So much has been stated in regards to the ever-increasing expense of PC gaming {hardware}, Whether or not the explanations given are mining, covid lockdowns, inflation, logistics, or the passage of Mercury throughout the face of the Solar, it is true: stuff prices an excessive amount of. However Intel’s B760 motherboards are not less than usually on the decrease bounds of loopy pricing.
Do you may have one GPU? An SSD or two? A great B760 board could have you lined.
Many B760 boards provide good worth for cash and a few have nearly each key function and attribute a 2023 gamer fairly requires. Do you may have one GPU? An SSD or two? Want some quick USB ports on your devices and gizmos? A great B760 board could have you lined and shouldn’t be neglected.
Up for overview at present I’ve the Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX (opens in new tab). It sits on the higher finish of Gigabyte’s B760 vary. Solely the B760 Aorus Grasp is above it. It is priced at $189, although it’s generally under this with a promo low cost. That is not unhealthy for what you get.
Within the UK its comparatively dearer at round £239 whereas in Australia it is AU$409, although AU availability seems to be restricted. The Elite AX additionally is available in a DDR4 taste, and there are Micro-ATX variations too, so it is comprehensible that not all SKUs shall be obtainable in all markets.
The B760 Aorus Elite is an ATX board, and which means it doesn’t have the house constraints of a number of the different boards I’ve reviewed together with the MSI MAG B760M Mortar Max WiFi (opens in new tab) and ASRock B760M PG Sonic WiFI (opens in new tab).
Notably, the Aorus comes with three M.2 drive slots and three PCIe x16 slots, although the underside two run at PCIe 3.0 x1 electrically. It is also value noting that the first slot would not assist PCIe 5.0. Meaning nothing proper now, however it might do within the years to return.
Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX overview and specs
Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX specs
Socket: Intel LGA 1700
CPU compatibility: Intel twelfth & thirteenth Gen desktop processors
Type issue: ATX
Reminiscence assist: DDR5-7600 (OC), As much as 192GB
Storage: 3x M.2, 4x SATA
USB: As much as 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 6x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 8x USB 2.0
Show: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DP 1.2
Networking: Realtek 2.5G LAN, Intel Wi-Fi 6E
Audio: Realtek ALC897
Value: $189 (opens in new tab) | £239 (opens in new tab) | AU$409 (opens in new tab)
Seems are at all times within the eye of the beholder. Inside purpose, seems to be do not actually matter however I’ve to admit to not being an enormous fan of the design. There are just a few too many random strains operating far and wide and it appears a bit bland. Except it was orange or was purple with graffiti on it (oh, wait a sec (opens in new tab)) it wouldn’t cease me from shopping for the board if the remainder of the factor measured up.
There is a clear development rising with motherboards shifting away from extreme RGB and in lots of instances, similar to with the Aorus Elite AX, omitting it altogether. It is at all times good to retain the choice, although, and to that finish there are 4 RGB headers, two of that are addressable. Different notable headers embody assist for six fan/pumps, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C case connector, a Gen 1 connector and a reset button, however no on/off button.
Does anybody bear in mind B460 and older boards? You are not alone should you do not. They had been caught with DDR4-2666 reminiscence or DDR4-2933 with a high-end chip. Yuck. Maybe B-series boards nonetheless haven’t recovered from their ‘low-cost’ and fortunately out of date popularity. Overlook that although. The B760 Aorus Elite helps as much as DDR5-7600 and the F2 and later BIOS choices assist 24GB and 48GB reminiscence modules, permitting assist for a complete of 192GB of reminiscence. That is far more than sufficient for any gaming system.
I famous above that the board contains three M.2 slots. All of them assist PCIe 4.0 x4 drives. The topmost slot includes a chunky heatsink with a properly designed retention mechanism. The opposite two are cooled by a single heatsink with a big space. Nonetheless, I would favor to see not less than one among these slots positioned the place the CMOS battery sits, as putting M.2 heatsinks beneath a sizzling operating graphics card can cause them to take in warmth relatively than dissipate it. It should not matter for a common storage drive… hopefully! There are 4 SATA ports too.
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Because the B760 Aorus Elite AX is a premium B760 board, it is received to have a VRM that may run as much as an Intel Core i9 13900K (opens in new tab) with none challenge. It comes with a 12+1+1 section VRM with 60A levels, and is powered by 8-pin and 4-pin energy connectors. It isn’t probably the most highly effective VRM you may ever come throughout, but it surely fortunately ran my i9 13900K with none drawback and, as you possibly can’t overclock exterior of energy restrict tweaks, that is all it has to do.
The heatsinks are on the bigger aspect, it is good to see extra reasonably priced boards with heatsinks that would not have been misplaced on good Z collection boards from just a few years again. Throughout a 10-minute Cinebench loop, the utmost temperature I noticed was 56°C. That is a bit increased than the MSI Z790 Mortar Max WiFi I just lately reviewed, but it surely’s nonetheless a superb consequence.
Transferring onto the rear I/O, it is nice to see an excellent set of connectors. About the one factor lacking is USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20Gbps) assist. 4 USB 2.0 ports are joined by a pair of 10Gbps ports (one among which is Kind-C) and 4 5Gbps ports.
Realtek 2.5G LAN and Intel AX211 WiFi 6E controllers care for networking duties whereas a Realtek ALC897 codec with line in, line out and S/PDIF offers audio assist. ALC897 is nothing particular however it should do a job supplied you are not hoping for the final word symphony orchestra expertise.
Lastly, you get DP 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 ports. These can nonetheless drive a 4K monitor at 60Hz and, although you are unlikely to sport with built-in graphics, it appears odd that Gigabyte didn’t embody HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4 as many different B760 boards do.
Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX efficiency
System Efficiency
Gaming Efficiency
Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX evaluation
Check rig
CPU: Intel Core i9 13900K
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Version
RAM: 2x 16GB G.Ability Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 C30
Storage: 2TB Seagate FireCuda 530
Cooling: Cooler Grasp PL360 Flux 360mm AIO
PSU: Corsair AX1000
In terms of efficiency, the B760 Aorus Elite AX carried out as anticipated. I at all times set my i9 13900K to Intel’s default energy limits with the intention to stop the board from making use of unreasonable ‘overclocked’ energy ranges. Regardless of this, the Gigabyte nonetheless scored over 37,000 in Cinebench, simply forward of the opposite boards, regardless that the opposite closely threaded assessments had been as anticipated. Nonetheless, it is higher to be pleasantly stunned as an alternative of negatively.
The gaming outcomes confirmed the Aorus performing as anticipated, with margin of error variations separating the 4 examined boards.
I famous the B760 Aorus Elite helps as much as DDR5-7600. I used to be happy to see it fortunately run my G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7200 (opens in new tab) with out a problem. Truthfully, not many customers will pair extremely excessive finish reminiscence with a B760 board, but it surely’s nice to see Intel B-series boards operating excessive finish reminiscence with none fuss.
I do like Gigabyte’s Straightforward Mode BIOS web page. It has a easy structure together with your primary boot sequence choice, XMP setting, and monitoring information. It is a good design for customers who rarely go to the BIOS.
Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX verdict
At $189 / £239 / AU$409 the Aorus Elite AX gives good worth for cash, and though the competitors on this vary is hard, most of it comes from DDR4 and mATX boards. It is a good choice should you’re the form of person on the lookout for a set and neglect form of system. Chuck in a GPU, any twelfth or thirteenth gen CPU of your selecting plus an SSD or two or three and also you’re good to go.
The Aorus can be value a glance when you have two PCIe x1 growth playing cards, as many B760 boards are missing in growth potential, notably the house restricted mATX choices. I actually want to see a 20Gbps USB port and PCIe 5.0 GPU assist and I believe the positioning of the secondary M.2 slots is not very best, however these aren’t deal breakers at this value.
The Aorus Elite AX gives good worth for cash, and though the competitors on this vary is hard, most of that comes from DDR4 and mATX boards.
In the long run, whereas the B760 Aorus Elite AX is a stable choice providing good worth with plenty of USB connectivity and networking, it would not do sufficient to actually stand out in a market crowded with related choices. However that may be stated of nearly any mid-tier B760 board. If you happen to’re a fan of the Aorus model and you are the type of person that prefers to focus in your gaming and never on the system that runs it, the Gigabyte is an effective choice. It is the form of value-oriented board that can fortunately run a high-end CPU and GPU.
In comparison with a dearer Z790 board, The B760 Aorus Elite AX is reasonably priced sufficient to will let you divert just a few hundred in the direction of a greater CPU or GPU or an even bigger SSD. These are the actually necessary issues that add efficiency to your system.
