Gigabyte B550 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review

A Closer Look

I personally think the AORUS boards are some of the best out there, they’re high-end without looking too over the top. I could happily drop this in a work system or a kick-ass gaming rig and it would look right in either.

B550 may be the more “affordable” option, but this board is not lacking in features. The CPU benefits from a True 12+2 Phase Digital VRM with 50A DrMOS. You get Premium Chokes and capacitors on a 6 layer 2x copper PCB. Plus, they’ve equipped with a Fins Array heatsink and heatpipe configuration so it’ll cool really well too.

The CPU is powered from a dingle 8-pin header, which is more than enough for this chipset though.

Cooling performance expands to the M.2 slots too, and you’ll find a pair of chunky heatsinks on each. The top M.2 features PCIe Gen 4, while the lower one is Gen 3.

There are three full-size PCIe slots and two 1x slots. As you can see, the top one is armoured, so it’ll better support the weight of modern GPUs. Plus, the top slot is also Gen 4, which is awesome.

There’s all your usual headers too, with SATA, ARGB x 2, RGB x 3, and plenty of USB ports too.

Audio comes from the fantastic ALC1220-VB chipset, which is backed up by Nichicon Fine Gold Audio Capacitors and “audiophile grade” WIMA Capacitors. Honestly, it’s a pretty great setup for any motherboard!

The rear I/O shield is pre-installed, and as you can see, it offers up a plethora of USB ports, including USB 3.2, and Type C. You get a 2.5 GbE LAN port for ultra-fast networking. Finally, an HDMI output, which is great given AMDs impressive range of APUs right now.