Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX: “Optimized for gaming”

Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX in detail

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

After the Asus ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi, the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX is the second Intel Z790 chipset motherboard we’ll be taking a look at. We covered the key benefits of the new platform (Intel Z790) last time.

It is important to point out that the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX is significantly cheaper than the mentioned Asus board from the previous test and should be treated accordingly when considering its features. The difference in price is about two hundred euros and for the sum of 330 euros it is one of the cheapest Z790 motherboards in ATX format with DDR5 memory support. In this class, Asus has the TUG Gaming Z790-Plus (or the Prime Z790-P/WiFi), MSI has Pro Z790-P/A WiFi.

Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX

The Aorus Elite series is extremely popular among Gigabyte motherboards. The reasons why this is so are quite simple. The Aorus Elite series is extremely popular among Gigabyte motherboards. The reasons why this is so are quite. They are always very decently equipped motherboards that keep the pricing close to the ground. Sure, 330 euros can’t generally be considered a cheap affair, but with an estimate for use with a powerful and expensive CPU (such as Core i9-13900K or Core i7-13700K), even the motherboard already contributes significantly to the price/performance ratio, which will ultimately be attractive for higher-end PC builds.

The format is ATX, i.e. 305 × 244 mm. Also thanks to the robust heatsinks (which we will get to in more detail soon), the board makes a very solid impression. This time around, Gigabyte has taken the ARGB lighting theme in a simpler vein. Only the chipset heatsink is decently backlit.

   

No expense was spared on heatsinks. The CPU VRM heatsink weighs up to 460 grams and its two blocks are connected by a heatpipe. Its job is to get the heat to the largest surface area as quickly as possible, and the one here is quite large. The power delivery is built on ON Semiconductor integrated circuits. The PWM driver (NCP81530) is coupled to the FDMF5062 voltage regulators. In total, the board has 19 phases (voltage regulator, inductor, capacitor) with a current capacity of 1330 A, of which 16 (1120 A) are dedicated to the CPU power supply.

   

One of the intergenerational improvements is the raised and more offset safety latch for the first PCIe ×16 slot. This will allow for more convenient removal of the graphics card from underneath a large tower-style cooler. And it’s especially handy on this board, which has a relatively shorter distance between the CPU socket and the fastest PCI Express slot (5.0). However, it should be noted that this solution does not reach the elegance of Asus’ Q-release (with the latch up near the right edge of the PCB), and so in some cases, you might still reach for a pen or something to push the Gigabyte’s improved latch.

Compared to the previous generation of Z690 boards, the design of the heatsink on the first M.2 SSD slot is also improved, although it does not support the PCIe 5.0 interface (with possibly higher cooling requirements). Gigabyte made more use of the height, a space that never collides with anything, and stacked three 98 mm long fins above the base. A good transformation of one of the weakest SSD coolers (the first M.2 slot) that used to be on Z690 boards.

Underneath this heatsink is a thermal pad that transfers heat from the back of the SSD to the motherboard PCB. Everything looks great at first glance, but the whole system kind of stumbles a bit on weaker pressure. You detect this immediately, the heatsink in its position somehow wobbles and is quite unstable. It’s better with an SSD mounted, but at least with an SSD with dimensions at the level of the Samsung 980 Pro (a single-sided SSD with a thickness of 2.05 mm in the controller area and 2.50 mm in the memory area) there is weaker contact/pressure, which is also visible in the cooling. It’s not bad, but the result doesn’t match the heatsink design. The latter would have achieved better results with more efficient heat exchange.

The shared heatsink for the 2–4 SSD slots is of a similar design as on older Gigabyte boards. This means a low-profile, but long (70 mm) and wide (129 mm) block of aluminum, which also covers 110-millimeter SSDs: these, by the way, are supported in all M.2 slots. This heatsink has gained a bit more weight (it’s up to 139 grams), and the mounting system on the right side, to the chipset heatsink, has also changed. It is no longer attached to it with two screws, but only with one (in the middle). The advantage of this solution over the previous one is mainly that the screw has a securing washer underneath, so you won’t lose it. On the Z690 Aorus Elite AX (and on older Gigabyte boards in general) there was such a risk.

Around the M.2 slots, the most noticeable improvement has been the spacers for mounting SSDs. No sliding latches, as on competing boards, but simple snap-in. After inserting the SSD into the slot, you just place it on the header of the post on the other side, push lightly, this turns the spring a little and the moment the PCB slides below the level of the beak, it returns to its original position and the SSD is perfectly held in place. To release, you then slide the latch in the opposite direction. An extremely convenient and practical system that Gigabyte has really managed to pull off well.

There are four M.2 (M-key) slots on the board, but unlike boards that have five of them, even in the first slot there is no reallocation of PCIe lanes between the M.2 slot and the first PCI Express ×16 slot. The closest M.2 slot from the CPU socket is indeed brought out from the CPU, but it is connected by dedicated PCIe lanes. There are also a decent number of SATA ports, which are not mutually exclusive with any of the M.2 slots. Eventually, we can use all the M.2 slots and SATA ports in parallel, without sacrificing SSD performance.

There are not many of the other connectors, from the internal ones, some cases will miss the second 19-pin connector for connecting USB 3.2 Gen 2 1 connectors (the board only has one). There are an above-standard number of USB connectors on the rear I/O panel, but there are only six fast (5–20 Gbps) ones. Three USB 3.2 gen. 1 ports plus three USB 3.2 gen. 2 ports (including one 3.2 gen. 2×2 Type-C port). And, as is Gigabyte’s habit, up to four USB 2.0 ports have been brought out here as well. Sure, they’re slower, but they don’t restrict keyboard, mouse, and headphone connections, and you have to plug these peripherals in somewhere anyway.

The audio connectors are also unusual. Instead of the usual five 3.5 mm jacks, there are only two, but still maintaining the optical S/PDIF output. You can’t connect a home cinema to the board via jacks, but how many people do that these days? Gigabyte asked themselves this question, and they’ve obviously concluded that hardly anyone uses five jacks. But it is rather surprising that a board in this class uses a Realtek ALC897 sound chip. ALC1220(A) is, it seems, in short supply and manufacturers have to work with what is available. But the powerful operational amplifier and the WIMA “audio” capacitors remained in the audio adapter circuit. That said, the sound is still loud and clear.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

What it looks like in the BIOS

After entering the UEFI, a complete overview of the components that are connected to the motherboard is provided. For SSDs, this includes the interface and the number of PCI Express lanes connected. From this “Easy Mode” screen it is also possible to go into the detailed fan settings (F6), proceed to a BIOS update (F8) or via the F2 key to select a mode with more advanced options.

   

In extended mode, in addition to reading and setting XMP, manual adjustment of bandwidth or memory timing is also possible. However, we always test in XMP mode. We leave LLC in automatic mode (you can adjust it, however) and only disable Resizable BAR in order to achieve the most consistent results across tests. The latter is already enabled by default on the vast majority of new boards, which was still sporadic on previous generations.

   

Power supply management is available under the “Tweaker” tab – Turbo Power Limits. The PL1/PL2 values can be manually set in units of W and the time interval during which, for example, short-term performance should be achieved can also be set. However, the set time cannot be relied on too much as it does not correspond to real time. The power draw (and with it the computational power) drops significantly earlier than you set it, which can be well seen from the graphs.

   

The Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) tab shows how the multiplier is set for the individual P cores. On two of them, it is 5.8 GHz (i.e. the maximum clock speed for a single-core boost of the Core i9-13900K CPU). And why not on a single one if it’s a single-core boost? For the reason that in practice, two cores participate or alternate on a single-core workload as well.

The Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX also has a security (de)encryption module (TPM) whose settings can also be customized. And among the things you’ll encounter at the beginning (and then probably not so much after that) is the BIOS update interface, Q-Flash. Uploading a new BIOS is intuitive and secure. An incorrect BIOS isn’t visible to the board, and there’s still a BIOS flashback function in case something accidentally goes wrong during the writing process.

   

Gigabyte calls the fan management interface Smart Fan 6. Last time we mentioned that on some connectors, the fans run from higher speeds than their minimum speeds. This happens here as well, but practically only in “auto” mode, which seems to fail to properly detect the PWM fan and tries to regulate it with linear voltage (DC). Therefore, it is important to set the PWM mode manually when using a 4-pin fan with pulse control.

The pulse generator on the system fan connectors is qualitatively a bit “worse” than for the CPU_fan connector, but you can comfortably and stably reach the lower speed limit of the fans.

      

The board has multiple temperature sensors that you can work with to create PWM curves. These may not be based on CPU temperature, but on temperatures around the PCI Express ×16 slot, for example. The system fans can thus react appropriately to the cooling with respect to the graphics card load.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Gaming tests…

The vast majority of tests is based on the methodology for processors and graphics cards. The choice of games is narrower with motherboards, but for this purpose there is no need for more of them. We always use the powerful Core i9-13900K processor, which will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of any motherboard well. In the past we have tested with two processors, including a cheaper, more low-power model, but we don’t do that anymore. The hypothesis that more expensive motherboards might “advantage” cheaper processors in performance has not been confirmed, so it’s rather pointless.

We’ve selected five titles from games we’re testing in two resolutions. There are significantly fewer games than in the CPU or graphics card tests, but these are just enough for the motherboard tests. Few people consider performance in a particular game when choosing a motherboard. But an indicative overview of which motherboard shapes gaming performance in what way (compared to another motherboard) is necessary. To avoid significant discrepancies over time, we’ve reached for relatively older titles that no longer receive significant updates.

These are Borderlands 3, F1 2020, Metro Exodus, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War Saga: Troy. For newer games, there might be some performance changes over time (updates) and especially in high resolutions with high details. This is one of the test setups (2160p and Ultra, or the highest visual detail but without ray-tracing graphics) that focuses on comparing performance, for which the bottleneck is the graphics card. In other words, it will be clear from these tests which motherboard can affect the performance of which graphics card to what extent for any reasons. In contrast, a setup with Full HD resolution and with graphical details reduced to “High” will also reflect the CPU’s contribution to the final gaming performance.

We use OCAT to record fps, or the times of individual frames, which are then used to calculate fps, and FLAT to analyze the CSV. The developer and author of articles (and videos) for the GPUreport.cz website is behind both.
For the highest accuracy, all runs are repeated three times and average values of average and minimum fps are displayed in the graphs. These multiple repetitions also apply to non-game tests.

… Computing tests, SSD tests, USB ports and network tests

We test application performance in a very similar way to the processor tests. Almost all tests are included, from the easier ones (such as those in a web environment) to those that push the CPU or graphics card to the limit. These are typically tests such as 3D rendering, video encoding (x264, x265, SVT-AV1) or other performance-intensive computing tasks. As with processors or graphics cards, we have a wide range of applications – users editing video (Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve Studio), graphic effects creators (Adobe Premiere Pro), graphic designers or photographers (Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Affinity Photo, AI applications Topaz Labs, …) will find their own in the results, and there are also tests of (de)encryption, (de)compression, numerical calculations, simulations and, of course, tests of memory.

SSD performance tests are also important for motherboards. Therefore we test the maximum sequential read and write speeds on an empty Samsung 980 Pro SSD (1 TB) in the well distributed CrystalDiskMark, in all slots. We approach the USB port tests in the same way. We use a WD Black P50 external SSD to test them. It supports fast USB 3.2 gen. 2×2, so it won’t be a bottleneck for even the fastest USB controllers. We report only one result for each USB standard. This is calculated from the average of all available ports.

We won’t deprive you of network bandwidth tests either. We move large files in both directions within a local network between the motherboard network adapters and the Sonnet Solo10G 10-gigabit PCIe card. This from the aforementioned Samsung 980 Pro SSD to the Patriot Hellfire (480 GB), which is still fast enough to not slow down even the 10 Gb adapter.

   

The results of all performance tests are averaged over three repeated measurements for best accuracy.

CPU settings…

We primarily test processors without power limits, the way most motherboards have it in factory settings. For tests that have an overlap with power, temperature and CPU clock speed measurements, we also observe the behavior of boards with a power limit according to Intel’s recommendations, where we set PL1 to the TDP level (125 W) while respecting the Tau timeout (56 s). The upper limit of the power supply (PL2/PPT) is set in the BIOS according to the official values. For Core i9-13900K it is 253 W, for Core i9-12900K it is 241 W. Aggressive overclocking technologies such as PBO2 (AMD) or MCE (Asus) and similar are not covered in standard motherboard tests.

… and application updates

Tests should also take into account that over time, individual updates may skew performance comparisons. Some applications we use in portable versions that do not update or can be kept on a stable version, but for some this is not the case. Typically games get updated over time, which is natural, and keeping them on old versions out of reality would also be questionable.

In short, just count on the fact that the accuracy of the results you are comparing with each other decreases a bit as time goes on. To make this analysis easier, we’ve listed when each board was tested. You can find this out in the dialog box, where you can find information about the date of testing. This dialog is displayed in the interactive graphs, next to any result bar. Just hover over it.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Methodology: How we measure power draw

In contrast to the Z690/B660 tests, we’ll simplify it a bit and measure only the CPU power draw on the EPS cables. This means that (also for the sake of best possible clarity) we omit the 24-pin measurements. We have already analysed it thoroughly and the power draw on it doesn’t change much across boards. Of the ten boards tested with an Alder Lake processor (Core i9-12900K), the power draw at 12 volts of the 24-pin connector ranges from 37.3–40.4 W (gaming load, graphics card power supply via PCI Express ×16 slot), at 5V (memory, ARGB LEDs and some external controllers) then between 13.9–22.3 W and finally at the weakest, 3.3-volt branch, the power draw of our test setup tends to be 2.2–3.6 W.

On top of the CPU power draw, which also takes into account the efficiency of the power delivery, this adds up to some 53–66 W under gaming/graphics load and only 15–25 W outside of it, with the graphics card idle. We already know all this from older tests, and it will be no different on the new boards, and as the number of measurements increases, reducing measurements that worsen orientation is beneficial. But from the text above, you know how much to add for the total power draw of the motherboard components to the CPU’s majority power draw.

The situation will be a bit different on AMD platforms, for those we will deal with what is the power draw on which branch of the 24-pin, but already in a separate article that will better highlight this topic. In a large comprehensive motherboard test, these measurements disappear, they do not attract enough attention.

We measure the power draw of the CPU (and its VRM) on the power supply cables, with calibrated Prova 15 current clamps and a calibrated Keysight U1231A multimeter. The clamps measure the electric current, the multimeter measures the electric voltage. In the union of these two electrical quantities, we finally obtain the exact power draw. We measure this in different loads on the CPU. The maximum multithreaded load is represented by Cinebench R23.

   

Lower, gaming load by Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p@high), single-threaded load by audio encoding (reference encoder 1.3.2, FLAC with bitrate 200 kbps) and idle power draw is measured on the Windows 10 desktop when only basic operating system processes and launchers of some test applications are running in the background.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Methodology: Temperature and frequency measurements

By far the most critical part in terms of temperatures on the motherboard is the power delivery (VRM) for the CPU. This is where we return to the Fluke Ti125 thermal imager, which produces temperature maps that can be used to locate the average temperature, as well as the hottest point. We record both these values (average and maximum temperature on the Vcore) in graphs, and we will later evaluate the efficiency of the VRM heatsinks based on the maximum one. However, we lack a suitable thermometer for that yet. Of course, the thermovision is implemented without a heatsink, and a thermocouple needs to be installed on the hottest MOSFET to detect the reduction of temperature with a heatsink. This will be added soon.

Thermal imaging always relates to operating with the more powerful of the pair of test processors. With it, the differences and possible limitations or impending risks (for example, even from thermal throttling) become more apparent. In order to have a good view of the VRM, we use an Alphacool Eisbaer 360 liquid cooler with the fans fixed at full power (12 V) instead of a tower cooler (from the CPU tests). The temperature tests also include CPU temperatures for completeness, and we also test the efficiency of the supplied SSD heatsinks as part of the motherboard tests. These are already included with virtually all better motherboards, and so the question naturally arises whether to use them or replace them with other, more finned ones. We will test these heatsinks on a Samsung 980 Pro SSD during ten minutes of intense load in CrystalDiskMark. Finally, the temperature of the chipset’s southbridge and the cooling efficiency in this direction is noteworthy as well.

All tests are conducted in a wind tunnel, so full system cooling is provided. This consists of three Noctua NF-S12A PWMs@5V (~550 rpm) . Two of which are intake, one is exhaust. But the three fast AIO fans also function as exhaust fans, so there is a vacuum in the case.

The temperature at the entrance to the tunnel is properly controlled and ranges between 21-21.3 °C. Maintaining a constant temperature at all times during testing is important not only for the accuracy of the temperature measurements, but also because a higher or lower ambient temperature also affects the eventual behaviour of the processors’ boost. And we also properly monitor and compare the clock speeds, whether under all-core load or even single-threaded tasks. We use the HWiNFO application to record the clock speeds and temperatures of the cores (sampling is set to two seconds).

Maintaining a constant temperature at the intake is necessary not only for a proper comparison of processor temperatures, but especially for objective performance comparisons. The clock speed development, and specially the single core boost, is precisely based on the temperature. Typically in summer, at higher temperatures than is normal in living quarters in winter, processors can be slower.

Temperatures are always read as maximum (both from the VRM thermovision and average, but still from the local maximum values at the end of Cinebench R23). For Intel processors, for each test we read the maximum temperature of the cores, usually all of them. These maxima are then averaged and the result represents the final value in the graph. From the single-threaded workload outputs, we extract only the recorded values from the active cores (there are usually two of these, and they alternate between each other during the test). For AMD processors it is a bit different. They don’t have temperature sensors for each core. In order to make the procedure methodically as similar as possible to the one we apply on Intel processors, we define the average temperature of all cores by the highest value reported by the CPU Tdie (average) sensor. However, for single-core workloads we already use the CPU sensor (Tctl/Tdie), which usually reports a slightly higher value that better corresponds to hotspots of one or two cores. However, these values as well as the values from all internal sensors should be taken with a grain of salt, the accuracy of sensors across CPUs varies.

Clock speed evaluation is more accurate, each core has its own sensor even on AMD processors. However, unlike the temperatures, we write the average values of the clock speeds during the tests in the graphs. We monitor the temperatures and clock speed of the CPU cores in the same tests in which we also measure power draw. Thus, sequentially from the lowest desktop idle load in Windows 10, through audio encoding (single-threaded load), gaming load in Shadow of the Tomb Raider to Cinebench R23.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Test setup

Note.: Graphics drivers used at the time of testing: Nvidia GeForce 466.77 and OS Windows 10 build 19045.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

3DMark

We use 3DMark Professional for our tests and from the tests, Night Raid (DirectX 12), Fire Strike (DirectX 11) and Time Spy (DirectX 12). In the graphs you will find the CPU sub-scores, the combined scores, as well as the graphics scores. From this you can see to what extent a given CPU is limiting the graphics card.

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Borderlands 3

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: None; test scene: built-in benchmark.

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Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

   

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

F1 2020

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: off, Skidmarks Blending: off; test scene: built-in benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle).

   

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Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: TAA, Skidmarks Blending: off; test scene: built-in benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle).

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Metro Exodus

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

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Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Extreme; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: off; test scene: built-in benchmark.

   

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Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Highest; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: TAA; test scene: built-in benchmark.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Total War Saga: Troy

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 11; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

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Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra; API DirectX 11; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

PCMark

Geekbench

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Speedometer (2.0) and Octane (2.0)

Test environment: To ensure that results are not affected by web browser updates over time, we use a portable version of Google Chrome (91.0.472.101), a 64-bit build. Hardware GPU acceleration is enabled as well, as it is by default for every user.

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Note: The values in the graphs represent the average of the scores obtained in the subtasks, which are grouped according to their nature into seven categories (Core language features, Memory and GC, Strings and arrays, Virtual machine and GC, Loading and Parsing, Bit and Math operations, and Compiler and GC latency).

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Cinebench R20

Cinebench R23

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Test environment: We use well distributed projects BMW (510 tiles) and Classroom (2040 tiles) and the renderer Cycles. Render settings are set to None, with which all the work falls on the CPU.

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LuxRender (SPECworkstation 3.1)

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Adobe Premiere Pro (PugetBench)

Test environment: PugetBench tests set. We keep the version of the application (Adobe Premiere Pro) at 15.2.

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

DaVinci Resolve Studio (PugetBench)

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests, test type: standard. App version of DaVinci Resolve Studio is 17.2.1 (build 12).

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Graphics effects: Adobe After Effects

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests. App version of Adobe After Effects is 18.2.1.

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

HandBrake

Test environment: For video conversion we’re using a 4K video LG Demo Snowboard with a 43,9 Mb/s bitrate. AVC (x264) and HEVC (x265) profiles are set for high quality and encoder profiles are “slow”. HandBrake version is 1.3.3 (2020061300).

Benchmarky x264 and x265

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Audio encoding

Test environment: Audio encoding is done using command line encoders, we measure the time it takes for the conversion to finish. The same 42-minute long 16-bit WAV file (stereo) with 44.1 kHz is always used (Love Over Gold by Dire Straits album rip in a single audio file).

Encoder settings are selected to achieve maximum or near maximum compression. The bitrate is relatively high, with the exception of lossless FLAC of about 200 kb/s.

Note: These tests measure single-thread performance.

FLAC: reference encoder 1.3.2, 64-bit build. Launch options: flac.exe -s -8 -m -e -p -f

MP3: encoder lame3.100.1, 64-bit build (Intel 19 Compiler) from RareWares. Launch options: lame.exe -S -V 0 -q 0

AAC: uses Apple QuickTime libraries, invoked through the application from the command line, QAAC 2.72, 64-bit build, Intel 19 Compiler (does not require installation of the whole Apple package). Launch options: qaac64.exe -V 100 -s -q 2

Opus: reference encoder 1.3.1, Launch options: opusenc.exe –comp 10 –quiet –vbr –bitrate 192

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Adobe Photoshop (PugetBench)

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests. App version of Adobe Photoshop is 22.4.2.

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Affinity Photo (benchmark)

Test environment: built-in benchmark.

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Topaz Labs AI apps

Topaz DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI. These single-purpose applications are used for restoration of low-quality photos. Whether it is high noise (caused by higher ISO), raster level (typically after cropping) or when something needs extra focus. The AI performance is always used.

Test environment: As part of batch editing, 42 photos with a lower resolution of 1920 × 1280 px are processed, with the settings from the images above. DeNoise AI is in version 3.1.2, Gigapixel in 5.5.2 and Sharpen AI in 3.1.2.

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

WinRAR 6.01

7-Zip 19.00

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

TrueCrypt 7.1a

Aida64 (AES, SHA3)

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Aida64, FPU tests

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FSI (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Kirchhoff migration (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Python36 (SPECworkstation 3.1)

SRMP (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Octave (SPECworkstation 3.1)

FFTW (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Convolution (SPECworkstation 3.1)

CalculiX (SPECworkstation 3.1)

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

RodiniaLifeSci (SPECworkstation 3.1)

WPCcfd (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Poisson (SPECworkstation 3.1)

LAMMPS (SPECworkstation 3.1)

NAMD (SPECworkstation 3.1)

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Memory tests…

… and cache (L1, L2, L3)

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

M.2 (SSD) slots speed

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

USB ports speed

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Ethernet speed

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Analysis of power draw without power limits

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Power draw with power limits by Intel

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Achieved CPU clock speed w/o power limits…

… and with Intel’s power limits

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

… and with Intel’s power limits

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

VRM temperature w/o power limits…

… and with Intel’s power limits

With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

SSD temperature

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Chipset temperature (south bridge)

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With motherboards, we don’t like to write about “gaming” hardware. They usually have virtually no effect on gaming performance. In this case, however, there is something to the marketing slogan, although not for free, and in some cases the higher performance is paid for by higher power draw in games. However, there are naturally more reasons to care about or, on the contrary, to avoid the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.

Conclusion

Computers built on the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX can outperform even builds with more expensive motherboards. Especially in gaming, where Gigabyte’s board delivers higher performance than the significantly more expensive Asus ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi. While it’s only in select cases, it doesn’t happen that the gaming performance on the Z790 Aorus Elite AX is weaker. Usually the differences fit within 1 % (Borderlands 3, F1 2020 and Metro Exodus), but in Shadow of the Tomb Raider it’s already more (with 5 % higher minimum fps) and most importantly, the performance in Total War Saga: Troy is already as expected.

We attributed the lower performance in TWST on the ROG Strix Z790-E to the imperfections of thread management under Windows 10, but the stumbling block is elsewhere in the end. The toll for the higher gaming performance, however, is 20W higher power draw. A small part of this is due to the slightly weaker efficiency of the power delivery, but the main difference is in the more aggressive power supply. In tests with power limits for some processor cores, the board dropped the multiplier.

At maximum CPU performance, we measured up to 329 W on the processor part, which is the highest ever in motherboard tests. But computing performance is already at best at the level of the ROG Strix Z790-E. In single-threaded tasks, the Gigabyte board, due to achieving lower CPU clock speeds (on average about 75 MHz), even lags a little behind. All while simultaneously drawing more power (and thus being less power-efficient). But it doesn’t hurt to remember that the Z790 Aorus Elite AX sells for less than two-thirds the price, so everything is at least reasonable.

The power delivery is very robust, suitable even for the most powerful processors or eventual overclocking (after all, the manual change of the multiplier is one of the biggest advantages of “Z” chipsets).At maximum Core i9-13900K performance, critical hot spots don’t exceed 80°C even without a VRM cooler.

While on USB standard 3.2 gen. 2(×2) ports we measured the highest speeds on the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (even when compared to ten Z690 boards), the Ethernet connection speeds are slightly below average. But it still stays above 280 MB/s in both directions (download and upload), which is close to the limits of the 2.5-gigabit interface used.

But the speeds of the M.2 slots are already above average and the only thing that disappoints in their context is the lost potential of the new cooler. The latter has weaker pressure on the SSD and although it is a very well designed heatsink, the results are worse than they could have been. However, the large shared heatsink for three M.2 SSDs between the first and second PCI Express ×16 slots again ranked among the coolers with the highest cooling performance. And its (de)mounting is also more practical than in the past. Gigabyte has also worked on the convenience of mounting and dismounting for the M.2 slots (with a perfect spring system) or the first PCIe ×16 slot by extending the latch tongue.

Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX also earns plus points for the excellent fan management options, where you can assign any of the many temperature sensors that the board has to each connector. But that’s really messing around with the small things and details that maybe the target group won’t even appreciate. We see the latter in gamers who own the most powerful processors, but don’t identify too much with the fact that the motherboard should be priced at similar money to the processor.

The Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX is significantly cheaper than even the Core i7-13700K, yet it is a board that can handle the full performance of the Core i9-13900K without the slightest difficulty. The performance won’t be as power-efficient as some other, typically more expensive boards, but the differences aren’t so dramatic that they overshadow the favourable purchase price (for a board with Intel Z790 chipset suitable for even the most powerful processors).

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

Test games are from Jama levova

Special thanks to Blackmagic Design (for licenses for DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI) and Topaz Labs (for licenses for DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI)

• Contents
• Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX in detail
• What it looks like in the BIOS
• Methodology: Performance tests
• Methodology: How we measure power draw
• Methodology: Temperature and frequency measurements
• Test setup
• 3DMark
• Borderlands 3
• F1 2020
• Metro Exodus
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Total War Saga: Troy
• PCMark and Geekbench
• Web performance
• 3D rendering: Cinebench, Blender, ...
• Video 1/2: Adobe Premiere Pro
• Video 2/2: DaVinci Resolve Studio
• Graphics effects: Adobe After Effects
• Video encoding
• Audio encoding
• Photos: Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, ...
• (De)compression
• (De)encryption
• Numerical computing
• Simulations
• Memory and cache tests
• M.2 (SSD) slots speed
• USB ports speed
• Ethernet speed
• Power draw without power limits
• Power draw with power limits by Intel
• Achieved CPU clock speed
• CPU temperature
• VRM temperature – thermal imaging of Vcore and SOC
• SSD temperature
• Chipset temperature (south bridge)
• Conclusion