Component Analysis

The PCH is located underneath the lower portion of the M.2 heatsink, which itself is linked to the rest of the heatsink array by a single heatpipe. This should mean that any airflow that finds its way onto one of the three heatsinks should help to cool the others as well. The competition regularly adds small fans to boost cooling, but they're only positive features if they can be actively controlled and tuned to inaudible levels. Gigabyte has—perhaps wisely—decided to steer clear of that complexity and go fanless.


For hardware monitoring and fan control, we have ITE's IT8689E super I/O controller chip, while the smaller IT5711E is used for RGB lighting control.


Next to the rear USB ports, we have a Realtek RTS5411S four-port USB 3.0 hub controller, and next to it, we have an RTS54361 USB Type-C power delivery controller.


The 2.5 Gbps Ethernet—somewhat disappointing at this price—is provided by a Realtek RTL8125D controller, and for the single rear 40 Gbps Type-C port we have an Intel JHL9040R Thunderbolt 4 retimer.


Probably the biggest disappointment in terms of components after a closer look is the lack of high-end audio that you'd expect on a board of this caliber. Instead, we have Realtek's ALC897 codec and again, even the much cheaper ASRock Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi boasts ALC1220. Of course, many of us would be hard-pressed to tell the difference, especially given the popularity of wireless audio, but given better codecs exist on similarly priced competing Z890 boards, it's certainly odd.


The Wi-Fi 7 module is Intel's BE202. Internally, it uses standard micro connectors; these convert to Gigabyte's Wi-Fi EZ-Plug on the IO panel. Removing the module is relatively easy, but does require the entire heatsink array and VRM shroud to be removed, and this dislodges numerous heatsinks.