GIGABYTE showed off four socket AM4 motherboards, designed for the upcoming AMD Ryzen processors and 7th gen. A-series APUs, at its 2017 CES booth. The lineup begins with the AB350M-D3H, an entry-level micro-ATX board based on the mid-tier B350 chipset; the mid-range AB350-Gaming 3, the mid-high segment AX370-Gaming K5, and the AX370-Gaming 5. The AB350-D3H covers the basics, with a 7-phase VRM, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot wired to the AM4 socket, a second x16 slot that’s electrical x4 and wired to the B350 chipset, one legacy PCI slot; one 32 Gb/s M.2 slot and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports (from which two are directly wired to the AM4 socket); and connectivity that includes 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) ports, DVI, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort.
Moving up the ladder, the AB350-Gaming 3 is a gaming-grade board in the ATX form-factor, featuring a red+black color scheme. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors; conditioning it for the CPU with a 7-phase VRM. The APU is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, and one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Other expansion slots include two x16 slots that are electrical x4, and two x1 slots. Storage connectivity includes one 32 Gb/s M.2 and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports (from which two are low-latency ports). Display outputs include DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) ports, and six USB 3.0 ports. GIGABYTE deployed its gaming-grade AMPUp! onboard audio solution with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, audio-grade capacitors, a headphones amp, and gold-plated audio jacks. Network is care of an Intel-made gigabit Ethernet controller.
Moving further up is the AX370 Gaming K5, featuring Aorus branding. Based on the top-tier X370 chipset, the board features a 7-phase CPU VRM, using higher capacity ferrite-core chokes. The AM4 socket is wired to four reinforced DDR4 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 when both are populated). The third x16 slot is electrical x4. Three x1 slots make for the rest of the expansion area. Storage connectivity includes a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, two 16 Gb/s SATA-Express ports, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s. Four USB 3.1 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel AMPUp! onboard audio, and Intel gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of this board. The chipset heatsink features an RGB LED lighting element.
Leading the pack for GIGABYTE is the Aorus AX370 Gaming 5. This board has all the RGB LED lighting bells and whistles you’d expect from Aorus. The board features a stronger 10-phase CPU VRM. The expansion area is identical to that of the AX370 Gaming K5. Storage connectivity includes a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, a 32 Gb/s U.2 port, two 16 Gb/s SATA-Express ports, and eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Four USB 3.1 ports (including type-C ports), eight USB 3.0 ports, Killer E2500 gigabit Ethernet, and AMPUp! audio make for the rest of it.
