How Much Does It Cost?
The Gigabyte Intel Z890 AORUS ELITE WiFi7 PCIe 5.0 ATX Motherboard is pretty affordable, coming in at just £299, it’s less than half the price of the new Z890 enthusiast motherboards, making it much more accessible to consumers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know £300 is a lot of money, but keep in mind this is a more affordable model for what is still a high-end chipset series motherboard. No doubt, more affordable B-series boards will hit the market in the new year. I would have liked just a few more USB ports on the back, but other than that, the motherboard is well-equipped for this price range.
Conclusion
The Gigabyte AORUS ELITE Z890 WiFi7 motherboard presents a compelling option for users looking to harness the power of Intel’s latest Core Ultra processors. Supporting the LGA 1851 socket, this motherboard offers a robust foundation for a high-performance system, without the extreme cost of something like the flagship boards from ASUS, MSI, AORUS and many others.
VRM
Power delivery is handled by a digital twin 16+1+2 phase VRM solution, ensuring clean and stable power to the CPU for optimal performance and overclocking potential. While not as extreme as some, it’s clearly enough to tap into our U9 processor but may lack the extreme overclocking abilities of some of the more expensive boards.
Hardware
The Aorus has plenty of options for fast storage, with an impressive four M.2 slots, including one PCIe 5.0 x4, while the remaining three are PCIe 4.0 x4, allowing for some fast configurations. Furthermore, the inclusion of the EZ-Latch Plus and EZ-Latch Click designs means no more fiddly screws and fittings, making it easy to install or swap out your drives with ease.
There’s also a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot supporting the latest in expansion cards and graphics cards, and this too comes with Gigabyte’s EZ-Latch Plus system, with a simple push button to unlatch the GPU without having to jam your fingers down the back of the card.
Networking and Connectivity
It features 2.5GbE LAN for fast wired connections and the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard with a directional, ultra-high gain antenna for superior wireless performance. It’s easy to use too, as you get the WIFI EZ-Plug design, so no need to screw in the wires like on many WiFi antennae, just push and click and you’re good to go.
Audio is driven by the ALC1220 codec, paired with WIMA audiophile-grade capacitors for enhanced sound quality. You also get the latest Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port with DP-Alt mode, ensuring you can support next-gen displays, storage and peripherals.
AI
Gigabyte incorporates several features to enhance the user experience. AORUS AI SNATCH provides auto-overclocking capabilities, while AI Perfdrive offers optimized BIOS presets for various usage scenarios. The Sensor Panel Link allows for in-chassis panel setup via an onboard video port. The BIOS itself features a friendly UI with multiple themes, AIO fan control, and Q-Flash Auto Scan for easy updates. A new power monitor in HWinfo provides real-time VRM monitoring, making it very user-friendly.
Should I Buy One?
This is a great starting point for PC gamers who want to leverage the fast storage of Gen5 M.2, the latest PCIe 5.0 expansion cards such as the latest GPUs from AMD and Nvidia, and of course, the new socket and the competent VRM configuration means you can leverage the performance of the latest Intel Core Ultra CPUs. At £299 you get a lot for your money here, and while a couple more USB ports on the back would be welcome, there’s a lot to love here.
