GIGABYTE’s B650 AORUS ELITE AX conforms to an ATX form factor and standard layout built around AMD’s AM5 LGA socket. Many AM4 coolers/heatsinks will be compatible with AM5, particularly those that piggy-back onto AMDs clip retention system, but it’s best to check with your cooler manufacturer.

The board arrives bundled with the following accessories:



which is a fairly sparse collection of items that speaks to the mid-range nature of the B650 AORUS ELITE AX. You get the essentials as well as GIGABYTE’s G Connector, which is a handy little module that will make hooking up your Power, Reset and LED front panel wires a doddle. If this is an effort to keep costs down then we absolutely applaud it, even if it doesn’t scream ‘Elite’.


The B650 AORUS ELITE AX sports a predominantly black design with silver highlights, aping the X670E AORUS MASTER we reviewed a little while ago. It’s smartly presented overall, although GIGABYTE perhaps didn’t need to repeat the AORUS branding four times across the board. This model incorporates heatspreaders for surface-mounted storage and the chipset, although it’s not quite so elaborate as its pricier siblings as only one chipset chip needs to be cooled.

Starting with the top-left of the motherboard, above the AM5 socket, we see the first major divergence from X670E designs we’ve looked at recently. This motherboard sports only an 8-pin + 4-pin 12V CPU power rather than the dual-8-pin connectors common to the premium chipset, hinting at the lesser power infrastructure on this model. Hidden under the oversized MOSFET heatsinks is a 14+2+1 power phase configuration, a step down from the 16+2+2 Digital VRM design of the X670E AORUS MASTER (as an example). This shouldn’t have a significant impact on stock and modestly overclocked CPU performance, but might restrict high-end and extreme overclocking potential.




The AM5 CPU socket - an LGA style rather than AM4’s PGA - is centrally located below the secondary VRM heatsink, and to the right are a bank of three 4-pin PWM fan connectors. Following them and above the four DDR5 DIMM slots is a 4-pin RGB LEG header tagged CPU_LED, with further 4-pin and 3-pin RGB headers as we round the corner.

Transitioning to the right hand side there’s a short gap to the 24-pin power connector, followed by the proprietary ‘Multi-key’ (a multi-function button that can be programmed in BIOS) and another 4-pin PWM fan header. Next up, located slightly away from the edge, is the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C header, intended for compatible front I/O panels. Next to the chipset heatsink and oriented parallel to the motherboard are four SATA III 6Gbps headers and a USB 3.0 header, completing the lineup for that edge.

Two small RGB zones are located on the right and bottom of the chipset heatspreader, providing only subtle illumination rather than the more in-your-face lighting present on many premium boards.

Distributed along the bottom edge is the front-panel PWR/RST/HDD LED header (which you can use with or without the included G Connector) and clear CMOS jumper, two additional system fans, two USB 2.0 headers, a 3-pin LED header, 4-pin LED header and front panel audio header. It is by far the busiest edge of the board, and warrants motherboard tray cutouts for cable routing if possible.


Taking a look at the expansion slots, first up is the primary M.2 slot which has direct signalling to the CPU. It supports PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 drives as long and wide as the 25110 standard, which makes it somewhat future-proofed compared to other boards that only support up to 2280/22110 drives. Thermal pads are present both underneath and above where the NVMe drive would sit, and the headspreading cover is entirely removable if said drive has its own attached heatsink. The drive is however located in close proximity to both GPU and CPU, making it a relatively high temperature that may struggle with air flow and clearance.

Next is the PCIe slot that supports up to 16 lanes at PCIe 4.0 speeds. This slot has been reinforced for heavier graphics cards, and includes the PCIe EZ Latch mechanism for straightforward card removal.


Directly below that and under the large drive area cover is the first secondary PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot, which is also wired directly to the CPU and supports M.2 drives up to 25110. Below that is the PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot which is connected to the chipset. These drives slots would typically be obstructed by the GPU so it makes sense to populate them with slower, cooler drives if possible.

Note that none of these M.2 slots support M.2 SATA SSD pinouts.

The lower two PCIe x16 slots are wired for PCIe 3.0 x1 operation, making them most suitable for low bandwidth peripherals such as sound cards and mainstream networking.


And lastly, the Rear I/O. While not as well equipped as an X670 board, the B650 AORUS ELITE AX nonetheless supports:



The most glaring omissions from this bank of I/O are a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port and, somewhat perplexingly, an SPDIF audio out. The former is only available through the front panel header, whereas the latter is just a strange discrepancy. Up-to 7.1-surround audio is supported through front panel audio alongside the 3 available rear jacks.

All in all the B650 AORUS ELITE AX is a well appointed design with only a few shortcomings that concern us. With the exception of those outline above, the lack of advanced troubleshooting features - specifically the boot code LED panel - undermines the ELITE claims of this design. It’s not a deal-breaker, the four indicator boot status LEDs does help somewhat, but we expect a little more from a motherboard priced above £250/AUD$350.