I love a good Mini-ITX motherboard. As someone who tests technology for a living, I’m lucky enough to get to play with a seriously high-end device, but I still love it when a capable bargain board shows up on my desk. Not everyone needs or wants a motherboard that costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Sometimes an entry-level model can provide some surprise.
It’s a simple board built to house a single graphics card, one or two SSDs and a regular memory kit
The Gigabyte A620I AX is an entry-level mini-ITX model. As the name suggests, this is built around AMD’s budget A620 chipset. Even an ATX A620 option won’t have the benefits of the premium chipsets, while Mini-ITX A620 boards will have to sacrifice even more. You won’t find PCIe 5.0 or CPU overclocking support, and you’ll have to give up usable PCIe lanes, SATA ports, and high-speed USB.
As you might have guessed after reading this, the Gigabyte A620I AX isn’t what you’d call a feature-heavy board, but at $139 / £162 / AU$259 you wouldn’t expect that. A mid-range option like the MSI MPG B650I Edge WiFi that I recently reviewed will cost almost twice as much, and an X670 board will set you back even more. The Gigabyte A620I is a simple board built for a single graphics card, an SSD or two, and a regular memory kit with a standard set of peripherals.
The A620I AX won’t win any beauty contests. That appearance doesn’t matter much in a small form factor system, where the board is often hidden. It is a socket AM5 board that supports AMD Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series processors. The good news is that Gigabyte has already released a Zen 5-supporting BIOS, and given that AMD has announced it will support AM5 for some time now, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get a Zen 6 chip in there in a few months places. years from now.
Gigabyte A620I AX Specifications
Wall outlet: AMD AM5
CPU Compatibility: AMD Ryzen 7000/8000 series processors
Form factor: Mini ITX
Memory Support: DDR5-6400(OC), up to 96 GB
Storage: 1x M.2, 2x SATA
USB: Up to 1x USB 10Gbps, 5x USB 5Gbps, 5x USB 2.0
Display: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DP 1.4
Networks: Realtek 2.5G LAN, Realtek WiFi 6E
Audio: Realtek ALC897
Price: $139 / £162 / AU$259
The board supports regular memory kits up to DDR5-6200. That’s not much by today’s standards, but that’s fine for a budget gaming PC. The VRM is also an entry-level model, because it is a 5+2+1 system. At least it has a decent heat sink in it. Gigabyte’s CPU support page lists support for chips including the Ryzen 9 7950X. It might be able to handle it, but I would recommend something more expensive on the motherboard front if you plan on using such a high-end chip.
The board’s real weaknesses lie in its storage and connectivity options. It only supports one PCIe Gen 4 M.2 SSD and two SATA drives. That’s the bare minimum any PC gamer should put up with in these modern times. The M.2 slot contains no heatsink, and the bottom is actually the chipset’s heatsink, that alone add heat to an SSD. I would definitely recommend getting an SSD with an integrated heat sink.
The rear I/O is also not filled with ports and lacks an integrated shield, which is rare these days. There are six USB ports, consisting of a single 10 Gbps port, two 5 Gbps ports (one of which is Type-C) plus three USB 2.0 ports. There’s a BIOS flashback button, DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 ports, which are essential for using integrated graphics and especially 8000G series chips. By the way, if you use the latter, you have an attractive and affordable little gaming system.
The networking capabilities are as good as you can hope for in this price range. Realtek 2.5G LAN and WiFi 6E are everything you’d reasonably expect from boards twice the price. It is Realtek all-round because the audio codec is ALC897. Again, not unexpected in this price range.
System performance
Game performance
Test setup
CPU: AMD Ryzen7 7700X
Pictures: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition
RAM: 2x 16GB G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 C36
Storage: 2TB Kingston KC3000
Cooling: CoolerMaster PL360 Flux 360mm AIO
Power supply: Corsair HX1000i
For testing I used a Ryzen 7 7700X instead of the 7950X I would normally use for AM5 testing. It just makes more sense to use such a chip with an entry-level model, and even the 7700X has a TDP of 105W and can use up to 142W natively. A 65W option makes more sense with an A620 board like the A620I AX. The VRM heatsink proved to be sufficient and did not feel hot.
Compared to a few B650 motherboards, including the ASRock B650E PG-ITX WiFi, the little Gigabyte did what was expected. In the CPU-limited gaming tests, the Gigabyte even showed a consistent lead, which bodes well if you plan to build a gaming rig with the A620I AX.
Buy as…
✅Your budget isn’t big for a discrete graphics card: Pair it with a Ryzen 8000 series APU and you have the most affordable route to 1080p gaming you can get right now.
✅ You have a super tight budget: There are cheaper non-ITX boards out there, but this is about the cheapest option out there if you want to build a new and powerful Mini-ITX system.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You have a lot of peripherals or storage space: You can’t expect too much from a $139 ITX board. It’s not something for file collectors or users with a lot of USB devices.
❌ You have a powerful CPU: The VRM of the boards is quite simple. If you have a 105W CPU or higher, you’ll be better off with something more expensive.
Whether you should consider buying the Gigabyte A620I AX essentially depends on how big or small your budget is. If you have a 105W CPU, I recommend going for the higher price. But if you’re on a budget, there are some key features that make it an interesting option.
I think it will be a solid choice if you plan to build a small form factor system with a Ryzen 8000 series APU. You can game at 1080p, and the savings you make by not having to buy a GPU can be significant.
It’s also the kind of board that only really makes sense for a fairly simple system, even if you’re using a high-end graphics card. Add an M.2 SSD for your operating system, a SATA drive for a game library, and 32GB or 64GB of memory and you have the core of a capable SFF system.
There is not much competition in this price range. The ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi is an option. It can accommodate a second M.2 SSD, but it lacks a DP port on the back, which I consider essential for gaming with integrated graphics. The choice would ultimately be yours.
The Gigabyte A620I AX is a no-nonsense board that does the realistic minimum. It’s a solid but unspectacular option, although at this price it’s important to keep expectations in check. It’ll happily sit at the heart of a budget gaming system, and with its ability to house upcoming Zen 5 CPUs, it’ll have a good life ahead of it too.