GIGABYTE introduced a new Socket AM4 motherboard as part of a new wave of motherboards based on the older socket that supports DDR4 memory, timed with the re-launch of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor. The B550 AORUS Elite WiFi7 is essentially an upgrade of the B550 AORUS Elite AX V2, with a Wi-Fi 7 WLAN module replacing the Wi-Fi 6E module. GIGABYTE also took the opportunity to give the board its latest Wi-Fi antenna EZ-plug connector, replacing the older screw-type RP-SMA connectors. It also comes with a newer antenna. The WLAN module on this board is the Realtek RTL8922AE, which supports Wi-Fi 7 with 160 MHz channel width, along with Bluetooth 5.4 support, which is a significant upgrade over the MediaTek RZ608 or Realtek RTL8852CE module on the older board that supported Wi-Fi 6E with 80 MHz or 160 MHz channel widths (depending on the PCB revision), and Bluetooth 5.2.
The new B550 AORUS Elite WiFi7 is built in the ATX form-factor, and pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, and uses a 12+2 phase VRM. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and an M.2 Gen 4 NVMe slot. The board's second M.2 NVMe slot is Gen 3, and wired to the B550 FCH, and shares its lanes with a PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4) slot. There is a third x16 slot that's electrically x1, along with a physical x1 slot. Besides the contemporary WLAN module, the board comes with a 2.5 GbE wired LAN interface driven by a Realtek 8125-series controller. The onboard audio solution uses a Realtek ALC1200 HDA codec. USB connectivity includes a 5 Gbps USB-C header, two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 ports by headers, two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, four 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a couple of USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel, besides four via headers. Expect a sub-$160 price.