Aorus AX370 Gaming 5 Motherboard Review

Motherboard makers will often experiment with different color combinations and try to anticipate what the market demands will be.  For instance, some companies sell a majority of their products in China and may include gold accents whenever they can.  Others market their products to gamers who seem to like Black and Red.  I’m not going to say that motherboard color schemes are what drive sales however “curb appeal” can go a long way.

Flipping a motherboard over can tell you a lot about its construction.  Here we can see that the back of the motherboard is virtually devoid of any surface components and features only minimal circuitry including a large patch where the audio controller should be.  The large metal square is the CPU backplate and is quite handy when it comes to installing custom coolers.

Moving to the CPU we can something we have seen in awhile, a ZIF socket.  AMD processors still have pins on the CPU and require this sliding socket type to install the CPU.  On both sides of the socket you’ll find the heatsink retention brackets which are often removed when installing anything other than an OEM style heatsink.

The AX370 Gaming 5 comes with a 6+4 phase VRM (total of 10 phases) VRM using the PowIRstages ICs which when combined with their 2oz copper PCB can supply more power to the CPU, with less heat and better efficiency. 

Behind the PWM cooler you'll find the CPU Power connection made up of a single 8-pin connector.  Given the location the power cables should be easy to hide in any modern chassis and easy to remove given the space between the power plug and I/O panel.