GIGABYTE B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4

With Intel saying its mid-tier B660 chipset, proudly owning a twelfth gen Core processor system has grow to be barely reasonably priced as in comparison with proudly owning a system with a full-fledged Z690 chipset motherboard. This time, we’ll be taking a fast have a look at an reasonably priced B660 chipset motherboard from Gigabyte, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4. Let’s see what sort of efficiency can we anticipate from this motherboard.

Specs

Overview

The B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 ships in easy packaging, together with the equipment for some primary requirements such because the SATA cables, Wi-Fi antenna, consumer guide, and the screws for M.2 SSD. From the consumer guide, we will see that each the B660M AORUS PRO AX and B660M AORUS PRO have very related specs, the one distinction is the supported reminiscence.

In response to the specs, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 can help as much as 128GB DDR4 reminiscence with frequency as much as DDR4-5333. Although the reminiscence frequency is closely depending on the silicon high quality of the reminiscence modules and CPU used.

For the ability design, B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 comes with a slightly beefy 12+1+1 part energy design which consists of the NCP302155, NTMFS4C10N, and NTMF4C06N MOSFETs from onsemi. The primary 12 part options the NCP302155 that may deal with 60A every, whereas the remaining phases for the built-in GPU can deal with 50A every.

To deal with the thermal output, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 is supplied with a set of heatsinks for the VRMs, M.2 SSD, and the motherboard chipset. In contrast to the higher-end Z690 motherboards with aluminum fins array heatsink, the heatsink on the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 is the aluminum block sort that’s generally seen on motherboards in the identical class – easy sufficient but it surely’ll nonetheless get the job completed.

For the onboard audio resolution, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 has the Realtek ALC897 codec and 4 Nichicon audio capacitors. As Gigabyte didn’t equip PCIe 5.0 help on its B660 chipset motherboards, the best you’ll get right here is PCIe 4.0 from the CPU, which is on the primary PCIe x16 slot. The opposite PCIe x16 slot comes from the chipset, which operates underneath PCIe 3.0 x4.

The rear IO appears fairly cheap, particularly the variety of USB ports it has. Other than the huge quantity of USB ports, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 additionally comes with primary audio jacks and SPDIF help, Wi-Fi 6 with Bluetooth 5.2, and a pair of.5GbE LAN for connectivity.

BIOS Interface

Take a look at System

Thermals

Beginning off with the thermals, we did a fast system stress check to see how properly can the heatsink maintain up with the system on load. Other than the Intel inventory cooler that isn’t doing so properly with our Intel Core i7-12700,  the general thermal it’s wanting fairly cheap up to now for the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4.

Reminiscence Overclocking

As CPU overclocking isn’t an possibility on the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4, our focus this time can be on reminiscence overclocking. The reminiscence overclocking headroom can fluctuate by the reminiscence modules and CPU used, however going past DDR4-3466 on gear 1 with a non-Ok processor is completely unattainable because of the CPU limitation and may end up in instability throughout operation. So your solely resolution to transcend DDR4-3600 with out hitting the system agent voltage restrict is to go along with gear 2.

The very best reminiscence frequency we’re capable of obtain whereas sustaining system stability all through varied assessments is at DDR4-4400, which continues to be removed from the DDR4-5333+ said within the specs. As for the way a lot efficiency achieve you will get from this, you’ll be able to confer with the sport benchmark end result beneath.

Video games Benchmark

Transferring on to the video games’ benchmark, we’ve completed some assessments with a couple of chosen titles simply to see how a lot of a achieve we will get from simply the changes on the reminiscence settings.

From the check outcomes above, we will see some cheap efficiency good points within the chosen titles however DDR4-4000 might be the setting that provides probably the most important achieve.

Ultimate Ideas

General, the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 has many of the primary requirements for the Intel twelfth gen Core processors and appears cheap for customers who don’t actually wish to undergo the difficulty of tweaking round with the settings. Because of the current limitations such because the locked multiplier and system agent voltage on the non-Ok SKU CPUs, and locked voltage changes on B660 chipset motherboards, that aren’t many changes that may be completed. However what actually annoys me right here is the dearth of the debug LED on the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4, which may be discovered even on some lower-end B660 chipset motherboards from the rivals.

For the value of RM 899, it’s nonetheless fairly pricey for a mid-tier motherboard in my viewpoint. Whereas there are nonetheless cheap options such because the huge variety of USB ports, PCIe 4.0 help, 2.5GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6 community help obtainable on the B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 to justify its worth, the dearth of the debug LED continues to be considerably a turn-off for me.

Professionals

• Assist reminiscence overclocking
• Comes with an affordable quantity of USB ports
• 2.5GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 6

Cons

• Doesn’t help CPU overclocking
• Reminiscence frequency is considerably restricted to DDR4-3200 for non-Ok twelfth Gen Core processors due to the locked System Agent voltage
• Lack of debug LED for troubleshooting