Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE Motherboard Review

Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE - Unboxing & Close Up Inspection

The Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE motherboard comes in a standard cardboard package. The front features the large AORUS "EAGLE" logo along with a very robotic design. The packaging also lists down support for PCIe 5.0 (GPU/NVMe), DDR5, and Overclocking.

The backside of the package lists the specifications and special features of the motherboard such as the VRM Thermal Armor Advanced & M.2 Thermal Guard XL heatsink solution, a 16+2+2 Phase Digital VRM, DIY-Friendly design, and WIFI7 & WIFI EZ Plug.

Inside the package is another box that contains the accessories and is located right below the box holder for the board itself. You get a Quick Installation Guide, an AORUS case badge, 2 SATA cables, a G-Connector for easy front-panel cable installation and a few RGB cables.

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With all the accessories done, it's time to put that box aside and take the motherboard out of its package.

The Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE motherboard is a standard ATX offering that measures 244 x 305 mm. The motherboard carries a pure white color scheme with a few grey accents on the heatsinks, mainly to mark the different logos. The pure white color and the white PCB design look phenomenal.

The ICE series from AORUS are spectacular looking, there's no doubt about them. Even the backside looks cool with a grey color scheme and the same AORUS Eagle logo engraved into it. Too bad that there are only a few cases that can showcase the backside of the motherboard.

The board uses the LGA 1718 socket to support AMD Ryzen "AM5" processors. The socket works with Ryzen 7000, Ryzen 8000G, and Ryzen 9000 CPUs and will also support future generations of AM5 Ryzen chips that are supported by the platform.

Next to the socket are four DDR5 DIMM slots that can support up to 192 GB of dual-channel (24/48 GB modules) memory.

These slots are rated to support XMP profiles up to 8000 MT/s (OC Plus). Each slot is labeled, making it easier to install DIMMs in the proper orientation. DDR5 memory comes with a different latch position so forcing a DDR4 module into a DDR5 slot will cause permanent damage. Each slot is also combined with a reinforced design to make sure signal integrity remains good while keeping the slots durable for long-term usage. The full QVL list can be found here. There are several kits rated at DDR5-8000 which are supported by the motherboard.

The Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE motherboard features a 16+2+2 (VCore/ VccGT/VccAUX)  phase (8+8) power delivery that utilizes the Richtek RT3678BE "GOW" PWM controller and Onsemi NCP 30215 PWM controller (Dr.MOS 60A) stages for the VCore.

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The VRMs and power delivery solution are scattered around the AM5 socket. The board uses a 6-layer with 2x copper and a 56% lower dissipation factor which helps improve signal integrity.

The VRMs receive ample cooling from the VRM Thermal Armor Advanced solution. These include the primary VRM heatsinks and small cooling vents on the IO bracket which the company claims to offer up to 7C lower temperatures.

The CPU is supplied power through an 8+8 pin power connector configuration. This will feed the CPU with up to 300 Watts of power. The AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs are very power-hungry with the maximum target power going above 220W for the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X CPU.

Coming to the VRM Thermal Armor Fins Array, two aluminum blocks are stacked with multiple fins.

Expansion slots include three PCI Express x16 (1 x Gen 5.0 x16/8 / 1x Gen 4.0 x4 / 1x Gen 3.0x2) and four M.2 slots. The first slot shares bandwidth with the M2B and M2C M.2 slots and runs at x8 mode when either of these is populated. The PCIe 4.0 x4 slot also shares bandwidth with the M2D_SB connector and becomes unavailable when a device is installed in the connector slot.

• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot (PCIEX16), integrated in the CPU
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 4.0 and running at x4 (PCIEX4)
• 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, supporting PCIe 3.0 and running at x2 (PCIEX2)

The motherboard utilizes a full metallic slot and comes with an ultra-durable PCIe armor on the back side to enhance the durability of the PCIe slot. The M.2 slot features an EZ-Latch design that makes it easy to remove graphics cards.

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The motherboard also has a vast array of M.2 slots, all of which are featured under dedicated M.2 Thermal Gaurd heatsinks.

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One of the larger heatsinks, the M.2 Thermal Guard Ext. also works as a cover plate for the motherboard's lower portion. It has the AORUS Eagle logo on it and underneath, you can find single-sided thermal pads. You need to remove the plastic sticker from the thermal pads before installing a new SSD for proper heat transfer. The whole cover is easy to remove thanks to the EZ-Latch M.2 mechanism. Just rotate the latch and the whole thing comes off and it also secures in place nicely thanks to magnetic connectors on the other side.

The primary M.2 Thermal Guard L heatsink is the bigger one and provides better cooling to a Gen5 M.2 SSD. This has the same latching mechanism.

Following is the full list of M.2 ports and their details on the Gigabyte AORUS X870 ELITE WIFI7 ICE motherboard:

• 1 x M.2 connector (M2A_CPU), integrated into the CPU, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 25110/22110/2580/2280 SSDs
• 2 x M.2 connectors (M2B_CPU, M2C_CPU), integrated into the CPU, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 22110/2280 SSDs
• 1 x M.2 connector (M2D_SB), integrated into the Chipset, supporting Socket 3, M key, type 22110/2280 PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 SSDs
• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 support for NVMe SSD storage devices

The X870 PCH is housed beneath a large heatsink which is colored in red.

The motherboard offers just one RGB accent zone which are a set of LEDs underneath the PCH heatsink.

Storage options include four SATA III ports rated to operate at 6 GB/s. These can support 4 different storage devices at once. There are also 3 USB 3.2 front panel connectors (1 x Gen 2x2 + 2 x Gen 1). 4 USB 2.0 front panel connectors are also included.

Gigabyte uses a 7.1 CH HD audio design with the latest Realtek ALC1220 CODEC.

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There is a large selection of connectors on the motherboard such as Power On/Off, Reset buttons, a DEBUG port and DEBUG LEDs for CPU, DRAM, VGA and boot processes.

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The full list of connectors on the motherboard is listed as follows.

• 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
• 2 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connectors
• 1 x CPU fan header
• 1 x CPU fan/water cooling pump header
• 4 x system fan headers
• 2 x system fan/water cooling pump headers
• 3 x addressable RGB Gen2 LED strip headers
• 1 x RGB LED strip header
• 4 x M.2 Socket 3 connectors
• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
• 1 x front panel header
• 1 x front panel audio header
• 1 x USB Type-C header, with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 support
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
• 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
• 1 x noise detection header
• 1 x Trusted Platform Module header (For the GC-TPM2.0 SPI/GC-TPM2.0 SPI 2.0/GC-TPM2.0 SPI V2 module only)
• 1 x HDMI port (Note)
• 1 x power button
• 1 x reset button
• 2 x temperature sensor headers
• 1 x reset jumper
• 1 x Clear CMOS jumper

AORUS is using the latest WIFI 7 Module with a 160MHz wireless channel to power wireless connectivity and Bluetooth 5.4. In terms of Ethernet, there is a single LAN port powered by the 2.5 GbE RTL8125 controller.

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The motherboard comes with the following I/O connectors:

• 1 x Q-Flash Plus button
• 1 x HDMI port (Note)
• 2 x antenna connectors (2T2R)
• 2 x USB4® USB Type-C® ports (DisplayPort (Note))
• 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red)
• 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• 1 x RJ-45 port
• 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
• 2 x audio jacks

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