Information regarding the compatibility of motherboards with PCIe 4.0 is now available from some manufacturers such as GIGABYTE, ASUS, MSI and ASrock for their Z490 models . This is a total novelty, since none of these boards will hit the market next week with official compatibility by Intel, but manufacturers have moved forward to offer future support for Rocket Lake-S and Ampere, which models of boards will offer PCIe 4.0?
All models of Z490 boards with PCIe 4.0
We start with the largest list of motherboards that will support PCIe 4.0 from GIGABYTE which has no less than 16 models that will be compatible. Compatible motherboards are as follows:
- Z490 AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS XTREME (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS ULTRA G2 (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS ULTRA (rev. 1.0)
- Z490I AORUS ULTRA (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS PRO AX (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS ELITE AC (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS ELITE (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS VISION G (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS VISION D (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS GAMING X (rev. 1.0)
- Z490M AORUS GAMING X (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS UD AC (rev. 1.0)
- Z490 AORUS UD (rev. 1.0)
- Z490M (rev. 1.0)
ASUS will live up to and include even its low-end motherboards
ASUS offers support for 15 of its Z490 motherboards and only its top-of-the-range ROG Maximus XII Extreme model has confirmed support for two M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots :
- ROG Maximus XII Extreme
- ROG Maximus XII Formula
- ROG Maximus XII Apex
- ROG Maximus XII Hero
- ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming
- ROG Strix Z490-F Gaming
- ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming (Wi-Fi)
- ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming
- ROG Strix Z490-A Gaming
- ROG Strix Z490-H Gaming
- ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming
- ProArt Z490-CREATOR 10G
- TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (Wi-Fi)
- TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS
- PRIME Z490-A
MSI disappoints again: 10 boards and only one low-end
- MEG Z490 GODLIKE
- MEG Z490 ACE
- MEG Z490 UNIFY
- MEG Z490 GAMING CARBON WIFI
- MEG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
- MEG Z490M GAMING EDGE WIFI
- MEG Z490 GAMING PLUS
- MEG Z490 TOMAHAWK
- Z490-A PRO
ASRock will not risk with many models, but in return offers a surprise
ASRock is the one that offers fewer models with only 6, although it is the only one that includes a motherboard with the H470 chipset:
- Z490 AQUA
- Z490 Taichi
- Z490 Extreme4
- Z490 Steel Legend
- Z490 PG Velocita
- H470 Steel Legend
All manufacturers offer partial compatibility as the Intel Comet Lake-S processor itself does not natively support via a PCIe 4.0 board.
ASRock Gives H470 Chipset Support for a PCIe 4.0 Board
Regarding the compatibility of these motherboards with PCIe 4.0, the vast majority have support only in the PCIe x16 port, but not in the storage slots and it is something that must be made clear so as not to regret it in the future, although the PCIe SSDs 4.0 does not occupy the bandwidth that PCIe 4.0 offers for a big difference.
You have to wait for Intel Rocket Lake-S to see full, native compatibility, and this will be with boards based on the Z590 chipset .
The top-of-the-range Z490 motherboards will have nothing to envy to Z590 models, (only greater PCIe 4.0 lines are expected in said chipset and USB 4) so if someone is interested in making a purchase now for the future update is recommended to opt for one of these models.
