Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Pro AX Review – 300W for i9-11900K!

The Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Pro AX is an enthusiast Z590 motherboard that combines a decent list of features with top notch power delivery.

This has led to a curious situation where the BIOS people have pushed the board very hard with Core i9-11900K to deliver performance that can beat the competition, however the levels of power and heat are simply unacceptable.

In a sense this is a problem of our own making as this very review includes charts where Gigabyte beats Asus, so Gigabyte can cherry pick from our review to demonstrate their approach is correct when we feel the exact opposite is true. This is where we need some nuance as Gigabyte's win in Blender is a mere three seconds, which is a fraction of one percent. In other words the win is tiny while the increase in power draw is significant.

We applaud Gigabyte for using a VRM that is high quality and practically bulletproof, however we wish they had given more consideration to the overall package. While we would like to see Wi-Fi 6e, POST code debug and micro buttons we understand those features would add extra cost. On the other hand it would surely cost nothing to give the BIOS an overhaul and ditch those anonymous Auto settings that tell the user practically nothing about the inner workings of this enthusiast motherboard.

This is the aspect of the Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Pro AX that drove us to distraction as we spent a good deal of time trying to figure out which combination of settings would deliver decent performance at sensible levels of power. Instead we had to rely on trial and error and that is never a great feeling when you are working with expensive components that are being worked hard.

The Z590 Aorus Pro AX is available for £309.95 from Overclockers UK HERE.

Pros:

• VRMs are stellar; coolers are decent.
• Delivers high performance with Adaptive Boost Enabled.
• Plenty of scope for expansion including four M.2 slots.
• Rear I/O is loaded with USB ports.

Cons:

• BIOS layout uses Auto throughout without explaining which setting has been chosen.
• With Adaptive Boost in High Performance mode the voltage and power levels are very high.
• Surely it is time for Wi-Fi 6e, rather than Wi-Fi 6
• No Thunderbolt
• No micro buttons or POST code debug

KitGuru says: You get decent performance but the power levels used by the Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Pro AX are scary high.  

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