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Comparison ASRock B450 Pro4 vs Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO rev. 1.0

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ASRock B450 Pro4
Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO rev. 1.0
ASRock B450 Pro4Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO rev. 1.0
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Support for NVMe SSDs. M.2 slot cooling. High quality audio codec. optical output. USB-C and USB 3.1 gen2.
Featuresgaming for overclockinggaming for overclocking
SocketAMD AM4AMD AM4
Form factorATXATX
Power phases911
VRM heatsink
LED lighting
Lighting syncGigabyte RGB Fusion
Size (HxW)305x224 mm305x244 mm
Chipset
ChipsetAMD B450AMD B450
BIOSAmiAmi
DualBIOS
UEFI BIOS
RAM
DDR44 slot(s)4 slot(s)
Memory moduleDIMMDIMM
Operation mode2 channel2 channel
Max. clock frequency3200 MHz3600 MHz
Max. memory64 GB64 GB
XMP
Drive interface
SATA 3 (6Gbps)66
M.2 connector22
M.21xSATA/PCI-E 2x, 1xPCI-E 4x1xSATA/PCI-E 4x, 1xPCI-E 2x
M.2 SSD cooling
Integrated RAID controller
 /RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10/
 /RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10/
Expansion slots
1x PCI-E slots42
PCI-E 16x slots22
PCI Modes16x/4x16x/4x
PCI Express3.03.0
CrossFire (AMD)
Steel PCI-E connectors
Internal connections
TPM connector
USB 2.022
USB 3.2 gen111
ARGB LED strip1
RGB LED strip1
More featuresCOM Port, AMD Fan LED
Video outputs
D-Sub output (VGA)
DVI outputDVI-D
HDMI output
DisplayPort
Integrated audio
AudiochipRealtek ALC892Realtek ALC1220-VB
Sound (channels)7.17.1
Optical S/P-DIF
Network interfaces
LAN (RJ-45)1 Gbps1 Gbps
LAN ports11
LAN controllerRealtek RTL8111HIntel GbE
External connections
USB 2.02
USB 3.2 gen144
USB 3.2 gen211
USB C 3.2 gen211
PS/21
Power connectors
Main power socket24 pin24 pin
CPU power8 pin8 pin
Fan power connectors55
CPU Fan 4-pin11
CPU/Water Pump Fan 4-pin11
Chassis/Water Pump Fan 4-pin33
Added to E-Catalogjuly 2018july 2018

Power phases

The number of processor power phases provided on the motherboard.

Very simplistically, phases can be described as electronic blocks of a special design, through which power is supplied to the processor. The task of such blocks is to optimize this power, in particular, to minimize power surges when the load on the processor changes. In general, the more phases, the lower the load on each of them, the more stable the power supply and the more durable the electronics of the board. And the more powerful the CPU and the more cores it has, the more phases it needs; this number increases even more if the processor is planned to be overclocked. For example, for a conventional quad-core chip, only four phases are often enough, and for an overclocked one, at least eight may be needed. It is because of this that powerful processors can have problems when used on inexpensive low-phase motherboards.

Detailed recommendations on choosing the number of phases for specific CPU series and models can be found in special sources (including the documentation for CPU itself). Here we note that with numerous phases on the motherboard (more than 8), some of them can be virtual. To do this, real electronic blocks are supplemented with doublers or even triplers, which, formally, increases the number of phases: for example, 12 claimed phases can represent 6 physical blocks with doublers. However, virtual phases are much inferior to real ones in terms of capabilities — in fact, t...hey are just additions that slightly improve the characteristics of real phases. So, let's say, in our example, it is more correct to speak not about twelve, but only about six (though improved) phases. These nuances must be specified when choosing a motherboard.

LED lighting

The presence of its own LED backlight on the motherboard. This feature does not affect the functionality of the "motherboard", but gives it an unusual appearance. Therefore, it hardly makes sense for an ordinary user to specifically look for such a model (a motherboard without backlighting is enough for him), but for modding lovers, backlighting can be very useful.

LED backlighting can take the form of individual lights or LED strips, come in different colours (sometimes with a choice of colours) and support additional effects — flashing, flickering, synchronization with other components (see "Lightning synchronization"), etc. Specific features depend on the motherboard model.

Lighting sync

Synchronization technology provided in the board with LED backlight (see above).

Synchronization itself allows you to "match" the backlight of the motherboard with the backlight of other system components — cases, video cards, keyboards, mice, etc. Thanks to this matching, all components can change colour synchronously, turn on / off at the same time, etc. Specific features the operation of such backlighting depends on the synchronization technology used, and, usually, each manufacturer has its own (Mystic Light Sync for MSI, RGB Fusion for Gigabyte, etc.). The compatibility of the components also depends on this: they must all support the same technology. So the easiest way to achieve backlight compatibility is to collect components from the same manufacturer.

Size (HxW)

Motherboard dimensions in height and width. It is assumed that the traditional placement of motherboards is vertical, so in this case one of the dimensions is called not the length, but the height.

Motherboard sizes are largely determined by their form factors (see above), however, the size of a particular motherboard may differ slightly from the standard adopted for this form factor. In addition, it is usually easier to clarify the dimensions according to the characteristics of a particular motherboard than to look for or remember general information on the form factor. Therefore, size data can be given even for models that fully comply with the standard.

The third dimension — thickness — is considered less important for a number of reasons, so it is often omitted.

DualBIOS

Motherboard support for DualBIOS technology.

Crashes and errors in the BIOS (see BIOS) are one of the most serious problems that can occur with a modern PC — they not only make the computer unusable, but also very difficult to fix. DualBIOS technology is designed to make it easier to deal with such problems. Motherboards made using this technology have two chips for writing the BIOS: the first chip contains the main BIOS version, which is used to boot the system in normal mode, the second one contains a backup copy of the BIOS in the original (factory) configuration. The backup chip comes into operation if an error is detected in the main BIOS: if an error is detected in the programme code, it is restored to the original factory version, but if there was a hardware failure, the backup chip takes control of the system, replacing the main one. This allows you to keep your system up and running even in the event of serious BIOS problems without resorting to complex recovery procedures.

Max. clock frequency

The maximum RAM clock speed supported by the motherboard. The actual clock frequency of the installed RAM modules should not exceed this indicator — otherwise, malfunctions are possible, and the capabilities of the “RAM” cannot be used to the fullest.

For modern PCs, a RAM frequency of 1500 – 2000 MHz or less is considered very low, 2000 – 2500 MHz is modest, 2500 – 3000 MHz is average, 3000 – 3500 MHz is above average, and the most advanced boards can support frequencies of 3500 – 4000 MHz and even more than 4000 MHz.

M.2

Electrical (logical) interfaces implemented through physical M.2 connectors on the motherboard.

See above for more details on such connectors. Here we note that they can work with two types of interfaces:
  • SATA is a standard originally created for hard drives. M.2 usually supports the newest version, SATA 3; however, even it is noticeably inferior to PCI-E in terms of speed (600 MB / s) and functionality (only drives);
  • PCI-E is the most common modern interface for connecting internal peripherals (otherwise NVMe). Suitable for both expansion cards (such as wireless adapters) and drives, while PCI-E speeds allow you to fully realize the potential of modern SSDs. The maximum communication speed depends on the version of this interface and on the number of lines. In modern M.2 connectors, you can find PCI-E versions 3.0 and 4.0, with speeds of about 1 GB / s and 2 GB / s per lane, respectively; and the number of lanes can be 1, 2 or 4 (PCI-E 1x, 2x and 4x respectively)
Specifically, the M.2 interface in the characteristics of motherboards is indicated by the number of connectors themselves and by the type of interfaces provided for in each of them. For example, the entry "3xSATA / PCI-E 4x" means three connectors that can work both in SATA format and in PCI-E 4x format; and the designation "1xSATA / PCI-E 4x, 1xPCI-E 2x" means two connectors, one of which works as SATA or PCI-E 4x, and the second — only as PCI-E 2x.

M.2 SSD cooling

Motherboard-integrated cooling for M.2 SSD drives.

This connector allows you to achieve high speed, however, for the same reason, many M.2 SSDs have high heat dissipation, and additional cooling may be required to avoid overheating. Most often, the simplest radiator in the form of a metal plate is responsible for such cooling — in the case of an SSD, this is quite enough.

1x PCI-E slots

Number of PCI-E (PCI-Express) 1x slots installed on the motherboard. There are motherboards for 1 PCI-E 1x slot, 2 PCI-E 1x slots, 3 PCI-E 1x ports and even more.

The PCI Express bus is used to connect various expansion cards — network and sound cards, video adapters, TV tuners and even SSD drives. The number in the name indicates the number of PCI-E lines (data transfer channels) supported by this slot; the more lines, the higher the throughput. Accordingly, PCI-E 1x is the basic, slowest version of this interface. The data transfer rate for such slots depends on the PCI-E version (see "PCI Express Support"): in particular, it is slightly less than 1 GB / s for version 3.0 and slightly less than 2 GB / s for 4.0.

Separately, we note that the general rule for PCI-E is as follows: the board must be connected to a slot with the same or more lines. Thus, only single-lane boards will be guaranteed to be compatible with PCI-E 1x.
ASRock B450 Pro4 often compared
Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO rev. 1.0 often compared