Gigabyte A620M Gaming X Review: Who Needs All the Bells and Whistles?

Benchmark Results

Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to Balanced (default) so the PC idles appropriately.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics provide a great way to determine how a board runs, as identical settings should produce similar performance results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are places where motherboard makers can still optimize for stability or performance, though, and those settings can impact some testing.

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Results from our synthetic benchmarks vary depending on the type of test. If it’s long-running and heavily multi-threaded, the board lets our processor run around 155W (compared to others that can run around 170W+). Even at this power level, it still tends to throttle due to temperatures, which puts this board on the slower side of average in these tests. Any single-threaded benchmarks tend to be average or just above average when it’s not temperature- or power-constrained.

Timed Applications

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In the timed applications, the A620M Gaming X was average in LAME and Handbrake x265, but below in x264 and the Corona benchmark. Again, we run into the same story where heavily multi-threaded benchmarks tend to run slower than average. Your best bet on this generation of processors (almost every board has some thermal throttling) is to lower the Vcore as much as possible, so the processor can run higher clocks and perhaps get below that 155W threshold.

3D Games and 3DMark

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Starting with the launch of Zen 4, we’ve updated one of our games, F1 21, to the latest version, F1 22. We're keeping Far Cry 6. We run the games at 1920 x 1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used (and CPU/system bound) resolution with settings most people use or strive for (Ultra). We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most differences falling within the margin of error. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, affecting your gameplay and immersion experience.

Our gaming tests showed the A620M Gaming X is more than capable of getting the most out of your graphics card. It performed around the average in our 3DMark tests and was, in fact, the fastest in our game tests. Admittedly it will be hard to see a difference among most of these results, but the fastest is the fastest!

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU, Cache and Memory enabled for power testing, using the peak power consumption value. The wattage reading is from the wall via a Kill-A-Watt meter to capture the entire PC (minus the monitor). The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts remain the same.

Power consumption on the A620M Gaming X is undoubtedly on the better side of the average. At idle, it used 61 Watts, while during stress testing, the system peaked at 249W. These results are second only to another budget board in the ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 we recently reviewed.

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VRM temperatures on the Gaming X were hot during our testing. The 50A Infineon MOSFETs get a workout with our 170W processor (that runs 155W), and that shows in the temperatures. We saw peaks on our sensors (back of the motherboard under the MOSFETs) of over 70 degrees Celsius, with the board’s internal sensor reading over 80 degrees Celsius. While this is hot, it’s still within the specification. If you plan to install one of these 170W CPUs with this board, ensure you have adequate airflow to help keep temperatures in check, as even at 155W they can get toasty.

Overclocking

The A620 chipset from AMD is the only one in the Ryzen 7000 lineup that doesn’t support overclocking the processor. But it does let you overclock memory. That said, we ran into some issues with our GSkill DDR5-5600 kit where it wasn’t stress test stable using XMP, but it did run through our benchmarks without issue (note, the kit was stable at JEDEC and in other machines at XMP). We dropped our DDR5-6000 kit in the board, enabled the EXPO profile, and it worked without issue. Our GSkill kit was not on the memory compatibility list, but the Kingston Fury DDR5-6000 set is. I suggest buying your RAM off the compatibility list to ensure things work.

Bottom Line

AMD’s A620 chipset was designed to be the base for low-cost PCs that work with the current AM5 processor family. While it uses the same PROM21 chip as its big brothers, AMD disabled some features to save money. You won’t find anything faster than 10 Gbps USB, and it lacks PCIe5.0 slots/sockets(M.2). The Gigabyte A620M board epitomizes this drive to make an inexpensive yet fully compatible motherboard with AMD’s 7000 series processors.

Our Gaming X offers users a PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 socket, four SATA ports, integrated audio, 2.5GbE, and power delivery that just barely supports our Ryzen 9 7950X. Performance in gaming and lightly threaded applications matched or surpassed more well-equipped and expensive options. However, some high-end processors may have a glass ceiling when running heavily multi-threaded loads, as it generally seems limited to 155W. Unless you push these flagship-class processors, the board is just as performant as others (and in some cases, slightly more so).

At $119.99, it’s one of the more expensive compared to its peers available on Newegg. MSI has the PRO A620M-E ($84.99) and ASRock the A620M-HDV/M.2+ ($109.99), though they only support up to 120W processors.

Ultimately, the Gigabyte A620M Gaming X is one of the better options at this ultra-inexpensive price point. While there’s plenty of competition, few support high-end processors like this board, even if it’s limited to 155W. Gaming performance was the highlight of its performance testing, but it’s a capable option in other areas too, especially if you’re not trying to fully utilize a high-end, high-power processor. This board sure won’t garner attention thanks to its looks, but for how inexpensive it truly is, it’s not supposed to. If you’re a user that fits within the A620 platform limitations, the Gaming X is a solid option when your budget is tight.

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