The GIGABYTE X470 Gaming 7 Wi-Fi Motherboard Review: The AM4 Aorus Flagship
by Gavin Bonshor on July 26, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Gigabyte
- AORUS
- Ryzen
- X470
- Ryzen 2
- Gaming 7 Wi-Fi
- Gaming 7
GIGABYTE X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wi-Fi Board Features
The GIGABYTE X470 Aorus Gaming 7 has all the hallmarks of being the best from their current range of X470 boards on paper, especially in regards to specific areas such as onboard audio and storage support. With everything you would expect from a motherboard from a vendor aiming directly towards gamers, the Realtek ALC1220-VB paired alongside a dedicated ESS SABRE DAC adds an element of quality not found on a lot of AM4 socketed offerings. Priced at $240, it is certainly competitive in a growing X470 market. Not to mention B350/X370 aren’t going anywhere either any time soon so there’s going to be more choice than ever.
The Dual NVMe supported M.2 slots and six SATA 6 Gbps top off a relatively feature packed full sized ATX offering with a plethora of RGB LED lighting for the users who care a lot about aesthetics. For gamers not wishing to be tied down to ethernet cables, GIGABYTE has included one of Intel's latest 9260NGW 802.11ac Wi-Fi Wave 2 modules to offer wireless connectivity to a network.
GIGABYTE X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wi-Fi ATX Motherboard | |
Warranty Period | 3 Years |
Product Page | Link |
Price | $240 |
Size | ATX |
CPU Interface | AM4 |
Chipset | AMD X470 |
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 64GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-3600 |
Video Outputs | N/A |
Network Connectivity | Intel I-211AT Gigabit Intel 9260NGW 802.11ac Wi-Fi (Wave 2) |
Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220-VB |
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x16) 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x16) - runs at x8 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x4) - shares with M.2 |
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 2 x PCIe (x1) |
Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/10 |
Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA (top slot) - 22110 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4/SATA (bottom slot) - 2280 |
USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 1 x Type-A 1 x Type-C |
USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 6 x Rear Panel (Type-A) 4 via Header |
USB 2.0 | 2 x Type-A 4 via Header |
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin CPU |
Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 7 x System (4-pin) |
IO Panel | 1 x USB 3.1 Type-A (USB 3.1 Gen 2) 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2) 6 x USB 3.1 Type-A (USB 3.1 Gen 1) 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x Network RJ-45 5 x 3.5 mm Audio Jacks 1 x S/PDIF 1 x Power/Reset Button 1 x Clear CMOS Button 2 x MMCX antenna connectors (2T2R) |
The most notable exclusion is a U.2 port although considering this is their current flagship AM4 model; for the price of the board and the high-end segment this board is targeting, it wouldn’t have gone amiss, but the reasons for the exclusion remains understandable. Another omission is a PS/2 combo port which means only USB keyboard and mice can be used with the Gaming 7.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 1700, 65W, $300, 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) |
||
Motherboard | GIGABYTE X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wi-Fi (BIOS F4c) | ||
Cooling | Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 360 | ||
Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
Memory | 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2400 | ||
Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Open Test Bed | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 Pro |
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
Many thanks to...
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs. At the time of release, the STRIX brand from ASUS was aimed at silent running, or to use the marketing term: '0dB Silent Gaming'. This enables the card to disable the fans when the GPU is dealing with low loads well within temperature specifications. These cards equip the GTX 980 silicon with ASUS' Direct CU II cooler and 10-phase digital VRMs, aimed at high-efficiency conversion. Along with the card, ASUS bundles GPU Tweak software for overclocking and streaming assistance.
The GTX 980 uses NVIDIA's GM204 silicon die, built upon their Maxwell architecture. This die is 5.2 billion transistors for a die size of 298 mm2, built on TMSC's 28nm process. A GTX 980 uses the full GM204 core, with 2048 CUDA Cores and 64 ROPs with a 256-bit memory bus to GDDR5. The official power rating for the GTX 980 is 165W.
The ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB (or the full name of STRIX-GTX980-DC2OC-4GD5) runs a reasonable overclock over a reference GTX 980 card, with frequencies in the range of 1178-1279 MHz. The memory runs at stock, in this case 7010 MHz. Video outputs include three DisplayPort connectors, one HDMI 2.0 connector and a DVI-I.
Further Reading: AnandTech's NVIDIA GTX 980 Review
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200/MX300 SSDs. Crucial stepped up to the plate as our benchmark list grows larger with newer benchmarks and titles, and the 1TB units are strong performers. The MX200s are based on Marvell's 88SS9189 controller and using Micron's 16nm 128Gbit MLC flash, these are 7mm high, 2.5-inch drives rated for 100K random read IOPs and 555/500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The 1TB models we are using here support TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (eDrive) encryption and have a 320TB rated endurance with a three-year warranty.
Further Reading: AnandTech's Crucial MX200 (250 GB, 500 GB & 1TB) Review
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with Vengeance LPX DDR4 Memory
Corsair kindly sent a set of their Vengeance LPX low profile, high-performance memory. The heatsink is made of pure aluminum to help remove heat from the sticks and has an eight-layer PCB. The heatsink is a low profile design to help fit in spaces where there may not be room for a tall heat spreader; think a SFF case or using a large heatsink.
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vkristof - Friday, July 27, 2018 - link
So, it's middle of 2018, we a newish top-end AM4 "chipset" - WHY do we still only have two USB 3.1 10 Gbps ports on the rear panel?And why are they STILL not using USB 3.1 10 Gbps controllers/phys in the X470?
I'm not a gamer AT ALL and I buy cost effective HW AND I still fall for the AM4 "chipset" descriptions that list x amount of USB 3.1 Gen 2/10 Gbps controllers in the B350, B450, B370, B470 "Chipsets".
Why an extrenal Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen2/10 Gbps controoler and not the AMD "chipset" itself???
utmode - Friday, July 27, 2018 - link
instead putting RGB light they could have put more fan connector.Flappergast - Saturday, July 28, 2018 - link
Why is this board get 5% less fps compared to the msi b350 - this board is for high end and 5% is a lot extra if you are looking at SLI - and I dot see why you would not at this price pointMarkPhantasy - Sunday, July 29, 2018 - link
Hi,Thanks for sharing this awesome content.
Have a nice day.
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Dug - Thursday, August 2, 2018 - link
Can we please get some m.2 and ssd benchmarks along with network benchmarks.And why are you using an older chip on new hardware? Can't Anandtech purchase a 2700x or 2800x?
How about sound? Any measurements or at least some tests would be nice.
4 year old graphics card?
How about tests with both m.2 slots filled with a x16 graphics card to see if there is any performance hit?
Mikewind Dale - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
"And why are you using an older chip on new hardware? Can't Anandtech purchase a 2700x or 2800x?"Probably because they want to keep their benchmark results inter-comparable. If they already have benchmark scores using a 1700 and an X370, then they want to be able to show how much faster the X470 is than the X370 using the same processor (the 1700).
The purpose of a test bed is to keep every component the same except the one component being reviewed. So that means refraining from frequent upgrades to the test bed. If they constantly upgraded the test bed every time a new product came out, then none of the benchmarks would mean anything.
Oxford Guy - Friday, August 10, 2018 - link
"This is apparent as the X470 Gaming 7 has support for DDR4 memory up to speeds of DDR4-3600"Patriot guaranteed 3400 speed in July of 2017, even on B350 and A320 boards with Ryzen 1. This isn't so impressive, the idea that someone should fork over so much cash for a small bump over that.
As for the heatsink... We all know that ASUS came out with a hybrid water/air VRM sink back in 2013 and Gigabyte also later released the same thing — but only for Intel. Funny how even Threadripper isn't important enough to get the kind of board tech ASUS and Gigabyte gave quad core CPUs, before LED lighting and ugly paint jobs was supposed to substitute for substance.
vikkadhamtan - Saturday, August 18, 2018 - link
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