The GIGABYTE B550I Aorus Pro AX Motherboard Review: All The Small Things
by Gavin Bonshor on December 7, 2020 10:00 AM ESTGaming Performance
For B550 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 1909 update.
World of Tanks enCore
Albeit different to most of the other commonly played MMO or massively multiplayer online games, World of Tanks is set in the mid-20th century and allows players to take control of a range of military based armored vehicles. World of Tanks (WoT) is developed and published by Wargaming who are based in Belarus, with the game’s soundtrack being primarily composed by Belarusian composer Sergey Khmelevsky. The game offers multiple entry points including a free-to-play element as well as allowing players to pay a fee to open up more features. One of the most interesting things about this tank based MMO is that it achieved eSports status when it debuted at the World Cyber Games back in 2012.
World of Tanks enCore is a demo application for a new and unreleased graphics engine penned by the Wargaming development team. Over time the new core engine will implemented into the full game upgrading the games visuals with key elements such as improved water, flora, shadows, lighting as well as other objects such as buildings. The World of Tanks enCore demo app not only offers up insight into the impending game engine changes, but allows users to check system performance to see if the new engine run optimally on their system.
Grand Theft Auto V
The highly anticipated iteration of the Grand Theft Auto franchise hit the shelves on April 14th 2015, with both AMD and NVIDIA in tow to help optimize the title. GTA doesn’t provide graphical presets, but opens up the options to users and extends the boundaries by pushing even the hardest systems to the limit using Rockstar’s Advanced Game Engine under DirectX 11. Whether the user is flying high in the mountains with long draw distances or dealing with assorted trash in the city, when cranked up to maximum it creates stunning visuals but hard work for both the CPU and the GPU.
For our test we have scripted a version of the in-game benchmark. The in-game benchmark consists of five scenarios: four short panning shots with varying lighting and weather effects, and a fifth action sequence that lasts around 90 seconds. We use only the final part of the benchmark, which combines a flight scene in a jet followed by an inner city drive-by through several intersections followed by ramming a tanker that explodes, causing other cars to explode as well. This is a mix of distance rendering followed by a detailed near-rendering action sequence, and the title thankfully spits out frame time data.
F1 2018
Aside from keeping up-to-date on the Formula One world, F1 2017 added HDR support, which F1 2018 has maintained; otherwise, we should see any newer versions of Codemasters' EGO engine find its way into F1. Graphically demanding in its own right, F1 2018 keeps a useful racing-type graphics workload in our benchmarks.
Aside from keeping up-to-date on the Formula One world, F1 2017 added HDR support, which F1 2018 has maintained. We use the in-game benchmark, set to run on the Montreal track in the wet, driving as Lewis Hamilton from last place on the grid. Data is taken over a one-lap race.
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quorm - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
What is the massive AMD AM4 keep out area?Slash3 - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
The space around the CPU socket required for mounting clearance is probably what they're referring to. On that note, the Asrock AM4 mITX actually use Intel LGA11XX mount spacing for this reason.meacupla - Tuesday, December 8, 2020 - link
The AM4 keepout area is a good thing though. Especially when the mobo adheres with the steel backplate.There are plenty of LGA11XX mITX boards that completely ignore the back side of the MOBO and run into issues with aftermarket CPU coolers that require backplates.
Allan_Hundeboll - Thursday, December 17, 2020 - link
I "upgraded" from ab350 fata1ity to the b550i Aorus pro because I wanted a board that would support ryzen 5000. I also hoped the better vrm would make it possible to oc my water-cooled 3700x a little higher.But the the b550I seems to hate my 2x16GB micron rev E memory. So I just can't make 1900Mhz IF/3800Mhz MEM stable like it did on the cheap ab350.
The strong VRM didn't oc my 3700x any better, but I discovered that low PBO power draw values (like 5W) makes. PBO boost like crazy, when disabling C3 sleep. So my cpu benchmarks gained a little performance.
So you made a smart decision holding on to that ab350!
Mr Perfect - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
The lack of USB ports is odd, especially when they included three video ports that a majority of people will never use. If AMD CPUs had built in video ports, then sure, throw in a whole bunch of graphics ports, but a gaming board isn't likely to get an APU installed.calc76 - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
The B550 chipset is the limiting factor with USB 3 ports. The B550 isn't really in the same class chipset as a Z490. The B550 supports more ports than are in some of the mini-ITX boards but ones like the ASUS B550-I support nearly all but some of the extra USB 2.0 ports.mkarwin - Tuesday, December 15, 2020 - link
Even with USB3 count restriction, there are still USB2 options - most printers/keyboards/mice/scanners won't need the gen 3 speeds so adding a quartet of additional rear I/O placed USB2 ports wouldn't break the bank whilst giving a lot more connectivity that people could actually use... Though at the same time, X570 boards from the same product family are not fairing any better whilst being "top of the line AM4 chipsets" sporting. Somehow the ATX size allows adding more ports to the rear I/O, but already mATX suffers nearly the same as mITX. I'm not sure if those ATX offerings come with additional USB controllers on board that just can't fit on ITX boards or maybe it's merely manufacturers way to skimp $1 on a set of connectors on the back and treat it as an excude for no additonal signaling work through the PCB whilst still asking higher prices for the premium smaller market...Luminar - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
Just what we need instead of a 6800 review lolGolgatha777 - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
True, you can actually buy this.vanilla_gorilla - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
This is exactly what I need. I'm currently using an X570 I Aorus Wi-Fi mini-itx board in a SFF case. The problem is I cannot find any AM4 Mini-iTX boards with multi-gig or 10GbE LoM. I'm really disappointed we don't see more multi and 10Gb boards. I just got an email last week that Google Fiber now offers 2Gb/s service here in Nashville. I was looking at USB based multi-gig adapters but I'd much rather have it on the motherboard, of course.