The GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX is one of the few mATX AMD AM5 mATX boards and it’s also rather affordable. With the overall cost of upgrading to Ryzen 7000 being quite high thanks to supporting DDR5 exclusively, this is quite an important option. As a part of the AORUS family, this is designed for gamers, with features that cater to gamers and enthusiasts alike.
Design
- Sporting a full black design, the B650M AORUS ELITE is one sexy board. This would be a great board for fully-blacked out build. While it’s meant for gamers, they aren’t going with the flashy RGB-heavy designs you might expect to see. Instead, it’s a nice classy design here.
- The huge heatsinks cum I/O cover looks pretty effective for cooling the VRM, with plenty of surface area and a heatpipe inside to further improve cooling efficiency. GIGABYTE has even more effective finned designs, but I guess it was deemed unnecessary here.
- There is total of 4 DDR5 DIMM slots that support up to a total of 128GB, with up to 32GB per slot. Officially GIGABYTE claims to support up to DDR5-6666 clock speed via overclocking. However this will invariably depend on the RAM themselves. BTW, for great RAM reviews, head on over to tech-critter.com.
- Being a MATX board, there are only 2 M.2 slots: one PCIe 5.0 x4 and one PCIe 4.0. Both are cooled by the massive heatsink that spans nearly the entire width of the board. With the thermal output of PCIe 5.0 SSDs, the extra cooling is very welcome.
- The B650M AORUS ELITE comes with 2 PCIe slots, the primary slot being PCIe 4.0 running at full x16 speed, while the second full-length PCIe 4.0 slot runs at x4.
Back I/O
Here’s a rundown what’s on the back panel:
- 1 x Q-Flash Plus button
- 2 x SMA WiFi antenna connectors (2T2R)
- 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
- 1 x DisplayPort 1.4
- 1 x HDMI 2.1 port
- 1 x USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, 10Gbps)
- 2 x USB-A (USB 3.2 Gen 2, 10Gbps) (red)
- 5 x USB 3.0 ports
- 1 x 2.5GbE RJ-45 port
- 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
- 2 x audio jacks
- The WiFi of the B650M AORUS ELITE AX is handled by either the AMD Wi-Fi 6E RZ616 (rev. 1.0) or the Intel WiFi 6E AX210 (rev 1.1). Word on Reddit is that people are replacing their existing RZ616 with Intel chips as AMD/MTK Wi-Fi chips are rather unreliable now. So if you are able to choose, do go for PCB rev 1.1 with the Intel WiFi adapter to save yourself from potential headaches.
- What I really love is the B650M AORUS ELITE AX’s generous array of 11 USB ports. We have 1 USB Type-C port as well the 2 red USB-A port that support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). The other 5 blue color USB port are USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), and finally right at the top of the back I/O there’s the 4 USB 2.0/1.1 that support up to 480Mbps.
Under the Heatsinks
VRM
- The PWM controller is an Infineon XDPE192C3B and a 12+2+1 twin digital power stage design. This is quite a beefy PWM controller that’s capable of 12-phase regulation, and we see it in much pricier boards as well.
- GIGABYTE is using it here to handle all Vcore, VSoC and MISC voltage planes, and also probably to save some costs via economies of scale by ordering in bulk for this board and their more premium options.
- The “twin” refers to the pairing of two power stages per phase. This increases the power handling capability of the VRM system, without incurring the higher costs of more advanced PWM controllers. Another advantage is that this design improves transient response over designs with doublers.
- In essence, what we have here is an 6-phase Vcore, with two onsemi NCP303160 DrMOS per phase. Each power stage for the Vcore is rated for up to 60A average current, for a total of 720A current handling capability.
PCIe Slots
- Again, there 2 PCIe slots with the first one supporting PCIe 4.0 x16 and the second slots PCIe 4.0 x4.The primary slot is reinforced with what GIGABYTE calls “Ultra Durable Armor”. GIGABYTE also equipped it with a wider PCIe EZ-Latch, that makes it easier to disengage when a thick card is slotted in.
- The second slot is full-length, which means that you can fit all sorts of PCIe cards out there.
- As this is not a B650E board, the main PCIe slot is not PCIe 5.0-capable, but I don’t think it matters in the slightest, as we are still some time aways from anything that can saturate a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.
Audio
- The B650M AORUS ELITE AX relies on the Realtek ALC897, which is quite old but still a good enough codec that offers a 95dB signal-to-noise ratio. Also present are Nichicon FG Fine Gold capacitors, which is known to be the to-go capacitors for great audio reproduction.
- If you are serious about audio, go out and get a USB DAC or discrete sound card.
Conclusion
The GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE AX is a board that I believe is a worthwhile option for gamers seeking a straightforward board that just works. It is quite wallet-friendly as far as AMD AM5 boards go at RM1,629, and you get all the features you need for a great gaming-focused build. There is nothing flashy about it, but there aren’t that many compromises either, which is a what I like to see.
Here is what we like about the B650M AORUS ELITE AX:
- Good VRM setup and cooling
- 11 USB ports
- Simple all-black design
With that, I would recommend this board is you’re looking a simple board for your upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 series build.