Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 5 Review: Big Flash, Medium Cash

[Crashman]

Gigabyte’s mid-priced alternative to its pricey Gaming 7, the Z370 Aorus Gaming 5 is still packed with features. Does that make it a great value?

Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 5 Review: Big Flash, Medium Cash : Read more

 

[jaber2]

I don't know what to do with the third M2 slot

 

[sp5618]

First-time PC builder does this board have a thunderbolt 3rd generation 40 MB? If not what motherboards in the ATX form factor Have it? Thank you

 

[Crashman]

I don't know what to do with the third M2 slot

Leave it empty?

First-time PC builder does this board have a thunderbolt 3rd generation 40 MB? If not what motherboards in the ATX form factor Have it? Thank you

Chipset limitations are butting up against the desire to extend M.2 support: These companies want a third x16 slot with four lanes, and at least two NVMe M.2 slots, but that combination uses 12 of the 30 HSIO ports. Gigabyte added another NVMe M.2 slot that kills off a couple SATA lanes when its being used, I guess they could have just left off that M.2 slot, knocked the SATA port count down to four, and included a fully-utilized Thunderbolt controller instead.

Nearly all of these boards are designed to host a Thunderbolt add-in card in the four-lane slot, but most of those slots require you to sacrifice some other interface. Look for the Thunderbolt add-in-card header.

On the other hand, Mini ITX has fewer slots, and several of those boards have Thunderbolt controllers to use up some of the leftover HSIO.

 

[Soda-88]

1 inductor does not equal 1 phase

 

[Crashman]

1 inductor does not equal 1 phase

I realize that Gigabyte is using split-phase design. I've always hated counting phases because the number hasn't meant anything since companies came out with 24 low-amperage phases to compete with the six to twelve high-current phases of competitors back in the Core 2 days. I only include the easiest number because so many people don't understand what i just said.

 

[android_dev]

It's a 8+3 phase with the voltage controller being a true 4 phase on the CPU section doubled to 8 with additional mosfet drivers while the other 3 are for iGPU.

 

[Crashman]

It's a 8+3 phase with the voltage controller being a true 4 phase on the CPU section doubled to 8 with additional mosfet drivers while the other 3 are for iGPU.

I thought the other three were for the entire system agent, including the memory controller

 

[android_dev]

It's a 8+3 phase with the voltage controller being a true 4 phase on the CPU section doubled to 8 with additional mosfet drivers while the other 3 are for iGPU.

I thought the other three were for the entire system agent, including the memory controller

It's another voltage controller that controls the memory VRM which is a Richtek RT8120. The CPU Core Voltage VRM uses an Intersil 95866 which is a true 4+3 phase which Gigabyte has doubled to 8+3 phase. System Agent and VCCIO use Richtek RT8120D which is 1 phase each.

 

[Crashman]

It's a 8+3 phase with the voltage controller being a true 4 phase on the CPU section doubled to 8 with additional mosfet drivers while the other 3 are for iGPU.

I thought the other three were for the entire system agent, including the memory controller

It's another voltage controller that controls the memory VRM which is a Richtek RT8120. The CPU Core Voltage VRM uses an Intersil 95866 which is a true 4+3 phase which Gigabyte has doubled to 8+3 phase. System Agent and VCCIO use Richtek RT8120D which is 1 phase each.

I didn't mention the memory signal voltage controller, for which the components can usually be seen separated from the group of things for various CPU devices
As for the 4/8, I say split, you say doubled. But getting back to the original message, we were seeing 24+ voltage regulators on P35/P45 boards before someone else (I think MSI) came out with higher capacity parts on a 6-phase design that could do the same work at lower cost. Soon after we were frying 12 phase regulator components and not frying 8 phase components when doing the same thing, because the boards with the 12 phase regulators were using substandard parts. Then some companies put high-amp chokes on low-amp MOSFETs and I blew more boards.Then some companies put high-amp chokes AND MOSFETs on the same board and extreme overclockers blew traces surrounding the MOSFETs. Then some companies used a thicker copper layer on the PCB with higher amp parts and hollow EPS12V pins and I blew out the connector. We even had sockets without enough contact pressure on the pins blowing out. Because of this, the only way I can find the weak point is through testing. And because of that, I'm now treating "phase count" as a matter of trivia.

 

[android_dev]

It's a 8+3 phase with the voltage controller being a true 4 phase on the CPU section doubled to 8 with additional mosfet drivers while the other 3 are for iGPU.

I thought the other three were for the entire system agent, including the memory controller

It's another voltage controller that controls the memory VRM which is a Richtek RT8120. The CPU Core Voltage VRM uses an Intersil 95866 which is a true 4+3 phase which Gigabyte has doubled to 8+3 phase. System Agent and VCCIO use Richtek RT8120D which is 1 phase each.

I didn't mention the memory signal voltage controller, for which the components can usually be seen separated from the group of things for various CPU devices
As for the 4/8, I say split, you say doubled. But getting back to the original message, we were seeing 24+ voltage regulators on P35/P45 boards before someone else (I think MSI) came out with higher capacity parts on a 6-phase design that could do the same work at lower cost. Soon after we were frying 12 phase regulator components and not frying 8 phase components when doing the same thing, because the boards with the 12 phase regulators were using substandard parts. Then some companies put high-amp chokes on low-amp MOSFETs and I blew more boards.Then some companies put high-amp chokes AND MOSFETs on the same board and extreme overclockers blew traces surrounding the MOSFETs. Then some companies used a thicker copper layer on the PCB with higher amp parts and hollow EPS12V pins and I blew out the connector. We even had sockets without enough contact pressure on the pins blowing out. Because of this, the only way I can find the weak point is through testing. And because of that, I'm now treating "phase count" as a matter of trivia.

Hmm.. interesting, I was too young back then when you reviewed that stuff 10+ years ago now but yeah I read circuit analysis reviews of this motherboard and that's how I got the info for what I wrote above.

 

[Crashman]

I didn't mention the memory signal voltage controller, for which the components can usually be seen separated from the group of things for various CPU devices
As for the 4/8, I say split, you say doubled. But getting back to the original message, we were seeing 24+ voltage regulators on P35/P45 boards before someone else (I think MSI) came out with higher capacity parts on a 6-phase design that could do the same work at lower cost. Soon after we were frying 12 phase regulator components and not frying 8 phase components when doing the same thing, because the boards with the 12 phase regulators were using substandard parts. Then some companies put high-amp chokes on low-amp MOSFETs and I blew more boards.Then some companies put high-amp chokes AND MOSFETs on the same board and extreme overclockers blew traces surrounding the MOSFETs. Then some companies used a thicker copper layer on the PCB with higher amp parts and hollow EPS12V pins and I blew out the connector. We even had sockets without enough contact pressure on the pins blowing out. Because of this, the only way I can find the weak point is through testing. And because of that, I'm now treating "phase count" as a matter of trivia.

Hmm.. interesting, I was too young back then when you reviewed that stuff 10+ years ago now but yeah I read circuit analysis reviews of this motherboard and that's how I got the info for what I wrote above.

I'm glad other sites are doing it. Steve does a fine job of breaking it down. I just don't believe that I, personally, will be able to find the weak link through visual examination. More power to Steve!

 

[android_dev]

I didn't mention the memory signal voltage controller, for which the components can usually be seen separated from the group of things for various CPU devices
As for the 4/8, I say split, you say doubled. But getting back to the original message, we were seeing 24+ voltage regulators on P35/P45 boards before someone else (I think MSI) came out with higher capacity parts on a 6-phase design that could do the same work at lower cost. Soon after we were frying 12 phase regulator components and not frying 8 phase components when doing the same thing, because the boards with the 12 phase regulators were using substandard parts. Then some companies put high-amp chokes on low-amp MOSFETs and I blew more boards.Then some companies put high-amp chokes AND MOSFETs on the same board and extreme overclockers blew traces surrounding the MOSFETs. Then some companies used a thicker copper layer on the PCB with higher amp parts and hollow EPS12V pins and I blew out the connector. We even had sockets without enough contact pressure on the pins blowing out. Because of this, the only way I can find the weak point is through testing. And because of that, I'm now treating "phase count" as a matter of trivia.

Hmm.. interesting, I was too young back then when you reviewed that stuff 10+ years ago now but yeah I read circuit analysis reviews of this motherboard and that's how I got the info for what I wrote above.

I'm glad other sites are doing it. Steve does a fine job of breaking it down. I just don't believe that I, personally, will be able to find the weak link through visual examination. More power to Steve!

Yeah tweaktown and buildzoid do good circuit analysis on products.