Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX Review

Conclusion

There is a theory called nominative determinism. It states that the name of something or someone has a massive effect upon where they end up. Jeff Baker will become a pastry chef. Susan Graves will be a coroner. When Gigabyte released their Aorus range it was at a time when they were struggling amongst the products from ASUS and MSI, but immediately the Aorus range reestablished them as heavy hitters in a crowded marketplace. They combined great performance with a plethora of gaming features which were the envy of many. Fewer brands have build such an immediate cachet of brand recognition.

Thus when we received the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX you can understand how excited we were. Not only is it an Aorus model, but the Elite AX! Elite. It’s somewhat curious then that the actual product is very much a value offering. With any other name we’d consider it a good option for those of you on a budget – and it is – in the same vein as the ASUS Prime or MSI Tomahawk motherboards. If you forget that it’s part of the famous Aorus range, you would have to be impressed. Okay so the power stage is such that you’re better off using it with the new Intel Core i5-13600K rather than squeezing the big Core i9 into it, but if you do want to use the flagship Intel 13th Generation model it can handle it just fine. It would almost be impressive. That name though. It’s an Aorus model. We expect more than the bare minimum. We’ve spoken in the past about how there was a period when ASUS watered down the ROG brand and Gigabyte are in danger of doing the same here.

But enough about nomenclature. With the 70A 16+1+2 power stage the Aorus Elite AX has the middle ground in the power stages we’ve seen on the Z790 motherboards so far. Four M.2 slots ensure you have all the storage you could realistically use, even if none of them are PCIe 5.0 ones. There is a single PCI Express 5.0 slot for your graphics card, so you won’t be short of bandwidth there. The rear IO panel, normally indicative of where a motherboard sits in the price spectrum, has plenty of USB ports, even if 4 of them are USB 2.0. There is still a USB 3.2 G2x2 if you want the ultimate USB transfer rates, and a front panel Thunderbolt connector handles things at the business end.

Performance is decent, connectivity is decent, and the looks are fine enough. It’s easily enough to win our OC3D Gamers Choice award as an relatively affordable way to get in to the Z790 sphere. Just when you think about Aorus, and especially when you see the Aorus Master, you wonder how little motherboard you can get and still be under the Aorus umbrella.

At launch, Gigabyte’s Z790 Aorus Elite AX motherboard is available for £329.99 at various UK components retailers.  

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