GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX AMD AM5 ATX Motherboard, Support Ryzen 9000/8000/7000 Series, DDR5, 14+2+1 Power Phase, PCIe 5.0 M.2, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, WIFI6E, 2.5GbE, EZ-Latch, Q-Flash, RGB Fusion

This review is for the GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX rev 1. I ordered this board because I was on an older Intel platform and I wanted to try an AMD build again. The AMD AM5 platform suits my needs since it has current modern features and is projected to have a long lifecycle and I anticipate my next upgrade to be in 5 years or so. The GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX was one the lesser expensive and full featured ATX boards with WiFi at the time of my purchase. My build includes: GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX Motherboard AMD Ryzen 7700X CPU Corsair Vengeance RGB RAM Zotac GTX 1080 AMP Edition First, my dislikes. No printed manual. As a lifelong pc builder, I rely heavily on a manual booklet for basic info such as what slots to install memory in. How to connect front panel power, reset, hdd status led etc. Where all of the headers such as USB and fans are located. Having an online manual is good but is useless if you don't have a spare computer or laptop to use while you build your computer. Thankfully I did not have to use the BIOS flashback feature because the board recognized my CPU, a Ryzen 7700X, otherwise I would have to go online, download the manual and look up the flashback instructions. For the price I do wish that the board included a higher end integrated audio chipset. Features-wise the audio chipset is the biggest disappointment. I did not like is the top most NVME slot right above the GPU slot has a really thick thermal adhesive pre-applied to the heatsink. It is so thick that it bends my NVME drive slightly - not enough to cause any issues but should be noted. One last thing I did not like is the lack of onboard BIOS post code status LED. I had this feature on my previous motherboard and found it super helpful when diagnosing problems. Now, for my likes. I like all of the features. AM5 socket, DDR5, WiFi6, PCIe 5.0, multiple NVMe slots, plenty of USB slots, and of course RGB support. The board itself is great. Build quality is awesome, no issues with build quality or materials. I did run into a few issues though. Although these issues were encountered with this motherboard, they are not Gigabyte's fault necessarily. These issues were mostly to do with the AMD platform and chipset itself. 1. The shipping BIOS "F2" version did not allow me to enable XMP memory profile. I had to flash the BIOS to the current at the time "F4" BIOS. Note that the current BIOS version as of this review is "F5a". 2. There were a lot of stability or problems with the USB chipset or bus. File transfers over USB were very slow or slower than it should be. I have USB DAC that had a lot of noise during audio playback. These issues were resolved by installing the latest chipset drivers for the B650 from AMD directly and also updating the BIOS. Here are some recommendations based on my experience with the GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX. Definitely update the BIOS. In past generations of motherboards it is only recommended to update the BIOS to fix a specific issue you've encountered. However, in modern motherboards there are so many chipsets and features that it is important to keep up to date on BIOS versions to maintain stability, performance, compatibility, and security. AMD seems to release AGESA updates (as BIOS updates) often and this is directly tied to the chipset. Also, download the chipset drivers directly from AMD because they tend to be more up to date than the motherboard manufacturers' website. To flash the bios, just download the BIOS file for your motherboard from Gigabyte's website and extract/copy the file to a USB drive. Reboot and enter the bios and choose Q-Flash. Select the BIOS, and the board will load the BIOS to memory then prompt for a reboot and apply the new BIOS. Aside from the chipset drivers, all other motherboard drivers can be downloaded and installed from Gigabyte. Ever since, updating the BIOS and AMD chipset drivers, I have had absolutely zero issues. Performance is amazing. Stability is solid. I even run a mild overclock using the AMD Ryzen Master app and doing an auto-oc. In summary, I highly recommend the GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX if you're looking for an AM5 build. The issues I've had are specific to the AMD platform and not the motherboard itself, however because of this I would not recommend the AMD platform for novice PC builders or if you are not comfortable or familiar with BIOS updates and troubleshooting driver issues.

Excellent deal for a like new mainboard. Worked without issue, was able to assemble the new PC and get it up and running quickly. Feels like a good quality board. Looks great.

Motherboard is outstanding, and I'm happy with the choice for my build. The version I was shipped was the Rev 1.2 when I bought this in May 2024, so be aware of the revision you get so that you download the right software from Gigabyte's web site (particularly BIOS revisions, as they aren't the same as old models). Not sure I'd really call it much of a complaint, but the only strangeness I'd mention is the inclusion of toolless M.2 slots on the board; it has a little plastic tab that flips open to hold the M.2 drive in place. They're really easy to use, but kind of counterintuitive as it isn't obvious how it works at a glance and there's no explanation in instructions anywhere for anybody afraid to just start fiddling with it until it works. They look like they turn to cover the drive with a tab rather than flipping open, and they're only half toolless since you still need to unscrew the heat spreaders/cover to get to the drives anyway, so... kind of nice, but sort of odd at the same time and not much different in practice than dealing with the tiny screws to hold the drives anyway. Was stable out of the box, but I flashed it with the latest BIOS available without a problem. I had used an X570 Aorus Elite prior to this, so the BIOS was familiar and has been easy to adjust for anything I wanted to. This particular board has all the optional goodies you'd want on an AM5 board at this price; Wi-fi, Bluetooth, 3 M.2 slots with heatspreaders, and plenty of USB ports and expansion room if you ever want it down the road. All in all, I'm glad I went with it rather than cheaping out on a "good enough" board that wouldn't have saved much money anyway. It's nice to build a new system and have zero problems with it out of the box, and not have to fiddle with things to get them working. A good motherboard to me is the one that does that, and has plenty of tools for expansion as you use the system in the coming years. This one is as good as any I've ever built with.

So I recently bought this board to switch up my build. I was at first rocking a mini itx build inside the dan a4 h2o. It was a beautiful small case and i did like it. But the MSI B650i i had in it was giving me nothing but problems. (Pretty sure it was due to dead cmos battery. Which is a known issue for it. But it would just randomly crash and restart randomly and it got to the point where it was genuinely annoying and i was almost tempted to go back to console. Switched everything besides the cpu and gpu and still didnt fix the issue in that build. So decided to switch up the build to the 011 vision and i need to buy a board. Ended up putting this in my cart and going back and forth looking at asus boards. Ended up setting with this one because it was overpriced imo. The 11 usb plugs may be overkill for it but the fact there is a gen 5 m.2 slot makes it so much more worth it. $200 and a gen 5 and 11 usb plugs. Killer deal. But i have just recently finished my build and started playing some games and doing random stuff. And that issue has not reoccurred at all. Boot times are a little slow but you can go into the overclock settings and in there, there is something i seen but it put my boot time from like 40secs roughly to 15-20secs. For someone that is NOT a big fan of gigabyte, this board it amazing and works so well. I am currently running a ryzen 7 7800x3d with 0 issues. So take that as you please and consider this board.

This motherboard is very satisfying. Increased my gaming capabilities way more than I expected. It’s well worth the money I spent for it. Its performance is way greater than I hoped. it’s more than capable of doing the games that I play. The storage capabilities is more than I need.

Install was pretty straightforward with the help of a couple manuals directing where everything should be plugged in. Got an OS installed and the rig has stellar gaming performance. My only two jarring complaints: XMP does not work (when I tried, PC would not boot until I CMOS-reset the BIOS to default settings), and reboot does not work at all. Literally the first place I emcountered this issue was at the reboot done during the OS install. Found out from others online that these are not an isolated issue and is a noted problem with this and some of GIGABYTE's other motherboards. Still works great, but will not recommend any of GIGABYTE's motherboards moving forward on account of this very disappointing pattern of issues. Hence the 1 star. Avoid this and go with a more reliable brand like ASUS. I will bite the bullet and avoid reboots in the meantime until the next chipset generation or two is released. Because I simply have zero confidence in their ability to fix the motherboard under their own warranty, and the only thing that can change my mind is for them to replace it, free of charge, with a board that does not have issues. EDIT (1/20/24) Fast forward a month, and I see my one star is more justified than ever. Since two weeks ago, BSoD after BSoD have been happening, and a lot of my diagnostic work on it points to a bad BIOS (which this rig will not let me update using the provided Q Flash utility), or bad RAM. Some friends suggested turning on XMP will help remedy the issue, but I cannot do this as aforementioned. And the RAM is only a month and a half old, suggesting that either the motherboard's RAM slots are damaged/defective, or it's been steadily damaging it. Could just be bad RAM on arrival, but I find that hard to believe.

Awesome job with this board, I really love how Gigabyte put the hands on this, the feeling is too premium considering the low cost.

The GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX has worked out even better than I expected. I bought it to build a modern AM5 system, and from the very beginning it has felt like a solid, well-designed motherboard. The installation process was quite simple, with a clean layout and plenty of room to work comfortably. The BIOS is clear and stable; updating it and configuring the memory was quick and hassle-free. In terms of performance, everything has been smooth: complete stability in games and demanding tasks, with no crashes or strange behavior. I really like that it includes built-in WiFi and strong connectivity options. The VRM temperatures also stay well under control, even when the system is under heavy load, which gives peace of mind for long-term use. The build quality feels sturdy—nothing cheap or fragile about it. Overall, it has been a very smart purchase. It’s a well-balanced, modern, and reliable motherboard, perfect for building a powerful PC without going into excessively expensive high-end options.

Good and relatively cheap motherboard. Can support the more power hungry CPUs.

like why would you even read this? buy it then come back you'll thank me.

came without packaging and 0 sata wires for conectivity, had dust all over it and the pins was bent and unable to be used

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Placa linda, bem completa, muitas portas de entrada e funcionando perfeitamente.