The X870 AORUS ELITE’s AM5 socket takes a standard position in the top-centre of the motherboard, surrounded on two sides by VRM heatsinks. The heatsinks channel air through them, and the rear I/O plate is perforated to allow air to escape. VRM temps will benefit from air flow directed by the CPU cooler, but it’s possible that the left-most heatsink and the area behind the I/O shield will become something of a dust trap.

The 16+2+2 phase power (16 CPU, 2 SOC, 2 Misc) is fed by two 8-pin EPS 12V connectors in their standard locations. Opposite them and above the DDR5 memory slots are two 4-pin fan headers for the CPU fan and AIO pump. Next to them are compact power and a reset switches, then 4-pin (12v) and 3-pin (5v) RGB/ARGB LED headers. GIGABYTE have also printed the recommended memory slot population guide on the PCB itself which is a nice touch.



Coming down the right edge of the motherboard alongside the DIMM slots we start with the 2-digit debug display (for which GIGABYTE include error codes in the mobo. manual), 24--pin ATX power connector, internal HDMI port for small case-mounted displays and USB Type-C header (USB 3.2 Gen2x2 20Gbps). To the left at this point is the GIGABYTE EZ Latch for the main PCIe x16 slot, which releases the card latch for no-fuss GPU removal.



Hidden away next to the SATA ports is a 2-pin sensor header labelled ‘DB_Sense’, which the manual indicates can be used for some measure of fan control, but no additional information on the header’s purpose is listed. Next to it are four SATA III 6Gbps ports and a USB 3 port, edge-mounted for tidier cable management.

A small amount of RGB LED lighting is present on the bottom-edge of the chipset heatsink but that's the sole nod to on-board customisation. The ARGB lighting headers, as well as other illuminated components, will be how this motherboard is personalised by each user.

Continuing around the bottom edge, from right to left, there is the front-panel header block just below the CMOS battery and reset jumper. The supplied G-Connector plugs directly into this, or front-panel Power, Reset and LED cables can be hooked up on an individual basis. We recommend using the G-Connector for obvious reasons.



Next up are three 4-pin PWM fan headers just below the iTE controller chip and a pair of 2-pin temperature sensor headers, then two USB 2.0 headers, followed by a further three 4-pin fan headers. That’s a lot of fan headers congregating at the bottom of the motherboard, potentially leading to some long trailing leads; getting them behind the motherboard tray shouldn’t be too difficult though.

The TPM module header sits next to an eSPI debugging header (not really for consumer use), followed by two more 3-pin (5v) ARGB headers and finally a front panel audio header. Juse above the left ARGB header is a 2-pin jumper for demoing the on-board LED lighting without a CPU installed.

While not being ‘tricked out’, there’s a lot packed into this model’s ATX footprint. You get a lot of fan headers - eight in total - even if some are located less than optimally, and lighting headers are relatively plentiful too. The debugging features - from DeBug Display to surface-mounted power switches, are pleasant additions too on the off-chance an error occurs or the board spends a significant amount of time installed on a test bench.

With the heatspreaders removed the M.2 slots are exposed. The top-most slot is wired for PCIe Gen5x4 operation with four dedicated lanes off-CPU, supporting up-to 110mm-long and 25mm wide 25110 form factor M.2 NVMe SSDs. GIGABYTE are the only manufacturer we have come across thus far that supports up-to this larger M.2 drive footprint. A long thermal pad is installed between the drive and motherboard PCB to improve the heat dissipation of dual-sided high-performance drives.

This slot’s M.2 heatspreader is also composed of stacked metal layers with an air-gap in between, allowing it to dissipate heat more readily and cool high-performance PCIe Gen4/Gen5 SSDs.

Below is the reinforced PCIe x16 slot, supporting sixteen PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU. It shares eight of these with the 3rd and 4th M.2 slot, dropping down to x8 operation when either or both slots are populated.

The main PCIe slot is connected up to the EZ Latch system and strengthened to handle heavier graphics cards. The heaviest cards should still be supported by a brace or bracket to keep it level and not mechanically overload the slot with weight.

Of the bank of three M.2 slots, only the top-most is off the chipset. This PCIe Gen4 slot is shared with the middle PCIe x16 slot which is wired for PCIe 4.0 x4 operation. Each of the positions has a heatspreader with compressible thermal pads to draw heat away from the NAND chips on single-sided drives.

The bottom slot supports PCIe 3.0 x2 signalling, making it ideal for an additional network card or other peripheral device.



GIGABYTE have preinstalled the I/O shield, removing yet another system install pinch-point. Located on the rear I/O panel are:



GIGABYTE have specced the X870 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 to have two USB4 ports rather than just the standard single port that’s part of X870’s reference spec, which could certainly push the needle when it comes to adoption over the more expensive X870E designs. I/O provision is middle of the road otherwise, with sufficient USB 2 / 3.0 / 3.2 provision.

This motherboard’s WiFi antenna sockets are also non-standard and may not be compatible with standard high gain antenna. Such is sometimes the trade-off for the easy to install features.

The glaring omission is higher specc’d wired LAN support than 2.5GbE, necessitating upgrading your WiFI infrastructure to WiFi7 (802.11be) to enable faster transfer speeds. It’s not a dealbreaker for the vast majority of PC users, but something to consider if you hammer your LAN/wired internet and live or work in an environment unsuitable for full WiFi bandwidth utilisation.