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Firmware and Software

Firmware

Gigabyte updated its BIOS on this board, improving the previous version (see how to enter the BIOS on any PC). The BIOS also follows the ‘ice’ theme, sporting a white background and Gigabyte orange highlights. The updated Easy Mode is laid out logically and displays plenty of information about the system, processor, RAM, fan speeds, and has several selectable options, including XMP profiles and RAM tweaks, Re-Size BAR support, Smart Fan 6 access, and more. The black background and white characters are easy to read, while the purple and blue accents on the top and bottom provide a much-needed visual update.

The Advanced mode also received a facelift. While all headings are still across the top, they are now larger ‘buttons’ and easily selectable with a mouse. The highlight bar (where you are on the page) is Aorus Orange and easy to see. Every option you need and want is at your fingertips, and you don’t have to drill down several layers to reach the most commonly used functions – especially if you populate your selections in the Favorites section.

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Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX Ice — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Several months back, Gigabyte released a new software suite called the Gigabyte Control Control (GCC). GCC is a one-stop shop that controls several functions, from RGB and Fan control to hardware monitoring and overclocking. It’s also helpful in finding, downloading, and installing driver updates to your system. It’s a simple application that does its job. It’s also a much cleaner tool than the previous App Center and gets our approval for the breadth of functionality it brings users.

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Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but updated the driver. We also updated to F1 22 for our games and kept Far Cry 6. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public. The hardware we used is as follows:

Test System Components

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CPU	Intel Core i9-14900K
Memory	Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 CL36 (KF560C36BBEAK2-32)
Row 2 - Cell 0	Teamgroup T-Force Delta RGB DDR5- 7200 CL34 (FF3D516G7200HC34ABK)
GPU	Asus TUF RTX 3070
Cooling	Coolermaster MasterLiquid PL360 Flux
PSU	EVGA Supernova 850W P6
Software	Windows 11 64-bit (22H2)
Graphics	NVIDIA Driver 537.42

Benchmark Settings

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Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings	Row 0 - Cell 1
Procyon	Version 2.6.848 64
Row 2 - Cell 0	Office Suite (Office 365), Video Editing (Premiere Pro 23.6), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.0, Lightroom Classic 12.5)
3DMark	Version 2.27.8177 64
Row 4 - Cell 0	Firestrike Extreme (v1.1) and Time Spy (v1.2) Default Presets
Cinebench R24	Version ‘build unknown’
Row 6 - Cell 0	Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
Blender	Version 3.6.0
Row 8 - Cell 0	Full benchmark (all 3 tests)
Application Tests and Settings	Row 9 - Cell 1
LAME MP3	Version SSE2_2019
Row 11 - Cell 0	Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLI	Version: 1.2.2
Row 13 - Cell 0	Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)
Corona 1.4	Version 1.4
Row 15 - Cell 0	Custom benchmark
7-Zip	Version 21.03-beta
Row 17 - Cell 0	Integrated benchmark (Command Line)
Game Tests and Settings	Row 18 - Cell 1
Far Cry 6	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON
F1 2022	Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, Ultra High (default) Bahrain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON