In our Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming review, we are going to be completely honest with you about how we feel about this motherboard. It is a really popular option among users, but we think that sometimes the brand gets a bit more credit than it deserves.
Continue reading the article to see our reasons for having such feedback about the Gigabyte x470 Aorus Ultra Gaming Motherboard.
Find out whether it is worth the hype it is given or not.
Contents
An Honest Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming Motherboard Review
– Specifications
- Chipset: AMD X470
- Form Factor: ATX
- CPU Support: AMD Socket AM4
- Memory Support: Dual-channel, four slots, max 64GB
- Sound: Eight-channel Realtek ALC 1220
- Networking: 1x Intel Gigabit Ethernet
- Ports: 1x M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 32 Gbps/SATA 6 Gbps up to 22110, 1 x M.2 PCIe 2.0 x4 16 Gbps up to 2280, 6 x SATA 6 Gbps, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C header, 8 x USB 3.0 (4 via headers), 8 x USB 2.0 (4 via headers), 1 x LAN, audio out, line in, mic, Optical S/PDIF out
- Dimensions: (mm) 305 x 244
Gigabyte has a long history of building lower priced motherboards for both Intel and AMD.
This is a newer chipset, however, and many people were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to live up to their past products at such a cheap price point. Somehow, they were able to achieve this at a lower price point than some of their x370 motherboards!
Here is some of the essential information about the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming that you need to know.
– Lighting
It’s pretty clear that this isn’t a premium build because the lighting is simplistic. There is lighting and illumination, but Gigabyte has always been capable of much more. If you want to install your own light, they have left you plenty of room to install LED strips.
– Ports
This motherboard has almost all of the ports you need to have a great experience and enough connectivity to build a good gaming rig. There is one fewer M.2 heatsink than many other boards, and there is a bit less power to the circuitry.
It has a ton of great ports here, including the six SATA 6Gbps ports, sets of both USB 3.0 and 2.0 headers, and a somewhat surprising eight fan headers.
Altogether, there are more ports here than with more expensive options. You will also get a full USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C header as well. There is a bit of a strange arrangement to some of the ports, so take that into consideration as well.
– Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming BIOs
The BIOs is easy to use and can help you personalize the system. You will need to regularly update the BIOs to make them functional, which is a drawback for some people.
– Cooling
Most people are used to impressive cooling from Gigabyte, and that’s a bit of a disappointment here. It has some excellent designs within the cooling, and 8 + 3 phase design, but it lacks the heat-pipe-linked heatsinks that the better quality brands have. You’ll get a lot of control of the fan area with the software and the on-board fan control area.
– Overclocking Capabilities
If you want to overclock, then this is a decent motherboard, but you will have to be careful when you do it. In tests across the Internet, this motherboard hits its speed at almost all cores easily, which means you should be able to push it.
The only thing that you’ll have to do is keep an eye on the boost speed frequencies and the temperatures since heat can build up within your system.
– Audio
If you are a fan of making music, mixing music, or just listening to music, this is a mixed bag. There are some of the best dynamic ranges with these motherboards as well as noise level control.
If you want to use this motherboard exclusively for music production, you will notice the shortcomings, but for the average user or gamer, you won’t notice any significant issues.
There are some overall problems with audio performance in gaming, particularly in games where there isn’t a good soundtrack. Something with low-quality sounds will be tinny and may even hurt your ears.
– Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming AM4 Support
Yes, the Gigabyte x470 is one of the motherboards designed for the AM4 socket. This means that it gets that level of support and speed from Gigabyte. The AM4 socket is one of the premium options for most people because of the versatility that it offers.
– Integrations
For building, it is hard to find a motherboard that has more integrations. You can use it with AMD Ryzen 5000 series. 3rd Gen Ryzen, 2nd Gen Ryzen, 1st Gen Ryzen, 2nd Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics, 1st Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics, and Athlon with Radeon™ Vega Graphics Processors.
– Power Consumption
There is an extremely low level of power consumption with the Gigabyte x470 Aorus, making it a perfect choice for someone living in an apartment, dorm, or with roommates. Even when overclocking, there is less usage than many other gaming boards.
It will use more power once you start to overclock, but it is still lower than others when you overclock them as well.
– Performance
The Gigabyte x470 Aorus is one of the most consistent performers of all motherboards we have tested. It is the type of motherboard that you can trust and understand how it will respond to stimulus. For gamers who change settings on a regular basis or want to personalize their rigs, this is going to be one of the best purchases that you can make.
– Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming Drivers
One thing that users have noticed is that the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming Drivers require updates on a regular basis. For some people, this is a negative thing because they won’t be able to just play games without searching for updates.
If you are willing to turn on manual updates, however, you won’t notice a difference. The updates also show that the manufacturer is looking after their motherboards, even if they aren’t the latest options. We see this as a good thing, but some people online have been annoyed by the constant update schedule.
Some Things to Consider Before Buying
There are some things to consider before you buy this, especially if you are a gamer.
The dual-BIOs is software controlled, but it doesn’t have a physical switch or jumper pins, which can severely limit functionality when you are trying to look for the sweet spot when overclocking. Once you know that sweet spot, it is fine, but you won’t have support to get there.
Another thing to consider is that there are some specs that the board promotes that aren’t as strong in reality. The biggest discrepancy is between the 8-phase VRM, which doesn’t actually perform like an 8-phase.
It is still a good choice for the price point, but you may think that you’re getting a better value than you are. If you need that VRM, you will have to look elsewhere (and probably pay more).
We’ve also seen some complaints about overclocking with this motherboard. The memory overclocking is harder to do, particularly because the frequency is hard to find. The tightening is also something to pay attention to.
It only goes up to .300v when you overclock, which means you can’t get as good of a performance out of it as with other machines.
Still, these issues only really emerge when we are comparing it to other boards that are fantastic, not other boards within the price range.
In Conclusion: The Gigabyte x470 Aorus Ultra Gaming Motherboard Stands Tall
The X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming motherboard isn’t a perfect piece of technology, but no motherboard is. All of the faults that you may find with it are minor and can be corrected in some way.
For example, the lower M.2 slot bandwidth isn’t ideal, but you can use different slots to get the exact same results. Overclocking is simplistic and easy to do, though it does raise power consumption more than other boards. Thankfully, overall power consumption is lower so it doesn’t really matter all that much.
Finally, when it comes to the value for the cost of the board, you will be hard pressed to find a better board at a better price. You can get boards for a cheaper cost, but they won’t offer half as much as the Gigabyte does.
