The AMD X570 Motherboard Overview: Over 35+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2019 8:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE X570 Aorus Master
Moving down the product stack from GIGABYTE's X570 SKU list is the GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Master which has a range of high-end features such as 2.5 Gigabit LAN, three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, and Intel's Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface. The GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Master could be considered its flagship for general consumers without the hefty price tag attached to the higher grade X570 Aorus Extreme ($699).
Included is support for up to 128 GB of DDR4 memory across its four slots, with support for DDR4-4400 with three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots each with its own individual M.2 heatsink, and six SATA ports. There are three full-length PCIe 4.0 slots which operate at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/x4, with a single PCIe 4.0 x1 slot. On the power delivery front, GIGABYTE is using a formidable setup with a 12+2 design with power stages rated for 50 A, and with two 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs. The boards aesthetic is focused on the outer edges with a rear panel cover with RGB LEDs which stretches down to the audio PCB. For the X570 chipset, there's an actively cooled chipset heatsink which encompasses the Aorus Falcon into the design.
The onboard audio is handled by a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec and is complemented by an ESS Sabre 9118 DAC chip to enhance the auditory quality. This equates to five 3.5 mm audio jacks with a single S/PDIF optical output. Also on the rear panel is a Q-Flash Plus button for updating the firmware, a clear CMOS button, three USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A and four USB 2.0 ports. The board's rear panel networking capabilities consist a Realtek RTL8125AG 2.5 G port with an assisting Intel Gigabit port for dual networking, as well as an Intel AX200 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which also includes support for BT 5 devices.
GIGABYTE's X570 Aorus Master targets gamers and enthusiasts looking to push their processors further than the rated specifications, as well as offering 2.5 G and Wi-Fi 6 capable networking. The pricing reflects this with a price tag of $359 which puts it in the upper echelon of models, but the price seems fair all things considered.
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Tunnah - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I really love how advanced motherboards are nowadays. I can pick up the most "basic" model and it'll cover everything I need, and even include stuff I won't. Gone are the days frantically trying to find a motherboard that ticks all the boxes for even the most basic of needs.Plus having such a competent board as my soon-to-be secondary system means I can leave all my drives in that and put it in a nice quiet place. I'm fairly certain the 8 HDDs in this one are what caused my tinnitus :/
Jansen - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
The ASUS Pro WS X570-Ace has officially validated ECC support. This is a really big deal, as Ryzen has usually only had unofficial ECC support. It opens up a whole other revenue steam for AMD that Intel has deliberately cut off in order to drive Xeon sales.Micron is ramping up its 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 ECC modules MTA18ADF2G72AZ-3G2 specifically for this market.
JoeyJoJo123 - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I'd much sooner get a Ryzen platform for their value and unbuffered ECC support for an upgrade for my NAS box running FreeNAS, but it's well documented that FreeBSD still has teething issues with Ryzen chips, scheduling, and overall reliability... FreeBSD is what powers FreeNAS OS.So I'm kind of stuck with Intel workstations/server CPUs and ECC ram for a FreeBSD machine (assuming I don't want to do the legwork of trying to get it stable first, and even so, I may not always have the same stability that mature FreeBSD+Intel support...)
I'll very likely be moving to Ryzen for my main PC, though.
quorm - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
I agree with the general sentiment. Core i3 is another option if you don't need a lot of cpu power.teldar - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
I used a ryzen 1600 for my bad. Rock solid after updating board bios.danjw - Wednesday, July 10, 2019 - link
I built a file server on Ubuntu Server. You might try that.BillC - Saturday, October 31, 2020 - link
You might want to check out Open Media Vault which uses Debian Linux for the OS, it can be installed as a NAS only installation or on top of the full Debian OS.spikebike - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
Wow, pricey board. Sad that AMD handles ECC in such a half assed way. Intel's price premium for low end servers is approximately $0. Xeon E3's were priced very similarly or even cheaper to the similar desktop parts. In particular the cheapest hyperthreading E3 was often cheaper than the cheapest i3/i5/i7 with 4 cores/8 threads. Similar with the HEDT, the intel premium for a better socket/additional memory busses is much less than the low end Eypc/Threadripper.So you either have the luck of the draw trying to buy a reliable AMD with ECC (not just physically compatible, but actually corrects memory errors), or you pay a substantial price premium.
Aikouka - Thursday, July 11, 2019 - link
ASRock Rack has a Ryzen motherboard that officially supports ECC and also has IPMI support (X470D4U). They're also developing a Threadripper variant of their Epyc server board that has IPMI support, but it uses the X370 chipset.cascadehealthcare - Tuesday, August 13, 2019 - link
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