What makes the single USB4 port decision even worse is the fact that the board only has a USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps USB Type-C port and the front panel header is also limited to 10 Gbps. On a brand new board, this is really quite disappointing, but the Pro SKUs are usually feature limited models from Gigabyte. The rest of the ports around the back consists of an HDMI 2.1 port, although it too is limited to 4K 60 Hz output, which again is disappointing—the USB4 port is capable of 4K at 240 Hzvia DP Alt mode—two USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps USB Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps USB Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, a 2.5 Gbps RJ45 Ethernet jack, a WiFi antenna connector for the onboard RTL8922AE WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 module and a pair of 3.5 mm audio jacks mounted on a separate PCB. There’s also a BIOS flashing button around the back.
Gigabyte Launches its first Mini-ITX X870 Motherboard, the X870I Aorus Pro Ice
When the initial batch of AMD X870/E motherboards were announced, there were no signs of Mini-ITX motherboards, but now Gigabyte has launched its first X870 Mini-ITX board and it’s a bit of a hit and miss in our opinion. The X870I Aorus Pro Ice comes in white, as per the Ice moniker that Gigabyte likes to use for its white products and this might really appeal to some and put others off. Feature wise, we’re looking at a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot—as per most Mini-ITX boards—two NVMe M.2 slots, one PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0, but for some reason, Gigabyte decided that a single USB4 port was enough.