Today is the end of the NDA for the AMD Ryzen 7000 processors but also for some motherboards. AMD has decided to postpone the release of the motherboards of the manufacturers to this Tuesday September 27th, except for the motherboard present in the press pack sent by AMD. As you may have discovered in our article on the performance of the Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 5 7600X, it is an AORUS X670E Master that we have received. In addition to the processor test, we also offer you a full test of this motherboard while waiting for the other models to be published.
Of course, we’ll see you tomorrow to discover the other boards in our possession. We can already tell you that this week we will be testing a ROG Crosshair X670E Gene, the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme and an AORUS X670E Xtreme. A little birdie tells me that we should also receive a motherboard from MSI soon.
[nextpage title=”AORUS X670E Master : “]
The architecture :
This AORUS X670E Master is built around the new X670E chipset. At the moment we know that AMD has several « new » chipsets planned for release in the coming weeks. In addition to the X670E chipset, we will also see X670, B650E and B650 motherboards being released, and by the end of October all four chipsets should be available to the general public. Here is a table highlighting the differences between these four chipsets. The B650E chipset could also be very interesting for a Ryzen 7000 configuration.
The AORUS X670E Master bundle :
A quick look at the bundle of this AORUS X670E Master to see if it benefits from “special items”. Overall, we find a fairly standard bundle with the traditional SATA cables, Wi-Fi antenna, stickers, motherboard manual, etc.
We don’t notice anything special about this bundle and in the end, if it saves us money on the price of the motherboard, we’re fine with it.
A new socket, hello socket AM5 :
After the Z690 chipset and the LGA-1700 socket, it’s AMD’s turn to make its revolution. Goodbye socket AM4, hello socket AM5. It’s time to forget the PGA (Pin Grid Array) socket in which you used to put your processor, and to welcome the LGA (Land Grid Array) socket. This socket will look like the ones that have been present on Intel motherboards for years. Why this change? Simply because of the larger number of pins on the Ryzen 7000 (1718).
AMD has decided, with the AM5 socket, to keep a backplate already present for the AM4 socket. The 4 external holes that hold the retention system to fix your cooling system are still present. The distance between these 4 holes is identical to socket AM4, so you can still use your cooling system as long as it uses the original backplate on your motherboard !
But AMD goes one step further and adds 4 more holes. These will be used to hold the AM5 socket in place but also to hold the backplate in place. The back plate should not be removed as it was on the previous generation. Finally, the locking mechanism changes. We find the reinforcement frame, the force frame and the latch. Once your Ryzen 7000 has been placed in the correct alignment, you just need to close the latch to keep it in place.
A small remark following my tests, where I removed and put back these new Ryzen 7000 several times, you should know that the grip is far from being obvious with the particular shape of the IHS. There is a risk of wreckage if you are not careful with the processor which could slip out of your hand and damage the socket pins. So be careful !
The different heatsinks :
The dimensions of the board are 305 mm x 269 mm, which corresponds to the E-ATX format. The dominant color on the PCB is black and grey with grey lettering. The design is easily identifiable as an AORUS product as this model has a similar design to the previous generation.
Also noticeable is the large backplate on the back of the PCB which also acts as a heatsink. Pads are placed where the heat is most important, such as at the back of the power supply stages.
There are two of them in this area. Let’s start the tour with the heat sinks, of which there are three. First of all, the two radiators located on the top of the motherboard and covering the power supply stage. These two radiators are connected together by an 8 mm heat pipe. The purpose of these heat sinks is to dissipate the heat from the power supply stages.
The heat sinks are covered with a « nanocarbon » coating that AORUS claims improves heat dissipation by up to 10%. The fins also benefit from the company’s ” Fins-Array III ” technology, which results in irregular fins to increase the heat dissipation area. The plastic cover, which covers part of the radiator and the external connectors, has a very, very light RGB backlight. We are dealing here with a completely passive system.
Finally, the third one covers the two chipsets and has a fairly large surface area but low height to allow for easy placement of the graphics cards. The cut-out fits perfectly and makes a block with the cover that covers part of the SSD slots.
DDR5 support :
This new X670E chipset also brings DDR5 support. Our AORUS X670E Master has four memory slots. Keep in mind that there are two priority slots as indicated on the PCB (A2 and B2). Although the current specifications on the website indicate support for DDR5 up to 5200 MT/s, we have no problems with our GSKill 6000 MT/s CL30 kit.
AMD, in collaboration with the memory module manufacturers, is now offering kits with EXPO technology. This is an alternative to the XMP profile (A-XMP at AMD). As a reminder, XMP allows, via the BIOS, to automatically activate the characteristics of your memory kit: the frequency, the timings as well as the voltage. The AMD EXPO technology will also allow you to overclock DDR5 in one click in combination with the Ryzen 7000.
Four M.2 SSD slots and PCIe 5.0 :
A grey aluminum plate with a cut-out that matches the one on the chipset covers three M.2 SSD slots. The one closest to the CPU is a 25110/2280 PCIe 5.0 slot, while the other two are PCIe 4.0.
But there’s more to come on the PCB front. The more attentive have noticed a “Thermal Guard III” heatsink that is located just below the socket. This actually covers the first SSD slot, making a total of four. This slot is also 25110/2280 PCIe 5.0. Each slot has a thermal pad on both sides of the SSD to optimize heat dissipation.
The motherboard features a 16x PCIe 5.0 slot as well as a PCI Express x16 PCIe 4.0 slot running in x4 and a third PCI Express x16 PCIe 3.0 slot running in x2. Like the Asus Z690 motherboards, this AORUS is now equipped with a button called “PCIe EZ-Latch Plus”. When a card is plugged into the first PCIe slot, pressing this button opens the retention system and releases your graphics card.
RGB or not RGB?
As with much of the AORUS range, it has a backlight in the heatsink covering the connectors and that’s it. Personally, I don’t need anything more.
The management of this one is set via the in-house software but it is also possible to disable it. The MultiKey button can also benefit from this function which consists in disabling the RGB.
[nextpage title=”The PCB and connectors : “]
Tools for clocking :
Good news as this AORUS X670E Master comes with a few tools inserted directly on its PCB that will make your life much easier if you feel like overclocking!
- The power button: this is where you turn on the motherboard.
- The MultiKey button: this is a button whose function you can define. By default, it will be reset but you will have the opportunity via the BIOS settings to choose also as function: ” switch LED off/on “, “enter BIOS setup” and ” boot Safe Mode “.
- Voltage measurement points: with the help of a multimeter, you will be able to measure the different voltages very easily.
- Status LEDs : depending on their color, you can identify a problem or find out the voltage level of the component (CPU – DRAM – VGA – BOOT).
- A jumper reset: you can connect a switch via a cable if you want to give it this function.
- CLR CMOS : is also present but in the form of a jumper.
- The Debug LED: allows you to identify the component responsible for the error during boot, but also to display the CPU temperature and voltages.
If you have the opportunity to purchase a multimeter, it is an essential tool to accurately measure the voltage of your processor. Personally, I can’t do without it anymore and it also allows me to see the impact of the “LoadLine calibration” which I’ll tell you about in our overclocking tests. With this AORUS X670E Master it’s a breeze to take readings thanks to the voltage measurement points on the PCB.
The PCB of this AORUS X670E Master :
This AORUS X670E Master has a 16 + 2 + 2 phase power supply stage (vcore + SOC + MISC). The 16 vcore mosfets are 105A models and the other 4 are 90A versions.
The digital controller is a Renesas RAA 229620. The CPU part consists of 16 phases and on this model the phases are placed in parallel, so there are really 8 of them.
Ultra complete connectivity :
As far as the connectors of our AORUS X670E Master are concerned, it is of course quite complete and largely sufficient for overclocking. From top to bottom, we find the following connectors: a Q-Flash button, two slots for Wi-Fi antennas, a DisplayPort, an HDMI 2.0 port, a USB Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2, a USB Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, four USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 Gen 1, two USB 2.0/1.1, an RJ-45, an optical S/PDIF Out and the various audio outputs
Now that we’ve had a look at the AORUS X670E Master and its PCB, let’s go to the BIOS to take a look at the available settings and the new features. [nextpage title=”The BIOS: “]
As far as the BIOS is concerned, I have to admit that it’s been a while since I’ve been in the BIOS of an AORUS motherboard. By default, you land on a page with the basic information of your BIOS. In order to access all the settings, you will have to press the F2 key. The first tab available is Favorites which allows you to have direct access to the settings you modify most often, it is always very useful.
The Tweaker section, as its name suggests, will be full of options allowing you to set up your processor, your memory kit and also to manage the different voltages. First of all, you should not forget to activate your XMP or EXPO profile.
In this tab, you will find the different parameters of your memory kits and also those for your processor. Most of the parameters to adjust the voltages are also found in this section. Please note that this AORUS X670E Master does not have any memory profiles.
The Load-Line calibration will also be important for our overclocking tests but we’ll come back to this in detail. Good news too, as it is possible to desynchronize the CPU and PCIe frequency. So it will now be possible to push the frequency of your processor via the BCLK.
The card also has an LN2 mode if you feel like running it cold. Don’t forget that it is important to keep your BIOS up to date, especially when it comes to a new architecture, as there will be many patches in the coming weeks.
Finally, saving profiles is highly recommended when testing. It saves time.
Don’t hesitate to ask for advice on our forum and discord if you encounter any problems when setting up your BIOS.
[nextpage title=”The test setup : “]
Here is the configuration that will be used to test this AORUS X670E Master. For the publication of these tests, I used the latest BIOS received although new versions will certainly be available in the coming days. In the coming weeks, we will also be offering several overclocking guides for your processor and memory kit.
- Motherboard :Â AORUS X670E Master (BIOS f7b)
- Processor : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (tested here)
- Memory : 32 GB GSKill Trident Z5 NEO 6000 MT/s CL30 (EXPO)
- Graphics Card : NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition
- Cooling system : Optimus waterblock + 480 mm EK radiator
- SSD : WD SN850 500GB PCIe GEN4
- Power supply: Super Flower Platinum 1600 watts
- Operating system: Windows 11 64-bit
Note that is important! We are going to talk about it because we had this problem on several X670E motherboards. Impossible for the first boot of the motherboard to arrive in the BIOS with 2 memory sticks. We had to boot the first time with only one stick otherwise impossible to access the BIOS. After this first boot, no more problems in dual channel. A quick tour through CPU-Z to make sure everything is in order before starting our tests. The frequency and voltage are not fixed but are continuously changing. We will see in the following tests if they are well respected.
Let’s start overclocking this Ryzen 9 7950X and our GSKill Trident Z5 NEO 6000 MT/s CL30 (EXPO) memory kit on this AORUS X670E Master.
Frequencies respected ?
An important point to check is that the frequencies are respected with the processor we are using. If this is not the case, it could mean a problematic BIOS, because the frequencies of your processor must be reached. It could also be due to your cooling system if it is not efficient enough. The processor will reach too high temperatures and therefore reduce its frequencies.
Let’s see what happens with our Ryzen 9 7950X under Cinebench R23 in single core and multi core. According to AMD, our 7950X should reach a frequency of 5.7 GHz on a single core.
Good news as in the Cinebench R23 single core benchmark, we can see our frequency reaching 5825 MHz on core#1. Once all the cores are used, the first 8 cores of CCD0 reach 5325 MHz and the other 8 cores of CCD1 reach 5100 MHz. Our processor is therefore perfectly operational to attack our tests with a CCD0 that performs better than the CCD1.
[nextpage title=”CPU overclocking : “]
So, considering the temperatures obtained at the original frequency under Cinebench R23, 91°C, while we are under a custom watercooling, the overclocking margin might be quite limited. At the same time, this is also good news as our Ryzen 9 7950X will offer excellent performance from the start. Currently, to overclock our processor, we must either do it directly via the BIOS or via the AMD Ryzen Master software. It is the latter solution that we have chosen for these first tests.
Protocol :
Before starting, it is necessary to have one or more reference scores with your processors at stock frequencies, i.e., without having made any modifications other than having activated the XMP/EXPO profile. It is also very important to have a sheet of paper at hand that will allow you to note all the tests you are going to perform as well as the results or failures. Personally, I have hundreds of sheets of my tests on which I sometimes go back to find out how the processor behaved on a particular motherboard or in a particular test condition. My own little bible.
For H24 overclocking, it will of course be necessary to take more time to fine-tune the voltage in order to provide it with the minimum necessary, but also to adjust each core independently if you want to take advantage of the maximum performance.
Load-Line Calibration :
The idea of modifying the Load Line Calibration is that the voltage chosen should be as close as possible to the load voltage. AORUS offers several levels of “calibration” and we chose the “Turbo” mode. This is the one we used in our previous tests with AORUS motherboards.
Since the motherboard has voltage measurement points on its PCB, we will be able to judge the impact of this setting on the vcore voltage, i.e. the CPU voltage.
Ryzen 9 7950X operation :
For once, we will start our overclocking tests via the OS using AMD Ryzen Master. It is a tool that can be used very easily and is therefore very intuitive provided that you have a good understanding of the structure of your processor and here more particularly that of the Ryzen 9 7950X.
The Ryzen 9 7950X has two CCDs. Each CCD has a single CCX which has 8 cores. In the case of our 7950X, none of the CCX cores are disabled so that there are 8 cores per CCD and therefore 16 in total. The idea is to see how the CCDs behave when all the cores are used. We saw on page 5 that CCD0 performed better than CCD1. It will therefore be possible via Ryzen Master to try to push this one higher than the other.
Finally, you can also decide to vary the frequency of each core. The one with a star is the one that performs best of the 8. To overclock, go to profile 1 and select manual overclocking. This allows you to control either each CCX or each core independently.
Overclocking in different stages :
We will first start testing at 5000 MHz on both CCXs with a voltage of 1.07v which when Cinebench R23 multi is launched is set to 1.14 volt. The idea is then to test the stability on several runs of Cinebench R23 multithread . If it’s stable, I increase the frequency by 100 MHz while rechecking the stability. If the benchmark crashes, I increase the voltage slightly in order to regain stability to run the benchmark. The objective is to get a “quick” idea of the maximum benchmarkable frequency. Here are the results obtained.
We were able to reach 5400 MHz on all 16 cores for a voltage measured with a multimeter of 1.32 volts. The gains are quite minimal since as we said, with a good cooling system, the original performance is already excellent. Thanks to AMD Ryzen Master, you can overclock the cores independently or one CCD higher than the other, which we will show you shortly in the tutorial about overclocking via Ryzen Master.
Finally, and this is great news, it is possible to disable the synchronization between the BCLK frequency and the PCIe frequency via the BIOS. It will now be possible to overclock via the BCLK frequency.
[nextpage title=”Memory overclocking : “]
Well, let’s start with a theoretical reminder since there are changes with the arrival of the ZEN 4 architecture as far as memory is concerned. While for the Ryzen 5000, the standard was to keep a 1:1:1 ratio between mclk:uclk:fclk, this will change with the Ryzen 7000. Indeed, these adopt DDR5 memory. The frequency of DDR5 memory is increasing, which means that the ratio will change. AMD now recommends for AM5 motherboards in DDR5 a 1:1 ratio for the mclk:uclk and to finally leave the fclk in AUTO which will have the effect of automatically setting it to 2000 MHz. Theoretically, this is how it will behave:
- DDR5-4800 will give with the new ratios 2400:2400:2000 MHz (mclk:uclk:fclk)
- DDR5-5200 will work with the new ratios 2600:2600:2000 MHz (mclk:uclk:fclk)
- DDR5-6000 will work with the new ratios 3000:3000:2000 MHz (mclk:uclk:fclk)
Well, it may seem a bit complicated like that, but we’ll explain it all to you. First of all, don’t panic, if you activate your XMP or EXPO profile in the BIOS, everything will be set automatically. The explanations we give you here are for those who want to overclock their memory kit.
fclk, mclk, uclk, a little reminder :
The fclk is the frequency of the Infiny Fabric which can be, since the previous generation, controlled independently via the BIOS settings. By default, this value is set to AUTO and the motherboard will manage its frequency to ensure system stability. Its maximum frequency is around 2100/2200 MHz but it also depends on the quality of your processor, but that’s up to the lottery. The mclk, also sometimes called memclk, is the frequency of your memory kit and the uclk is the frequency of the memory controller. Here is where these options are located in the BIOS of our AORUS X670E Master and in CPUZ.
Also note that if you exceed 6000 MT/s with your memory kit, the memory controller (uclk) frequency will automatically switch to a 1:2 ratio to ensure system stability. AMD states that the best performing frequency and ratios are 3000:3000:2000 (mclk:uclk:fclk).
Let’s see what happens if we insert our Teamgroup Delta RGB 6600 MT/s CL34 kit. This is not an EXPO compatible memory kit and we will need to enable the XMP profile. We reboot the motherboard and … … it is impossible to boot with the XMP profile. In spite of several adjustments, I did not succeed. So you have to be very careful when choosing and buying your memory kit. We can only advise you to opt for an EXPO compatible kit.
This AORUS X670E Master has no overclocking profile for the memory. So it is quite complicated and we are waiting for the next BIOS release to see what this card is capable of. In an article that will be published tomorrow, we have started these tests via profiles available in the BIOS.
[nextpage title=”The final word : “]
Excitement is the word that sums up this week I’ve spent with the new Ryzen 7000 and X670E motherboards. This new architecture and these new motherboards bring a lot of new features. As is always the case with the arrival of a new architecture, it will take some time to understand all the subtleties. Our copy of the AORUS X670E Master proved to be very efficient and the f7b BIOS was relatively stable apart from an error 94 that sometimes appears at start-up but is resolved by a simple reset . We won’t go back over the performance of the Ryzen 9 7950X and its smaller brothers as we have posted a dedicated article here.
This copy of the AORUS X670E Master gave us full satisfaction even if we are looking forward to seeing new BIOS. AORUS has just released a new one, the F7d, but we were already on another motherboard when it was released. We will be testing this new BIOS in the coming weeks. We do not yet have the official price of this model, which we will certainly discover at the same time as you when the boards are listed in the shops, but from experience, this is a very popular board as it has a good quality/price ratio compared to the competition.
AORUS X670E Master:
We liked:
- A very complete connectivity
- A strong and well designed power supply
- Compatibility with the GSKill Trident Z5 NEO EXPO 6000 MT/s kit
- LN2 mode for liquid nitrogen testing
- Tools” inserted on the PCB to facilitate overclocking
- A sober design where the RGB backlight does not distort the card
- The presence of four M2 SSD slots, including two Gen5
- The MultiKey which can be set in the BIOS according to your needs
We would have liked :
- A more obvious compatibility with DDR5 kits higher than 6000 MT/s non-EXPO
- Memory profiles available in the BIOS
As you have seen throughout this article, this AORUS Z690 Master has a lot of charm and its design has not been left to chance. We decided to pay particular attention to the first BIOS and it is clear that it is already very mature for this new architecture. The card has enough tools to take advantage of overclocking in watercooling but also under cold conditions. Thanks to AORUS France for making this model available and see you in a few days to discover the test of the Xtreme version.