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 ESTOverclocking Ryzen 3000
Experience with the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI
It's no secret that Ryzen 3000 runs very warm when pushed beyond default settings and adequate cooling is a must. Our motherboard testing is focused on observing the behaviour and judging capability based on the hardware integrated onto the board including power delivery, circuitry, and other variables including the firmware which acts as the interface between the user and the hardware. One downside to mini ITX motherboards is that all the componentry is stacked tightly together and with this, it can produce more heat in comparison to other form factors with more sparse PCBs. This needs to be factored in when overclocking and it makes airflow even more important, especially in cramped spaces.
GIGABYTE's firmware is very easy to navigate around and all of the relevant overclocking settings can be found within the Tweaker section. Users doing basic overclocking can change key settings including CPU Ratio which will increase or decrease the CPU Core Frequency, and make CPU VCore adjustments for when the processor requires more juice to keep stable. Other important settings to consider include the CPU/VRM settings which allow users to select between different loadline calibrations, which can loosen or tighten the VDroop control for better stability in certain situations.
Memory overclocking can be achieved simply by enabling compatible memory with X.M.P 2.0 profiles or done manually by adjusting the memory frequency, the DRAM voltage, and adjusting latencies which can be found within the advanced memory settings menu. AMD recommends users keeping the FCLK (Infinity Fabric Clock) to within 2:1 of the memory frequency, with DDR4-3600 being the reported sweet spot between performance and frequency. For DDR4-3600, the FCLK should be set to 1800 MHz for best performance.
Overclocking Methodology
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with POV-Ray and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from the previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (105ºC+). Our testbed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.
Overclocking Results
Our experience overclocking the GIGABYTE was a pleasant one and this board exceeded our expectations. For general users, GIGABYTE has gone with a very basic firmware with all the relevant settings in one easy to navigate place. As with all other X570 models tested, we managed to achieve 4.3 GHz on our Ryzen 7 3700X testbed processor with a CPU VCore of 1.350 V. All throughout our overclock testing, VDroop was tight with the LLC settings set to default, and we didn't experience any abnormalities in our testing.
Although GIGABYTE doesn't include any overclocking presets, the EasyTune software comes with a setting called Auto OC which labels itself as an automatic overclocking setting which we assumed is based on a basic lookup table. We didn't achieve any extra performance over enabling PBO, which proved slightly better than default settings at the cost of extra heat and power consumption. In our POV-Ray testing and testing from 3.6 to 4.3 GHz, performance increased gradually as expected.
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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.