Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard Review

AORUS X570 Master

The latest range of Ryzen 3rd Gen CPUs are here at last. With that, we also have the launch of the latest X570 motherboards, and even new graphics cards from AMD too. It seems we’re spoilt for new hardware this week! Speaking of spoilt, I’ve also had the high-end AORUS X570 Master motherboard from AORUS!

Equipped with support for the latest Ryzen CPUs, it’s a high-end solution built for extreme gaming and workstation performance. You’ll find an impressive 14 Phases Digital VRM, providing big overclocking performance. There’s also three ultra-fast NVMe PCIE4.0 M.2 mounts for the latest flagship storage drives. If that’s not enough, dual LAN and WiFI; including 2.5GbE and WiFi 6!

The list of features on this motherboard is enough to make you drool. What’s more crazy is this isn’t even the top end model. We still have the AORUS Xtreme for those who really want to empty their wallets; we’ll take a look at that at a later date though.

Features

• Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™/ 2nd Gen Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics Processors
• Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Direct 14 Phases Infineon Digital VRM Solution with PowIRstage
• Advanced Thermal Design with Fins-Array Heatsink and Direct Touch Heatpipe
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Triple Thermal Guards
• Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5
• Rear 125dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220-VB & ESS SABRE 9118 DAC with WIMA Audio Capacitors
• Realtek^® 2.5GbE + Intel^® Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed
• USB TurboCharger for Mobile Device Fast Charge Support
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Supports Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 5 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Front & Rear USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C™ Headers
• Integrated Base Plate & I/O Shield Armor
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS Without Installing CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

CPU Support

Please keep in mind that Ryzen X570 motherboards only support Ryzen 2nd Gen and 3rd Gen CPUs. Despite being AM4 sockets, they do not currently work with Ryzen 1st Gen processors. Furthermore, for those wanting to use the full PCIe 4.0 functionality, you’ll also need to use the latest 3rd Gen CPUs.

4K Preview and Unboxing

Last week we brought you a preview of this motherboard here. Plus, Andy did a lovely unboxing preview which you can check out below! Because we did the preview, we’ve already been over the features on this motherboard like we would in our “A Closer Look” section. So that has been replaced with a “photo gallery” on this review; we don’t need to tell you everything twice!

Show me More

We’ve got a LOT of new reviews to show you today, check out the entire list of motherboards, CPUs and graphics cards below;

• Gigabyte AORUS X570 Master Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review
• ASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review Review
• MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard Review
• ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard Review
• ASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard Review
• MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard Review
• ASRock X570 Motherboard Review
• ASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard Review
• AMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards Review
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review

Photo Gallery

How We Test

Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary.

Testing Your Own System

Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with.

Intel Testbenches

Z390

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i9-9900K
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Z370

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X299

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i9-7900X
• RAM – Crucial DDR4 2400MHz Quad-Channel 32GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

B360

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

AMD Testbenches

X399 (Threadripper)

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Threadripper 1950X
• RAM – Crucial 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3000 MHz
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X570

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 9 3900X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X470

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 2700X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

X370

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 1800X
• RAM – GeIL  DDR4 2977MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

B450

• Motherboard – Changes Per Review
• CPU – Ryzen 7 2700X
• RAM – G.Skill 3400MHz Dual Channel 16GB
• CPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fans
• Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt
• Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit

Games and Settings Used

All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)
  • DX12 Medium Preset
  • Pure Hair Off
• Deus Ex (Steam)
  • DX12 Medium Preset
• Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay)
  • Medium Preset
  • Turf Effects Off
• Far Cry Primal (Uplay)
  • Normal Preset

Software Used

• 3DMark Fire Strike (download)
  • FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark
• Unigine Superposition (download)
  • 1080p Extreme Benchmark
• PCMark 10 Professional (download)
  • Express Benchmark
• WPrime (download)
  • 32M and 1024M
  • Power usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% complete
• CineBench R15 (download)
  • CPU Multi
  • CPU Single
• CineBench R20 (download)
  • CPU Multi
  • CPU Single
• Handbrake (download)
  • Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below)
• AIDA64 Engineer (download)
• CPU-Z (download)
• HWMonitor (download)

Handbrake

To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps, and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the “normal” profile.

Other Notes

A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection.

Updates

All games, graphics card drivers, BIOS, Windows and everything else is always kept up to date with the latest available. Older benchmarks may not be retested until stated otherwise. However, all hardware will be tested with the best and latest firmware and software available to that hardware at the time of review. As of 1st of May 2018, all hardware was retested on their latest drivers. Anything after this date will again be using their most recent versions available to them.

Thanks

Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible!

Synthetic Benchmarks

Scores

• 3DMark – 23452
• Unigine – 5633
• PCMark 10 – 6577
• WPrime – 2.529/56.742
• Cinebench R15 – 209/3114
• Cinebench R20 – 515/7077
• Handbrake – 71.3

3DMark Firestrike

Unigine Superposition

PCMark 10 Express

WPrime

Cinebench R15

CineBench R20

Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K

Gaming Performance

Scores

• Rise of the Tomb Raider – 189.28
• Deus Ex – 91.8/123.1
• Ghost Recon – 106.47/134.4
• Far Cry – 100/130

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Ghost Recon

Far Cry

Overclocking

With X570 being a brand new platform, we have chosen to put the overclocking testing on hold. We’ve tested around ten motherboards with the overclocked CPU settings and honest, the results were broadly the same. For now, I refer you to our CPU reviews, which feature the overclocking results of the X570 chipset. I’ll also include the links on the first and last pages of each motherboard review.

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review

We’re waiting for the platform to mature, get the launch out of the way, and we’ll then take a deeper dive into overclocking on X570 with Ryzen 3rd Gen. Not only do we think this will be more useful to you, we think we’ll also be able to get even better results to differentiate the motherboards when we do. Sit tight, it’s coming, and we’re sure it’ll be worth the wait.

Power ConsumptionS

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, at the time of writing we couldn’t find up to date pricing information. Of course, we expect stores to update their stock as the reviews go live and the NDA is over. You can find the latest pricing for the UK here and for the US here.

Overview

The AORUS X570 Master is a gorgeous looking motherboard, there’s no mistake to be made there. I think they’ve done a fantastic job of building a great looking motherboard, that also packs in a hell of a lot of practical features for any system builder. While I didn’t have the price at the time of writing, I know it’s a high-end solution, but expect it to be competitive. Wallets don’t start shaking in fear until you get into the flagship models like the XTREME. However, expect a premium for features like ESS SABRE HIFI and 2.5 GbE networking.

Build Quality

Armoured PCIe lanes and DIMM slots look fantastic, but also prevent PCB flex, and help withstand the weight of modern GPUs too. The VRM design is pretty robust, and no doubt more than enough for overclocking even on the flagship Ryzen 9 CPUs too. Of course, with a chunky heatsink on the motherboard, the active chipset fan, and three M.2 shields built-in, cooling is on point throughout.

Performance

The motherboard certainly isn’t slow, but it’s not really the fastest motherboard we’ve tested today either. There are a lot of super high-end X570 solutions on our charts today though, so even the AORUS X570 Master comes under heat from the rest of the Gigabyte and AORUS range. That being said, I suspect the performance has room to improve via a BIOS update. Plus, the AORUS X570 Master is hardly lacking when it comes to benchmarks and gaming performance. What it lacks it certainly makes up for in connectivity though, with does add to its appeal.

Added Value

AORUS has crammed this motherboard with impressive connectivity you would often find much higher up the range. There’s GbE and 2.5 GbE LAN, as well as the ultra-fast WiFi 6 and BT5 options. Throw in a load of USB Gen 2 solutions, stunning ESS SABRE audio, and a fist full of ARGB control, and you’re good to go. Without a doubt, you’ll not be left wanting for more features here.

Should I Buy One

I really like this motherboards. I suspect it’ll be one of the more competitively priced AORUS boards too. It’s well equipped, really well made, and looks stunning too. If I’m right about the price, this will be one to watch out for.

• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard Review
• ASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review Review
• MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard Review
• ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard Review
• ASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard Review
• MSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard Review
• Gigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard Review
• ASRock X570 Motherboard Review
• ASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard Review
• AMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards Review
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review