PCIe 4.0 at ASUS on Z490 not easy

PCIe 4.0 at ASUS on Z490

We reported it to you shortly after receiving our test cards, the Pcie management on Z490 is far from being identical from one manufacturer to another. Indeed, this chipset is basically supposed to allow 10th generation Cpus—Comet Lake—to run correctly, which only allows the use of standard 3.0. However, leaks have since announced that Rocket Lake, the 11th series, would also make use of the LGA1200 socket and would be Z490 compatible, while Alder Lake, the sequel, would happen—again—on another form factor of the CPU.

LGA1200 socket and would be Z490 compatible

But this «rocket» (amateur of French speaking, hello) would be accompanied by the support of Pcie 4.0 so as to make play equal with the Zen2 competition from AMD. Problem: not all cards were manufactured with the same precautions, and it is ASUS that is now the turkey of the stuffing. Indeed, while some cards already use microelectronic components that natively manage Pcie 4.0—among other things for cost reasons—the fact is not universal, and the stick falls on ASUS, who preferred to do without some of these components on many of his boards.

 A strange fact, because the firm is usually the first to brag about its new technologies. It is therefore necessary to believe that the wheel turns, and it is finally GIGABYTE, MSI and Asrock that have had the first winds of this next support, early enough to adapt their products. According to a source close to the case, Intel actually initially replied to the Taiwanese that Pcie 4.0 would not be available on Comet Lake, before changing its mind, so that only the Maximus XII Extrem ROG contains compatible hardware. However, not everything remains clear, and this is often the case with this kind of rumors: the integrators are indeed often very happy to confuse the consumer, and, for the moment, no blue CPU has yet been able to operate this new standard... Let’s bet that these compatibility stories are clearly postponed in the future.