GoKawiilThe Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Elite Wifi7 Plus is a solid, budget-conscious gateway into Intel’s latest platform. You get blazing-fast networking, native Arrow Lake refresh support, and ample storage options. But a single Type-C port and a last-gen audio codec keep it from being the hands-down option compared to its peers.
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Gigabyte’s Z890 Aorus Elite Wifi7 Plus motherboard is the next of multiple Z890 refresh motherboards to land in our test lab. This mid-range offering ( $269.99 ) is a well-balanced motherboard that doesn’t break the bank. It natively supports the latest Intel Core Ultra chips like the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and 250K Plus released earlier this year, so you don’t have to worry about flashing the BIOS (though it does have flashback capability) for full support. You get just about everything Gigabyte has to offer for the platform, including fast networking, ample storage options, enough USB ports for most users, and an aesthetic (including integrated RGBs) fit for the price point.
For the money, you get enough of everything, but nothing in wasteful abundance. One of the positives of this board is the fast networking. Gigabyte stuck a 5 GbE port on the back and includes integrated Wi-Fi 7 (320Hz, 8,774 Mbps). It also has room for expansion with three full-length PCIe slots, with the two at the bottom, far enough apart to house a large video card and still use the two bottom slots. It has four M.2 sockets and four SATA ports for storage, which should be plenty, though only one of the M.2 sockets is PCIe 5.0 x4-capable.
There are 10 USB ports on the rear IO, with one USB4 (40 Gbps) Type-C port and nine Type-A ports. The audio solution uses a Realtek ALC1220 codec, which was the flagship of its generation, but it’s not the newest audio codec. As for appearance, the plate-style heatsink covers much of the unsightly bits on the PCB, and the all-black look, with Aorus branding spattered here and there, also looks good with most build themes.
Performance on the Elite Wifi7 Plus matched that of our other motherboards across most scenarios. Whether gaming, office work, or creative workflows, the Aorus Elite WiFi 7 Plus can handle anything you throw at it. It also uses Gigabyte’s Ultra Turbo modes to extract even more out of your system with the click of a button in the BIOS. Performance isn’t a concern on this motherboard.
Below, we’ll examine the board's performance and other features to determine whether it deserves a spot on our list of the best motherboards . But before we share test results and discuss details, here are the specifications from Gigabyte.
Latest Videos From Watch full video here:
... continue reading