 2/4/5.1/7.1 and S/PDIF Out is supported as well.

X570 LAN Connectivity:

This motherboard is using Intel NIC which is 1 GbE rated with supported speeds of 10/100/1000 Mbit. Intel® GbE LAN features cFosSpeed, a network traffic management application that helps to improve network latency and maintain low ping times to deliver better responsiveness in crowded LAN environments. Clearly, Gigabyte has not ditched out on the high-speed internet connectivity as GbE ports are usually not found on the budget-friendly solutions.

In addition to the GbE NIC, this motherboard has a WiFi solution as well, using Intel 1211AT. Intel Wireless solution supports 802.11ax, enables gigabit wireless performance, provides smooth video streaming, better gaming experience, few dropped connections and speeds up to 2.4Gbps. Moreover, Bluetooth 5 provides 4X range over BT 4.2 and with faster transmission.

The benefits of WiFi 6 include:

• 5X throughput than 802.11ac 1×1 (Actual data rate may vary depending on environment and equipment)
• 4X better network capacity, no traffic jams especially in those dense areas with lots of devices
• Network efficiency increase for better user experience

GIGABYTE has provided an antenna in the accessories. All new antenna supported dual-band 802.11ax/ac 2.4GHz & 5GHz. It supports multiple angle tilt and magnetic base for the best signal strength direction and location.

M.2 Port

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has two M.2 ports using PCIe Gen 4/3 interface and is using 2242/2260/2280/22110 type. One port is electrically wired to the CPU socket whereas the other is wired to the Chipset.

Here is the configuration information:

Integrated into the CPU (M2A_SOCKET):

3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors:

• 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 SSD support)

2nd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors/2nd Generation AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics processors/AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics processors:

• 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe 3.0 x4/x2 SSD support)

Integrated into the Chipset (M2B_SOCKET):

• 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4/x2 SSD support)

* For 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors only.

Both M.2 ports have thermal shields with pre-applied thermal pads on them. Both these covers are loosened up and wobble.

X570 Pro Dual BIOS

GIGABYTE DualBIOS™ means that your motherboard has both a ‘Main BIOS’ and a ‘Backup BIOS’, protecting users from BIOS failure due to virus, hardware malfunction, improper OC settings or power failure during the update process. The user can’t update the backup BIOS. This board has 2x 128 Mbit flash using licensed AMI UEFI BIOS. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.7, WfM 2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0 are supported. This motherboard does not have a BIOS switch hence user can’t switch to and from one BIOS to the other. While flashing using Q-Flash, both BIOSES get updated.

X570 Thermal Monitoring and Cooling Solution

As is the importance of the powerful and quality power delivery components, equally it is imperative that the motherboard offers a good array of fans and pump connectivity along with quality monitoring and regulation.

The above picture shows the thermal sensors and fan headers provision on the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard. In nutshell, this board provides:

• 7 Fan / Water Pump Connectors
• 7 Internal Temperature Sensors
• 2 External Temperature Sensors

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has 7 sensors installed at various locations of the PCB including CPU Socket, VRM, Chipset as well. This is not all GIGABYTE has provided two 2-pin sensor headers as shown in the green color. The user can connect their own probes to their required surface like the backside of the GPU (for example) and connect the probe to these headers. This way the user can monitor the temperature of the GPU socket and also can reference the fans to spin according to the GPU temperature.

We have two AIO/Pump headers which are 4-pin and 3x 4-pin headers in addition to the CPU and CPU_OPT fan headers. All of these headers are hybrid in nature.

Gigabyte has provided an intuitive and user-friendly interface to control these headers and to set them up based on the thermal sensors monitoring. This functionality is offered via SmartFan 5. The user has the option to do so either from the BIOS or using the dedicated app in Windows. We will cover these in the BIOS and Application sections later in the content.

With SmartFan 5 users can ensure that their gaming PC can maintain its performance while staying cool. SmartFan 5 allows the users to interchange their fan headers to reflect different thermal sensors at different locations on the motherboard. Not only that, with SmartFan 5 more hybrid fan headers that support both PWM and Voltage mode fans have been introduced to make the motherboard more liquid cooling friendly.

There is another striking feature of the SmartFan 5 which is Fan Stop. With Fan Stop map any fan to stop completely when temperatures drop below a specified threshold. Which fan stops, based on readings from which sensor, and at what temperature—all of it can be customized to your liking. SmartFan 5 receives up-to-the-second information on flow-rate through the Hybrid Fan Pin Headers—giving you absolute mastery over your PC.

All Hybrid Fan Headers can automatically detect the type of cooling device whether it be the fan or pump with different PWM or Voltage mode. These headers Support High Current Fans up to 24W(2AX12V) with Over-Current Protection.

Aorus Pro Back I/O Panel:

• 2 x SMA antenna connectors (2T2R)
• 1 x HDMI port
• 1 x USB Type-C™ port, with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2*/Gen 1 Type-A port (red) For 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors only.
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port (red)
• 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• 4x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 1x RJ-45 port
• 1x optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 1x audio jacks

Here is the picture of the motherboard’s backside.

X570 Aorous Pro BIOS:

UEFI/BIOS is at the heart of any motherboard and a user-friendly BIOS interface is a must. GIGABYTE has done a fair job of putting out the UEFI BIOS in terms of its layout and flow. We have a black and red colors themed background and interface. Though BIOS is not laid out as conveniently as is the Asus one this would do.

The BIOS is loaded in the default mode which is Easy Mode. It has a more graphical presentation than the Advanced Mode. The top section shows the hardware info along with the frequency, voltage, and temperature. DRAM status, Storage Drives status, and Fans status is shown in different sections. The boot sequence is on the bottom left side.

Pressing F2 will load the Advanced mode. It will load the Tweaker options by default. Here you will get to play with the CPU and DRAM-related settings including the core ratio, VCore, DRAM Voltage to name a few. More summarized information of the CPU/DRAM frequency, voltage, and temperature are provided on the right side.

Clicking on Advanced CPU Settings will load another page with a plethora of controlling options for the advanced users.

Clicking on the Advanced Memory Timings will load all the primary, secondary, tertiary timings at the user’s disposal.

Here the user can view the slot-wise information of the populated RAM stick on that slot.

Clicking at the Advanced Voltage Settings will load a new window. CPU/VRM Settings are located here.

Here the user can control the load line calibration as well as the PWM Phase control.

The Settings tab has many more options including AMD Overclocking and CBS. This is where you will be enabling the PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive).

Clicking on platform power will load related settings. This is where you can control what your PC should do after power failure.

Clicking at Miscellaneous will load a new window with more options at the user’s disposal like you can select where the initial display should come from which PCIe slot in case of using multiple graphics cards. You will find more options for USB, SATA, Network, etc.

Miscellaneous settings are available here like controlling the LED at different power states of the motherboard. If you are looking for IOMMU, it is also located here.

Clicking at AMD CBS will load more options like XFR, Performance, Prefetecher settings, etc.

Pressing F6 will load the SmartFan utility. This is the Gigabyte’s way of letting the user exercise total control over their connected fans. The Smart Fan window has two sections. The left section allows the user to control the behavior of the fan while the right section shows the summary of the key cooling parameters.

The monitor option shows the fan headers on the motherboard with their names. These names are exactly the same as are printed on the PCB to ease the reference. Select any fan that you would want to control. In the center, there is a graph plotting using two variables Speed (PWM) and Temperature (°C). The Fan Speed Control lets the user select the profiles like Full speed, silent, Normal, and Manual. Selecting Manual will allow the user to plot the graph according to the required custom fan curve.

User also has to option to source the speed control according to one of the 6 thermal sensors on this motherboard. The user can also set the fan to be stopped (excluding the CPU Fan) based on the thermal criteria. The user can also define the alarms based on the temperatures. Settings are flexible enough to let the user apply the same settings on more than one fan header. This will save them precious time. PCH_Fan refers to the fan integrated into the Chipset shroud.

The system information viewer shows the hardware, BIOS information as well as the system date and time. Surprisingly, Q-Flash is provided in this section.

Here the user can control the BOOT-related settings like settings boot sequence, CSM support, Fast Boot, and other related settings. Turning the Fast Boot on or enabled will load more settings allowing the user to control which connected device will be initialized and if that initialization will be fully or partial.

Favorite Menu will show the user-selected options to be shown here for ready and quick access.

Save and Exit menu has the settings to change your settings and exit the BIOS. It also has the option to let the user save their current settings onto the profiles and to load these profiles in case something goes wrong. This is definitely a handy feature as the user can be saved from redoing all the settings all over again. A total of 8 profiles can be stored. It also allows the user to save/load the profiles on the USB device. This has impressed me.

Gigabyte X570 Pro wifi Software:

Having discussed the BIOS, it is time to take a look at some of their applications that are available to be downloaded from their website. The main software is called App Center. It is a must requirement before installing any of their other applications. This application will install a few other services that are needed for the complete suite’s optimal working. We will be taking a look at @BIOS, EasyTune, RGB Fusion 2.0, SIV applications as they suit to almost every user.

The main interface of the Gigabyte App Center is plain simple. It has three sections outlined under three tabs. The first tab will show the installed Gigabyte applications.

@BIOS is an intuitive way that allows the user to update the motherboard’s BIOS right from Windows. Upon loading, it will show the BIOS information. There are multiple ways to update the BIOS. The user can update the BIOS right from the Internet by clicking on the Update from Server and then selecting the appropriate server. Make sure that power to the PC remains uninterrupted. If you have downloaded the BIOS file from GIGABYTE’s website then use the option Update from the file. Even the user can save the current BIOS to a file on your preferred location which will come in handy down the road. The user can change the BIOS Post Image as well.

The next app is the RGB Fusion 2.0 which allows the users to control the RGB lighting effects on the GIGABYTE motherboards and connected (supported) lighting devices. In our case, it detected the CORSAIR Vengeance Pro RGB kit. It has a simple interface. The motherboard layout will be displayed on the left side highlighting the possible lighting sources.

Motherboard’s onboard lighting headers and on-board lighting solution is displayed on the picture and the user can control them individually. The user can turn off the lighting altogether as well. The color combination can be created from the color palette or can be defined using R G B values or HTML code. The speed and brightness can also be controlled.

The key application, in my opinion, is EasyTune that lets the user do everything using the software that could be done in the BIOS. Though I am a sort of person who would like to do things manually and from the BIOS, I like the user interface, its simplicity, and the effectiveness that EasyTune provides. Job well done, Gigabyte.

Launching the app will first show a warning to the user that changing the behavior of the variables beyond the manufacturer’s suggested limits could damage the board which will not be covered under the warranty.

The main section is divided into 5 categories. The default is Smart Boost. Other options are Advanced CPU OC, Advanced DDR OC, Advanced Power, Hot Key. The Smart Boost has four profiles:

• ECO Mode is the Energy-saving profile
• The default is the Standard mode.
• OC is the Gigabyte’s fined tuned mode for overclocking.
• Auto Tuning will start a wizard to determine the best possible maximum performance settings depending upon the silicon.

The bottom side of this interface displays the Motherboard model along with the BIOS version, CPU model and the speed, DDR manufacture and the frequency, the graphics card model, and the speed. Clicking at the down blue arrow will show more options.

The Advanced CPU OC provides two sections. One covers the individual core and its frequency while the other provides necessary voltages along with the slider to adjust the values. The dropdown list shows the available values to be chosen from. There are two profile options at the top. The user can define two profiles that can be saved and loaded from. In case of any issue, the Reset button is there as well. Reset and Apply buttons will be enabled only if the user would make some changes.

The Advanced DDR OC has a similar interface as is on the Advanced CPU OC except that the left section has DDR Frequency and XMP options whereas the right section allows the users to change the timings of the DDR. No profiling is available on this menu. The default will load the default values of the installed DDR.

Power Phase, Frequency, and Voltage are the main sections here. Vcore and SOC Load Line Calibration can be set from here as well PWM Phase control and Vcore Current protection.

Under the HotKey menu, the user can define a shortcut to save two profiles as well as set their storage paths.

The last app which is another of my personal interest is the SIV. SIV stands for System Information View that will allow to user to control the connected fans’ speed and their sourcing to the thermal sensors as well as defining alarms. Upon launching, the SIV will calibrate the system fans.

The main interface is divided into 5 menus. The first menu will show the system information including clocks of the CPU, BCLK, DDR, Multipliers, motherboard model and BIOS version, more detailed CPU and DDR information like Socket, Technology, Cores, Threads, DDR Type, bandwidth, manufacturer, and manufacturing date.

The Smart Fan 5 Auto will show 4 pre-defined profiles for the fans speed:

• Quiet
• Standard
• Performance
• Full Speed

All that the user is needed to do is to click on the desired profile. That is it.

The Smart Fan 5 Advanced has my praise. It is a graphical presentation of what the user can do and with how much ease. On the left side, the chassis diagram is shown with the default selected fan being the CPU Fan. The user can click on System 1, System 2 or System 3 to select the corresponding fans connected physically on to those motherboard headers.

0 RPM for CPU fan! Surprised? Well, I don’t use the CPU fan header or the CPU Opt header for that matter as I want full control over my fans. The way CPU fan header is coded, it will ultimately be controlled by the motherboard. On the right side, the user can define the custom fan curve depending upon the requirement and also set the Auto-Fan stop as well. The user can save and load from the saved profiles as well as calibrate the currently selected fan.

System Alert menu will let the user define the alerts under three broader categories:

• Alerts based on temperature maximum limit
• Alerts based on Voltage threshold
• Alerts based on the Fan’s lower speed.

The Record is another interesting and user friendly option that records the Voltages (CPU VCore, CPU VAXG, CPU VCCSA, DRAM CH(A & B), PSU +3.3V output, PSU +5V output, PSU +12V output), Temperature of zones including System 1, PCH, CPU, PCIeX16, VRM MOS, System 2; and connected fans speed. The recording will plot the reading over the given period of time, giving the user a useful graphical presentation of what has been going on with the system.

Hardware Monitor can be displayed from the Central App as well which displays temperatures of various zones, voltages, speed of the connected fans/pumps.

X570 Pro Wifi Test Setup:

Following test bench setup is used to test the performance of the motherboard:

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• CORSAIR Vengeance Pro RGB 16GB @ 3200MHz
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founder’s Edition
• Asus Ryujin 360 CPU Cooler
• Antec HCP1300 PSU
• HyperX 120GB SSD

Microsoft Windows 10 x64 Pro (1903 update) was used for all the testing. Nvidia 431.60 drivers were used for graphics card testing. Following software were used for performance evaluation: –

Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Storage Drive Tests:

• AS SSD
• ATTO
• Crystal Disk Mark

X570 Aorus Pro CPU Tests:

• Cinebench R15
• Cinebench R20
• GeekBench 4.0.3
• 7-Zip
• AIDA64 Extreme
• Super Pi
• Performance Test
• Indigo
• V-Ray
• Corona
• X264HD

Memory Tests:

• AIDA64 Extreme
• Performance Test

Overall System Tests:

• PCMark10

For gaming and synthetic bench of the graphics card following software were used:-

• 3DMark
• Assassin’s Creed Origin
• Shadow of Tomb Raider [DX12]
• Grand theft Auto V
• Far Cry 5
• DOOM [Vulkan]
• Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation [DX12]

Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Testing:

This section will show the results of the various test suites and gaming benchmarks that we have run on this motherboard.

PCMark10 is a comprehensive application suite taking over version 8 to measure the overall performance of the system and the storage devices. Our test build performs relatively well.

Performance Test or pTest is another comprehensive suite that measures the overall performance of the PC along with detailed tests for each component. I used it to measure the performance of the CPU and the Memory. Scores fall in 95-99% percentile which is a good indication of the performance.

Cinebench is a real-world cross-platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software Cinema 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Life of Pi or Prometheus and much more. CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and OS X).

Geekbench 4 measures the system’s performance across multiple platforms. The test build performs well under this test. We have used it to test the single-core and multi-core performance of the CPU.

I have run multiple rendering benchmarks including Corona, Indigo etc. The results are reported in seconds per each benchmark in a single graph.

7-Zip is a compression benchmark that utilizes the Memory bandwidth and CPU Cores to measure the performance which is relative. Our graph is showing the overall MIPS.

Super PI is a single-threaded benchmark ideal for testing pure, single-threaded x86 floating-point performance and while most of the computing market has shifted towards multithreaded applications and more modern instruction sets, Super PI still remains quite indicative of CPU capability in specific applications such as computer gaming. The lesser the time is preferable.

AIDA64 Extreme is another extensive application suite to measure the performance and testing of the system’s stability. We used it run some CPU benchmarks and Memory testing.

CrystalDiskMark is a popular tool to measure the sequential and Random Read and Write speeds of the storage drive(s).

ATTO has created a widely-accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays as well as the host connection to attached storage.

AS SSD software tests the sequential or random read/write performance of the storage drive(s) without using the cache. AS SSD Benchmark reads/writes a 1 GByte file as well as randomly chosen 4K blocks. Additionally, it performs the tests using 1 or 64 threads and it determines the SSD’s access time.

3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your PC and mobile devices in one app. Whether you’re gaming on a smartphone, tablet, notebook, or desktop gaming PC, 3DMark includes a benchmark designed specifically for your hardware. We are specifically showing the CPU score only in the graphs.

We have tested 4 games on the test build. All the games were tested with their highest graphics settings.

Gigabyte X570 Overclocking and Thermals:

One thing that was obvious even in the BIOS was the thermals of the chip in the 40s and the voltage in 1.220s. Based on that I had hoped that this motherboard may perform better than Strix X470-F Gaming and the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard did not disappoint.

The above picture shows the temperature, voltage, CPU Package Power after idling for 20 minutes. Spot on. Keep in mind that I have used Asus ROG Ryujin 360 AIO cooler.

The above picture shows the temperature, voltage, CPU Package Power, and frequencies after running Far Cry 5 on 1080P for like one hour.

The above picture shows the temperature, voltage, CPU Package Power, and frequencies after running the Blender run. 66.6°C on stock under heavy workload is superb. The ambient temperature was 29.5°C.

I was able to push the chip to 4250MHz using 1.41MHz with High LLC.

The above picture shows the HWInfo64 information after the blender run at 4250MHz on all cores. The chip was pushed to 4.3GHz but some applications were not stable.

The above picture shows the improvement in the score in Cinebench R20 after overclocking.

The maximum temperature on the MOSFETs was 55.8°C. Below is the thermal image is taken from Hti HT-18 thermal cam showing the socket’s surrounding area of the motherboard.

Unfortunately, my power monitor was malfunctioning hence I could not monitor the total power draw of the system but given the 92W from the CPU under overclocking, I am sure the total power draw with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 FE would not be that high. Keep in mind that power draw varies from system to system and can’t be compared directly as such.

Conclusion:

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is a mid-range motherboard that offers a plethora of functions and features. The PCB is using a gray and black color combination. The stenciling is nicely done in mostly black color with the silver lining. The motherboard has an integrated I/O shield which is becoming common these days.

We have 4 DIMM slots for DDR4 memories, 5 PCIe slots Gen 4.0/3.0, 6x SATA ports, USB 2.0 ports, USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, USB 3.2 Gen-2 Type-C port and comes with on-board sound solution, Intel NIC and WiFi support with an antenna. The chipset shroud blends in well with the overall layout of the PCB textured pattern and colors. It has an integrated fan to keep the thermals of the chipset in check. The PCB has ATX form factor measuring 30.5cmX24.5cm and has support for Microsoft Windows 10 x64.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has a PGA AM4 socket which supports AMD Ryzen 2nd and 3rd gen CPUs. The motherboard has an adequate power delivery circuit using 12+2 power phases (doubler) using IR digital PWM Controller and 12 IR PowIRstages.

The cooling solution for the MOSFETs is quite effective as well employing fin-array stack in black color as well LAIRD 1.5mm thick thermal pads. These pads have a rated conductivity of 5W m/K. There is a single heat pipe connecting both heatsinks. This design allows for more surface area of effective heat dissipation as compared to the traditional heatsink designs and the use of these thermal pads allows the heat transfer of up to 2.7 times more than the traditional thermal pads. These statistics are provided by the GIGABYTE.

In terms of the cooling solution, the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard has the following provision:

• 7 Fan / Water Pump Connectors
• 7 Internal Temperature Sensors
• 2 External Temperature Sensors

Gigabyte has surely brought more proposition here on the table for the users as there are ample 4-pin PWM fan/pump headers for your regular cooling solution as well temperature sensors placed at critical locations of the PCB for effective monitoring.

In terms of the storage, we have 6 SATA ports and two M.2 PCIe Gen 4.0/3.0 ports using M key type M.2 SSDs with a maximum supported type of 22110. This motherboard has plenty of USB ports for your connectivity needs. It has USB 3.2 Gen-1/Gen-2 Type-A/C ports as well as USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports.

The GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard is using all new Realtek High-End HD Audio Codec ALC1220 120dB(A) SNR HD Audio with both front/rear microphone SNR up to 110/114dB(A). This motherboard is using a combination of Hi-Fi grade WIMA FKP2 capacitors and high-end Chemicon audio capacitors.

The addition of this to the exclusive AOURS AMP-UP Audio technology makes for the ideal onboard sound solution for the most demanding audiophiles. Channel support is 2/4/5.1/7.1 and S/PDIF Out is supported as well. This motherboard is using Intel NIC which 1 GbE rated with supported speeds of 10/100/1000 Mbit.

In addition to the GbE NIC, this motherboard has a WiFi solution as well, using Intel 1211AT. Intel Wireless solution supports 802.11ax, enabling gigabit wireless performance with speeds up to 2.4Gbps. Moreover, Bluetooth 5 provides 4X range over BT 4.2 and with faster transmission. The included antenna supported dual-band 802.11ax/ac 2.4GHz & 5GHz and has a magnetic base.

In terms of the PCIe slots, we have a total of 5x PCIe 3.0 slots three of which are rated PCIe 4.0/3.0 X1. The first full-length slot is rated X16 and is electrically wired to the CPU socket. The second full-length slot is rated X8 and is wired to the CPU socket as well. The third full length is wired to the chipset at X4. This motherboard supports Nvidia SLI and AMD Quad-GPU Cross-Fire and two-way Cross-Fire. The PCIe 3.0X16/X8 slots are stainless steel reinforced with the double-lock mechanism for better retention.

The DDR4 slots are steel reinforced as well. The latches on both ends of the DIMM slots are to be opened to install the RAM which is unlike the typical design these days in which one end is fixed and the other is used to secure the installation of the RAM. The maximum supported frequency on DDR is 4400 MHz (OC) for AMD Ryzen 3rd gen CPUs. The supported frequency for AMD 2nd gen CPUs is 3600MHz (OC). Total supported capacity for all 4 slots is 128GB with a maximum of 32GB per slot. XMP support is enabled on these slots and they have support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8 and 2Rx8 memory modules along with support for Non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules. XMP is supported as well.

The motherboard has Dual BIOS but there is no switch on it which allows the user to switch between the two. In case of in-stability or any issue, the next boot will be made from the backup BIOS which allows the user to enter the BIOS to recover the settings. The motherboard has a Q-Flash button which allows the user to update the BIOS without needing CPU, RAM, and graphics card.

The user can also update the BIOS from the UEFI and from the Windows Environment. There is no debug LED on the PCB and this has always surprised me that if implementing debug LEDs are really that costly that mid-range boards can’t offer this functionality! GIGABYTE has provided 4 LEDs for CPU, VGA, Storage, and GPU. In case of any issue, the corresponding LED will continue to light unless the troubleshooting is done. During my testing, it was observed that Sys_Fan4 header was randomly dropping the power making the connected fan come to a halt unless the system is powered off and then powered on. Similarly, the WiFi antenna was randomly dropping the connection. Other than that, I have loved testing this motherboard.

This motherboard is rated at $259.99 at the time of the review.  The UEFI/BIOS is smooth and performs as it should though I kinda feel that Gigabyte should redo the interface and bring a more convenient one. The voltages even on Auto were not that high and thermals were right on the spot. The maximum recorded temperature on the MOSFET was 55.8°C using the thermal camera. There was always a difference of like 5°C or more between the on-board sensor for the MOSFET and my reading. This has more to do with the fixed location of the sensor than anything else.

This motherboard has allowed the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 to be overclocked to 4250MHz with better thermals (thanks to the powerful cooling as well). GIGABYTE has provided a plethora of effective and intuitive utilities including SmartFan5, @BIOS, EasyTune to name a few. The RGB Fusion 2 app works perfectly fine and it also picks up our CORSAIR Vengeance Pro RGB DDR4 kit.

We are thankful to the GIGABYTE for giving us the opportunity to review their X570 AORUS Pro WiFi Gaming motherboard. Easetec is the media partner of Gigabyte in this market. Check them out for more Gigabyte stuff that they have to offer.

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