Gigabyte has launched its first Mini-ITX motherboard based on AMD’s latest X870 chipset. Packing numerous features, this little board has all you need for a performant small form factor (SFF) PC.
X870I Aorus Pro Ice is a compact motherboard measuring 170mm x 170mm, powered by AMD’s X870 chipset. It houses an AM5 socket ready for both Ryzen 9000X and 9000X3D chips, fed via an 8+2+1 110A VRM design. Due to its finite real estate, X870I Aorus Pro Ice only carries a single PCIe Gen 5 for graphics, i.e. no other expansion slots.
This conservative design ethos is present throughout, with just two DDR5 slots rated for up to 8,800MT/s. Not a big deal since you can fill up to 128GB of RAM in there. However, do note that such speeds may not be possible with all CPUs. Storage-wise, again, limited space means you get just two M.2 slots, one of which is Gen 5. If you need more storage, you can always hook two SATA drives.
To simplify the user experience, Gigabyte includes a bunch of DIY-friendly features. From the WiFi EZ-Plug to the M.2 EZ-Latch, you can build a working machine with as few screws as possible. The ones I appreciate the most are the PCIe EZ-Latch, which allows you to remove the graphics card with ease, and the handy debug LEDs that remove the guesswork in case of problems.
With the above in mind, note that X870 is now more of a mid-range solution since it carries the exact feature set as B650E but with mandatory USB 4 support. This doesn’t make this board bad by any means unless you really need a lot of USB ports.
This little board packs a punch when it comes to connectivity speed, but the number of available ports is limited. To be exact, you will find a total of eight USB ports, with standards mixed between one USB 4 Type-C, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 Gen 2, two USB 3.2 Gen 1, and two USB 2.0. There’s also a 2.5GbE LAN, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and audio jacks.
You can find X870I Aorus Pro Ice for $299 at B&H, or €330 in Germany. It’s not cheap, but it costs less than the competition. If you need a Mini-ITX board for your SFF build, you should be well served by this one.