The Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX on our testbench comes from the budget side of Intel’s motherboard truck. Priced at $179.99 on Newegg, it is well priced overall and among its peers. At this price, you get a full-featured device with DDR5 support, 3 M.2 sockets and 4 SATA ports, integrated Wi-Fi 6E, and the familiar Aorus black and gray look to match most build themes. enter. This is an affordable yet high performance (for most of our testing) motherboards.
Gigabyte has a staggering 48 total SKUs on the B760 platform. From the high-end Aorus Master to the base Ultra Durable (UD) line, you want configuration and price options that suit almost everyone. The sheer number of choices confuses even this seasoned reviewer. The average consumer will almost certainly be overwhelmed deciding which one is best. Probably two motherboards of each size would be enough for him.
The B760 Aorus Elite AX’s performance was hit or miss based on our testing. At first boot, the board will ask you to select cooling which will set the power limit. The 3x120mm AIO setting removes Intel’s power limit and allows the processor to operate freely up to the thermal throttle point, or as limited by Perfdrive. So many of our highly multithreaded tests were somewhat limited by his default Perfdrive settings, but still competitive against his other B760 boards. If you’re looking to use this system primarily for gaming, it excels in these tests and is one of the fastest systems overall out of the box.
At around $180, the Elite AX is a good value on paper, best motherboard If you’re after a budget-conscious Intel option, check out our list. Before we get into all the details and testing, here is the complete list of specifications for the B760 Aorus Elite AX, straight from Gigabyte.
Specifications: Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX
| socket | LGA1700 |
| chipset | B760 |
| form factor | ATX |
| voltage regulator | 14 phases (12x 55A SPS MOSFET for Vcore) |
| video port | (1) HDMI (v2.1) |
| (1) DisplayPort (v1.4) | |
| USB port | (1) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-C |
| (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) | |
| (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) | |
| (2) USB2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| network jack | (1) 2.5GbE |
| audio jack | (2) Analog + SPDIF |
| Legacy port/jack | ✗ |
| Other Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| PCIe x16 | (1) v4.0 (x16) |
| (2) v3.0 (x1) | |
| PCIe x8 | ✗ |
| PCIe x4 | ✗ |
| PCIe x1 | ✗ |
| DIMM slots | (4) DDR5 7600(OC), 192GB capacity |
| M.2 socket | (1) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 110mm) |
| (2) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) | |
| SATA port | (4) SATA3 6Gbps |
| Support RAID 0/1/10 | |
| USB header | (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2, Type-C (10Gbps) |
| (1) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) | |
| (2) USB v2.0 (480Mbps) | |
| fan/pump header | (6) 4-pin (CPU, system fan) |
| RGB header | (2) aRGB (3 pin) |
| (2) RGB (4 pin) | |
| diagnostic panel | EZ debug LED |
| Internal button/switch | ✗ |
| SATA controller | ✗ |
| ethernet controller | (1) Realtek RTL8125GB (2.5GbE) |
| Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 or Realtek Wi-Fi 6E |
| (BT5.3, 160MHz, 6GHz) | |
| USB controller | Realtek RTS5411E, Genesys Logic GL850G |
| HD audio codec | Realtek ALC897 |
| DDL/DTS | ✗ / ✗ |
| guarantee | 3 years |
Inside the box of Gigabyte B760 Aorus Elite AX
In addition to the motherboard, Gigabyte includes several accessories designed for immediate use without a trip to the store. It’s a budget motherboard, so don’t expect too many extras. Below is a list of everything included in the board box.
- (2) SATA cable
- Wi-Fi antenna
- (2) M.2 standoff screws
- Q-connector
The design of the B760 Aorus Elite AX
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The B760 Aorus Elite AX is made with a 6-layer PCB with 2x copper and has a matte black appearance. The heatsink for power delivery, M.2 and chipset area are brushed aluminum finish with his Aorus branding in gray. The gray-on-black look is neutral and should suit most build themes.
The Elite AX does not have RGB LEDs built into the board, so if you want RGB LEDs you will need to purchase and add your own. You can connect your lights to the onboard headers (2 RGB and 2 ARGB), download the Gigabyte Control Center software and control them through the RGB Fusion application.
Our tour of the board starts in the top left corner, where we encounter two EPS connectors (4-pin and 8-pin, the latter required) for powering the processor. Also in the same area is the first (of six) 4-pin fan headers. Each header supports her PWM and DC controlled devices and can output 2A/24W respectively. These devices are controlled through the Gigabyte Control Center software or BIOS. There are enough headers with enough power to connect fans and water cooling systems.
After passing through the socket area, there are four non-hardened DRAM slots with locking mechanisms on each side. Gigabyte lists support for up to 192GB (4x48GB) and speeds up to DDR5-7600+(OC). The latter is near the median of the platform’s listed support. All three test kits up to DDR5-7200 worked just fine with the XMP profile enabled.
Above the RAM slots are some more fan/pump headers and the first two RGB headers (one 3-pin ARGB and 4-pin RGB in this case). Going down the right edge is the 24-pin ATX connector that powers the board, as well as the front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) and USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C connectors.
The B760 Aorus Elite AX power delivery consists of a total of 14 phases, 12 of which are dedicated to Vcore. In a parallel configuration, power is taken from the 8-pin EPS connector, which feeds the 8+2 channel OnSemi NCP81530 controller and finally the 55A OnSemi MOSFET before feeding the CPU.Not a lot of 660A available, but enough to handle flagships Intel i9-13900K Test out of the way.
In the bottom half of the board we spy a fully exposed audio section with some capacitors dedicated to sound, starting on the left side. Neither the Elite AX nor any board in this price range packs a fancy DAC or amp, but you can see the budget-minded Realtek ALC897 chip fully exposed. It’s not the latest and greatest, but many users will find this acceptable. If not, you can add a better solution using one of the free PCIe slots (or USB for an external DAC).
There are 3 PCIe slots and 3 M.2 sockets in the middle of the board. Starting with the PCIe slot, the top slot with Ultra Durable Armor and PCIe EZ-Latch connects through the CPU and runs up to PCIe 5.0 x16. The bottom slot connects via the chipset and runs up to PCIe 3.0 x4.
There are three M.2 sockets mixed around the PCIe slot. The top socket, hidden under its own heatsink, connects through the CPU, runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) speeds, and supports drives up to 110mm. The bottom two sockets share a heatsink, connect through the chipset, and run at PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps). Along the right edge of the board are four SATA ports (supporting RAID0/1/5/10), a reset button, and a status LED to indicate problems during POST.
A few more headers are exposed at the bottom of the board. Common connections include additional USB ports, RGB headers, and 4-pin fan headers. Below is the complete list from left to right.
- front panel audio
- 3-pin ARGB header
- 4-pin RGB header
- SPI TPM header
- (2) USB 2.0 headers
- (3) 4-pin fan/pump headers
- clear CMOS jumper
- front panel
There’s a lot going on around rear IO regarding low cost boards. There are a total of 10 USB ports, including a 10 Gbps Type-C port. This number includes 4 USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports and 4 USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) Type-A ports. The Wi-Fi 6E antenna connection is on the left and the 2.5 GbE port is on the right next to the 2 plug + SPDIF audio stack. The only thing you want here is a 20 Gbps USB port, but at this price you can’t exactly expect that.
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