In July, we reported how ASUS did not have support for PCIe Gen 4.0 in its line of Z490 motherboards, a standout feature of Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs. Let’s move on to 2021 and we can finally confirm this, as our sources had the chance to test several ASUS Z490 cards with a Rocket Lake CPU.
Buyers of ASUS Z490 motherboards will not be able to use PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe SSDs to their full potential, even running an Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPU
You can definitely get more information about ASUS ‘dire situation in this detailed article, but in summary, ASUS lost a lot in the PCIe Gen 4.0 movement with its Z490 line of motherboards while all other major AIBs implemented adequate Gen 4.0 support in their Z490 motherboards. Our source got his hands on several ASUS Z490 motherboards and tested them with Intel’s Rocket Lake CPU. Motherboards include:
- ASUS ROG Maximus XII HERO (Wi-Fi)
- ASUS TUF Gaming Z490-PLUS (Wi-Fi)
For testing purposes, a Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB SSD was used and during testing, the unit was only able to function at half its maximum potential. At the same time, PCIe Gen 4.0 functionality for GPUs was operating normally and this was confirmed by ASUS itself. The tests can be compared to the implementation of the MSI Z490 Gen 4 that we reported last month. You can see that when combined with an Intel Rocket Lake CPU, the MSI Z490 motherboard unlocks the full potential of the NVMe drive, offering some insane speeds that are faster than the custom NVMe drive found on Sony’s PS5 console.
With that said, ASUS has launched its line of Z590 motherboards that are more tuned for Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs and should offer full support for PCIe Gen 4.0 (not limited to just GPUs like Z490). ASUS also officially lists support for 11th Generation CPU and PCIe Gen 4.0, but this is limited to a single PCIe x16 slot.
But users who purchased ASUS Z490 motherboards to combine them with Intel Rocket Lake CPUs for Gen 4.0 compatibility will be disappointed that they cannot fully use their new CPUs and will have to purchase an entirely new platform to get support. appropriate.