Computer Shopper 2019-11-01

ISSUE 381|COMPUTER SHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019 31

IĴ’ĦpRãAold tradition formajor CPU
releases to be accompanied by new
motherboard chipsets, and while AMD’s
3rd-gen Ryzen processors are maintaining this
routine,they’re doing so on amuch smaller
scale then usual. This time,there’s only one
new chipset at launch, the high-end X570.
This is, it should be said, quiteabig deal.
X570 is the first chipset from AMD or Intel to
support PCI-E 4.0. On all recent motherboards,
the default version of PCI-E –the interface
that allows individual components to
communicatewith the motherboard –was 3.0.
PCI-E 4.0 has double the bandwidth, which
on X570 motherboards is made available to
graphicscards,SSDs,Wi-Ficardsandanything
else that connects via the PCI-E slots.
The extent to which different motherboard
models support PCI-E 4.0 will vary,asitwill be
cheaper to include slots running the 3.0
interface.The X570 Aorus Master,however,
takes no such short cuts: with a3rd-gen
Ryzen CPU installed, all of its three PCI-E x16
slots, all of its three M.2 slots and its single
PCI-E x1 slot are capable of 4.0 speeds.

COMING INTHREES

It would be hard to expect anything less when
the X570 Aorus Master is more than twice as
expensive as the most affordable X570
motherboards, like the Asus Prime X570-P
and the MSI X570-APro.These only have
some of their slots equipped with PCI-E 4.0,
however,soGigabyte’smodel is clearly lining
itself up as an option forenthusiasts looking
to stuff their systems with the latest hardware.
The X570 Aorus Master is certainly happy
to accommodate. Three M.2 slots is the
most you’ll get on any motherboard, and
although there’s only one PCI-E x1 slot, any
expansion cards that would fit it could also
be placed in one of the many PCI-E x16 slots.
As is common, only the topmost slot runs at
full x16 speeds, but unlike on X470 boards
you can populateall three and never have
any of them drop below x8.
The four RAM slots are also perfectly
sufficient, especially as theycan enable

VERDICT

Aloadedandforward-thinkingmotherboard,
butnotonethatfullyjustifiesitshighprice

AM4 MOTHERBOARD

memory overclocks up to a

sweltering 4,400MHz, and the

X570 Aorus Master is fairly

well equipped forcooling too. We counted

ahealthy seven four-pin cooling headers,

spaced sensibly around the edges. There are

also both 5V and 12V headers foraddressable

RGB components, be it an all-in-one

watercooler or just some strip lights.

Regular tweakers will also appreciatethe

onboard power and reset buttons, dual BIOS

function (and integrated switches) and the

two-digit POSTcode display, which can be

vitally useful when trying to troubleshoot

booting and crashing issues. There’s also a

second eight-pin power connector,which is

optional to use but can help deliver extra

power when attempting intense overclocks.

CLOCKING OFF

The BIOS, too, is geared specifically towards

experienced users. There is an Easy mode,

but it lacks one-click overclocking features

–which is fine,aswefind theyhardly ever

work well –soAdvanced mode is the focus.

There’s adizzying number of settings to

fine-tune,which will again please enthusiasts,

but it’s all quiteeasy to use,thanks to a

practical tab-based layout.

It took no time at all to apply various

adjustments to our Ryzen 93900X processor,

although as mentioned in the CPU’s review

opposite, nothing ended up particularly

stable.We’re sure that’s down to the chip,

however,not some killer flaw in the X570

Aorus Master and how it regulates power.

External connectivity is another strong

point. There’s awealth of full-size USB ports,

comprising four USB2, two USB3 and three

USB3.1ports, along with areversible USB

Type-C connector.The lack of video output

isn’t really an issue,asmost Ryzen chips don’t

have integrated graphics anyway, and audio

is well covered with an optical S/PDIF port,

rear speaker and C/SUB jacks alongside the

standard mic, line in and line out jacks.

Best of all is networking. This is adual-LAN

motherboard with one Gigabit Ethernet port

and afaster,2.5Gbit port, and there’s also

built-in 802.11ax Wi-Fi. This Wi-Fi standard

isn’t widespread yet, but as with PCI-E 4.0

support, it’s anice bit of futureproofing.

MASTER OF COIN

Overall, the X570 Aorus Master is an

incredibly well-equipped motherboard that

takes full advantage of what its gleaming new

chipset can do.You might, therefore,be

wondering why it’s only got three stars.

Forstarters, its costliness can only be

partly explained by its positioning towards

enthusiasts. Other than its slightly better I/O

panel, there’s not much that the X570 Aorus

Master does that the ASRock X570 Taichi

can’t as well, and that costs £297.

As exciting as the possibilities are with

PCI-E 4.0, there’s also the matter of it still

beingintheearlystages.Rightnow,theclosest

thingtoamust-havePCI-E4.0deviceisanSSD,

and while by all accounts these are extremely

fast, they’re also vastly more expensive than

NVMe SSDs on the 3.0 interface.

The futureproofing argument can be a

good one,but we’d still recommend either

acheaper X570 motherboard, or waiting

until having asystem full of PCI 4.0

hardware is truly worth the expense.

JamesArcher

GIGABYTE X570

AorusMaster

★★★★★

£389•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSORSOCKETAM4•DIMENSIONS305x244mm•

CHIPSETAMDX570•MEMORYSLOTS (^4) • PCI-Ex16
SLOTS (^3) • PCI-Ex1SLOTS (^1) • PCISLOTS (^0) • USBPORTS
4xUSB2,2xUSB3,3xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•VIDEO
OUTPUTSNone•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILS
http://www.gigabyte.com•PARTCODEX570AorusMaster
Gigabyte’s motherboardisclearly aimed at enthusiasts
looking to stuff their systems with the latest hardware
isn’t really an issue,asmostostRyzenzenchchipsipsipsdododon’tn’
have integrated graphaphicsanywayway,y,andandandauaudiodio
is well covered with an opticaicalS/PD/PDIFIFIFporporport,t,