Exclusive: GIGABYTE AORUS Z490 Motherboards are PCIe 4.0 Ready

GIGABYTE Z490 gets PCIe 4.0

In official marketing materials (which are under embargo) Gigabyte confirms that their motherboards are compatible with PCIe 4.0 devices, however, the functionally is limited. Gigabyte does not directly confirm what the limitation is, however, it is more than likely related to Rocket Lake-S series still being under embargo.

Intel Rocket Lake-S series is expected to launch after the Comet Lake-S series, either as part of the 10th Gen Core series or as 11th Gen Core later this year.

We already told you that Rocket Lake-S features PCIe 4.0 support and there were rumors that Z490 motherboards could support the new generation of the interface. This is especially important because AMD’s high-end X570 platform is PCIe 4.0 compatible and has been for quite a while now.

Quote from Gigabyte:

Gigabyte PCIe 4.0 Hardware Design

• 2x PCIE 4.0 Slot (Reinforced PCIe 4.0 x16 or x8/x8 with lower impedance)
• M.2 PCIe 4.0 Slot (M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot with lower impedance)
• PCIE 4.0 Turbo B-Clock (External clock generator for PCIe 4.0 overclocking)
• PCIE 4.0 Switches (Switch PCIe 4.0 x16 into PCIe x8/x8)
• PCIe 4.0 Re-driver (Boost & strengthen PCIe 4.0 signals to longer lengths)
• 3.3x Slot Signal Stability
• 4x Lower Low Signal Loss PCB

The Z490 series from Gigabyte will feature quite a few motherboards.  The new addition is Vision series, designed for content creators. The Vision G looks quite a lot like NZXT motherboards, sadly we can’t share the picture yet.

Update: Benchlife have leaked another two motherboards from Gigabyte lineup: AORUS Z490I Ultra and Z490 Vision G

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