I was having stability issues with my last motherboard (ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VI HERO). That was running Ryzen 2700X and 32GB (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4-3200. I believe that the stability was due to my running that ram configuration and the memory controller of the 2700x not being able to handle it at 3200. I know that the ram was not on the QVL for the board, but I took that chance when I got it. I was able to get it (mostly) stable at 3000. But it would still crash in game or when video transcoding large files. After putting up with it for almost 4 years I jumped at the deal offered for the Gigabyte X570S AORUS MASTER. Now I wasn't expecting a huge improvement given that the only thing in the system that changed was the motherboard. But I was pleasantly surprised. The system has been 100% stable since swapping the boards, I powered it on and all that was required was reactivating Windows as the board changed. Activation went fine and away I went. I benchmarked the system and was happy to see it stable with 3200MHz on the ram, an added bonus was that my XFX Radeon RX 6900 XT Limited Black was now on PCIe 4.0 which might provide a small uplift in performance, but pretty close as cards don't really benefit from 4.0 yet. Both NVMe drives performed about the same but slightly faster. The largest improvement is most likely the additional 200MHz on the ram with slightly faster timings.
Pros:
Has plenty of bells and whistles.
2.5GB ethernet
Wi-Fi 6e
Fantastic onboard audio
massive VRM with beefy heatsinks
Plenty of USB (Rear, Front, internal)
Thunderbolt header if needed
4 x NVMe slots onboard
PCIe 4.0
4 RBG headers (2 addressable)
fan headers for days
water cooling friendly with pump and flow headers
6-layer PCB
Cons:
The RGB lighting on the rear IO bracket looks weak, but it does work.
Conclusion: If you are looking for a board that handles the newest AM4 processors, can overclock with the best X570 or X570S boards out there, has tons of features and has the ability to connect a massive amount of storage via NVMe or SATA. Don't sleep on this board. It is fantastic. Now I just need to grab a 5900X and I will be good to go until I pull the trigger on AM5.
| RAM | DDR4 |
|---|---|
| Memory Speed | 2133 MHz |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ax |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 4 |
