Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 Motherboard Review

Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 AM4 ATX Motherboard Review

The AMD Ryzen processor has been out for four months now, and there have been many updates to make things run a little smoother. While many were very upset at the launch issues, we should all acknowledge that these type of issues happen whenever there is a major architecture change; we just tend to forget about them over time. The issues at launch included gaming performance, power usage and memory incompatibility. After the first big update that was to fix gaming performance, we took a look at the AMD Ryzen 1700X and checked how it performed against the Intel i7-7700k in a 14 Game Showdown. We found that Ryzen had indeed stepped up and looked to perform much better than at release in a gaming environment.

Gigabyte has been working hard with AMD to resolve the memory incompatibility issues, when we originally tested the Ryzen 1700X our test kit, HyperX Predator 3200MHz, was only able to run at 2933MHz with manual settings. Gigabyte Aorus says they have resolved the memory issues, so we are going to give it another shot and take a closer look at the Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 motherboard which can be purchased online for $189.99 with free shipping.

The Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 motherboard includes all the features you demand on a modern motherboard. If storage options are your main focus, the AX370-Gaming 5 includes support for up to six SATA 6GB/s drives (which includes dual SATA Express ports), a single M.2 or U.2 slots, USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Gen 2. Networking they have you covered as well, by implementing an Intel GbE NIC and a Killer E2500 GbE NIC. Memory support is provided by four DDR4 slots, allowing for up to 3200MHz memory in both ECC and non-ECC modules. Audio is supported by the dual Realtek ALC1220 7.1 audio codecs with support for Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5. Finally, the all important video options, both Quad-GPU and 3-Way CrossFire solutions are supported, as well as Quad-GPU and 2-Way SLI.

Features and Specifications:

• RGB Fusion with Multi-Zone Light Show Design
• VR Ready
• 6+4 Phase Digital Power Delivery with 3rd gen PowlRstage ICs with lsense technology
• One piece stainless steel PCIe and Memory Armor

Gigabyte Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 Specifications
CPU	AMD Ryzen
Chipset	AMD X370
Memory	1.4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory 2.Dual channel memory architecture 3.Support for DDR4 3200(O.C.)/2933(O.C.)/2667/2400/2133 MHz memory modules 4.Support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modules 5.Support for non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 memory modules 6.Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Onboard Graphics	1.1 x 1.4 HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096×2160@24 Hz 2.Maximum shared memory of 2 GB
Audio	1.2 x Realtek ALC1220 codecs 2.Support for Sound Blaster X-Fi MB5 3.High Definition Audio 4.2/4/5.1/7.1-channel 5.Support for S/PDIF Out
LAN	1.1 x Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN1) 2.1 x Rivet Networks Killer E2500 LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
Expansion Slots	1.1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot. 2.1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8) * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x8 mode. (The PCIEX16 and PCIEX8 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.) 3.1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with all of the PCI Express x1 slots. The PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x4 mode when all of the PCI Express x1 slots are empty. 4.3 x PCI Express x1 slots * All of the PCI Express x1 slots share bandwidth with the PCIEX4 slot. The PCIEX4/PCIEX1_2/PCIEX1_3 slot operates at up to x1 mode when the PCIEX1_1 slot is populated; the PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x2 mode when the PCIEX1_2/PCIEX1_3 slot is populated. (The PCIEX4 and PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
Storage Interface	1.1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4*/x2 SSD support) 2.1 x U.2 connector * When the U.2 connector is populated, the M.2 connector becomes unavailable. 3.2 x SATA Express connectors 4.8 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 5.Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10
Multi-Graphics Technology	1.Support for NVIDIA Quad-GPU SLI and 2-Way NVIDIA SLI technologies 2.Support for AMD Quad-GPU CrossFire and 3-Way AMD CrossFire technologies
USB	Chipset+ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 Controller: 1.1 x USB Type-C port on the back panel, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support 2.1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port (red) on the back panelAX370 Chipset: 1.2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red) on the back panel 2.6 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 4 ports available through the internal USB headers) 3.4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (available through the internal USB headers)CPU: 1.4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports on the back panel
H/W Monitoring	1.Voltage detection 2.Temperature detection 3.Fan speed detection 4.Overheating warning 5.Fan fail warning 6.Fan speed control * Whether the fan (pump) speed control function is supported will depend on the fan (pump) you install.
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor
Warranty	3 Years

The Aorus brand is Gigabyte’s premier gaming brand, so for the packaging, they have a pretty nice job at making sure everything is presented very well. The outside of the box, presents the user with the high level specifications, model and features. As you would expect, the back of the box is where you find the bulk of the information. Opening the box we find the motherboard has been placed in a form fitting cardboard box, while wrapped in an anti-static bag. The packaging of the motherboard is somewhere between the typical packaging of lower end motherboards, and the high end motherboards; it does provide more than enough protection to get the motherboard to its destination safely. Below the motherboard tray are the accessories.

Laying out the accessories we find many of the very common accessories, and several additional ones. There is the typical user manual, driver DVD, user guide, and a sheet of cable tags. There is also the standard rear I/O shield, two large Aorus branded velcro straps, four SATA cables, a solid SLI bridge, Gigabyte’s quick connector, two thermal leads and a RGB LED strip extension cable.

Let’s move on to taking a closer look at the Aorus AX370-Gaming 5 motherboard.