The Bottom Line
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
As we have looked at in the past, X570S is more about vendors refreshing their products stacks, invigorating their motherboard with updated technologies as the platform ages. For AORUS, the Master moves to a passively cooled design, with upgraded power components; we also see add-ons like WiFi6e and the latest Gen2x2 USB 3.2 make an appearance.
At the top, compatibility is retained with the AM4 socket; this lends support back to Ryzen 2000 series and up to the current 500 series. Four memory slots offer 128GB of capacity with speeds ranging from 2133MHz to 5400MHz with an OC, of course on DDR4 modules in the 288-pin form factor.
Connectivity includes USB 2.0, 3.2 Gen 1, and Gen 2 with a single 2x2 port available on the rear of the board; you will also find 2.5Gbe via Intel i225 and WiFi6 from the AX210. Audio is pushed through the ALC1220-VB with a SABRE9118DAC.
Pricing
The AORUS X570S Master carries an MSRP of $379.99 with a three-year warranty.
Packaging, Accessories, and Overview
Packaging and Accessories
Packaging sticks to what we have seen with AORUS boards, logo taking up a good amount of real estate, relevant chipset, and CPU info below.
The back details features of the board to the right, full specifications down below.
Accessories are slim, Wi-Fi antenna, SATA cables, and reading materials.
AORUS X570S Master Overview
AORUS Master has a pretty industrial design; open face heat sinks cover the VRM while the board carries a black and gunmetal colorway.
The backside of the board is covered in a reinforcing plate.
I/O is pretty well stacked with USB; we also have 2.5Gbe back here.
Along the bottom of the board, you will find TPM and USB headers, audio for the front panel to the left.
Down the line, we have a USB 3.2 header, front panel connections.
Moving up the right side, we find another 3.2 headers followed by SATA.
At the top, a set of fan headers and the 24pin power connection.
Across the top, we run into more fan and RGB connections.
Last, we have two eight-pin CPU power connections.
PCB and Circuit Analysis
We have 14 Infineon 70A stages for the Master, PMIC top right. You will also note the ASMedia Gen 2x2 controller for the rear panel USB-C over the left.
UEFI, Software and Test System
UEFI
EFI setup includes the orange and black colorway, similar to what we saw on past AORUS platform variants. This motherboard has an Easy Mode that includes storage options with M.2, PCIe, and SATA, along with XMP settings and boot sequence.
If we switch to advanced mode, Tweaker is the first menu item. From this menu, we can configure overclocking options such as voltages, bclk, and ratios. Advanced CPU settings offer control of power settings such as SpeedStep and C-States, and Intel Turbo modes. The Settings menu includes platform power options and I/O port settings; this includes NVMe, SATA, and Network configs.
Motherboard Software
AORUS does include an app center to simplify windows menus, making it easier to configure settings.
EasyTune has long been the software for GIGABYTE and AORUS motherboards. This includes smart boost; auto OC features with profiles configured.
Additionally, you can do advanced overclocking with features similar to Intel XTU.
Last, we have advanced power control allowing you to turn up the Vcore and phase control.
Motherboard Testing Supporters
Sabrent supports our storage testing with the Rocket 4 Plus.
Thermaltake has come onboard with their Toughram XG for all motherboard reviews.
TweakTown AMD Motherboard Test System
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- GPU: ASUS TUF RTX 3080 10GB
- RAM: Thermaltake Toughram XG 2x8G DDR4 4000 (buy from Amazon)
- OS Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1TB (buy from Amazon)
- Power Supply: Corsair RM1000X (buy from Amazon)
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
Cinebench, AIDA64
Cinebench R23
Cinebench is a long-standing render benchmark that has been heavily relied upon by both Intel and AMD to showcase their newest platforms during unveils. The benchmark has two tests, a single-core workload that will utilize one thread or 1T. There is also a multi-threaded test that uses all threads or nT of a tested CPU.
Single thread with the Master produced a score of 1586. Multi-thread landed at 15491.
AIDA64 Memory
Memory bandwidth topped 48K read, 28K write, and 47K for copy. Memory Latency came in at 55.3 seconds.
In AES, results come in at 148134.
SHA3 showed 3853, right in line with other X570 platforms.
UL and CrossMark Benchmarks
PCMark 10
PCMark is a benchmark from UL and tests various workload types to represent typical workloads for a PC. Everything from video conferencing, image import, and editing, along with 3D rendering, are tested.
PCMark showed a solid score of 8538 for the Master.
3DMark
First up is CPU Profile, which offers a 16 thread score of 7844, 8 thread of 6321, and a single thread of 957.
Timespy gives a score of 16379 for the Master.
CrossMark
Overall we find a score of 1625 for AORUS Master.
System I/O Benchmarks and Final Thoughts
System I/O Benchmarks
Storage with CrystalDiskMark
Storage tests are all handled by our Sabrent Rocket Plus NVMe 4.0 SSD. Secondary storage tests are conducted with our WD_Black P50 SSD.
Storage testing showed 7022 MB/s reads, and 5293 MB/s write.
Q1 Random showed 69 MB/s reads, and 198 MB/s write.
In our external storage testing, 1057 MB/s from the USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports.
Final Thoughts
Vendors pushing X570S motherboards to market have reinvigorated the platform as we push closer to X670 next year. The Master sits in the sweet spot for gamers for both cost and performance; it has a solid power stage, capable enough for most Zen 3 CPUs to be pushed to their Air and AIO cooling limits; additionally, those that really enjoy tweaking will take advantage of PBO.
Connectivity is huge for this board; AORUS has stacked it with USB 3.2 and even legacy USB 2.0 for low latency for keyboards and mice. EFI BIOS has gone unchanged; consumers sticking with AORUS will enjoy this as it is an easily navigated platform with a short learning curve, though it does have some issues when using a mouse.
Testing showed solid performance through R23, AIDA, and PCMark, while Timespy was a few points upon past platforms with our RTX 3080. With three m.2 capable of Gen4, this board produced solid results with our Rocket Plus from Sabrent upwards of 7000 MB/s read and 5300 MB/s write.
Performance |
90% |
Quality |
90% |
Features |
95% |
Value |
95% |
Overall |
93% |
The X570S Master delivers fantastic connectivity options and a solid VRM, perfect for gamers wanting to get that extra bit of performance out of their Zen 3 CPU.
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