Info Gigabyte Enables PCIe 4.0 Option In X470 BIOS Update

[PaulAlcorn]

Gigabyte's latest BIOS update adds support for PCIe 4.0 to existing X470 motherboards, but you'll need a Ryzen 3000 series processor to unlock the faster speeds.

Gigabyte Enables PCIe 4.0 Option In X470 BIOS Update : Read more

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I hope this doesn't mean there is an issue with X570. Doubtful tho since they are going to announce soon.
I actually think we will benefit from PCI-E 4.0 later on, however, most current devices won't benefit from it. I do think this slightly adds to Ryzens ever strong value since you can buy a potentially cheaper X470 board and get Ryzen 3000 support and PCI-E 4.0.

 

[razor512]

I wish they would make the mainstream CPUs offer more PCI express lanes. What is sad is that they are providing boards with multiple m.2slots but all of them require some compromise to use.

Soma boards will take a few lanes from the CPU, thus forcing your video card to run at X8 speed, while others may run off of the chipset, but share the equivalent of an X4 link with the X1 slots, as well as the sound card, USB ports, Ethernet ports, and SATA ports, thus any activity on any of those devices, directly reduces the throughput of your NVMe SSD (e.g., if you have a 970 pro, and play an mp3 from a different drive, you will notice that the soundcard will directly lower the throughput. same with the Ethernet port, or a SATA port.

With that in mind, they need to start offering at least 24 PCI express lanes so that a basic setup of a decent NVMe SSD, a few hard drives on the SATA ports, a PCI-E GPU, and probably 1 or 2 PCI-E X1 devices, all without having to deal with performance being crippled.

 

[hannibal]

The price, the price and segmentation. More lines means more complex motherboard. Also They make pro models more appealing because those offers more lines and They can ask more money from pro models. Same as with normal vs professional GPUs.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

With pcie 4.0, even if there is not extra pcie lanes, you are unlikely to run into bandwidth limits even if some devices can only use a few lanes.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I wish they would make the mainstream CPUs offer more PCI express lanes. What is sad is that they are providing boards with multiple m.2slots but all of them require some compromise to use.
....

I thought that was the impetus behind the X570 chipset. It will provide more high-speed (gen4) PCIe lanes for M.2 devices and PCIe slots. When it comes available it will slot in nicely to make a top-end, premium, AM4 motherboard.

 

[mattkiss]

"All PCIe lanes that hang off the PCH will also remain at PCIe 3.0 speeds."

Currently X470 and X370 boards are limited to PCIe 2.0 speeds on the PCIe lanes supplied by the PCH.

 

[razor512]

I just feel that compromises like this should not be present on the mainstream motherboards.

I can understand limits like that for something entry level, (e.g., your basic $60 ATX motherboard running an entry level CPU), but if you are at a core i5 or i7, or the AMD equivalent, tradeoffs like this should not be required.


For example, a user cannot have a setup of an NVMe SSD, 6 hard drives, a PCI-E X1 sound card, PCI-E X16 video card, and then upgrade to a 10GbE adapter (Asus XG-C100C) because the X4 slot is disabled when the m.2 slot is in use.

Then there is the issue of the shared bandwidth. If you have a PCI-E soundcard installed, along with a Samsung 970 pro running through the chipset, then doing as little as generating a tone while using ASIO on the soundcard, will cause the 970 pro to drop from around 3500MB/s reads, to around 3000MB/s reads.

They pretty much force you to go to a workstation class board and CPU to not cripple basic configurations.

As for the X570, I can't seem to fine any info in the PCI express lanes when it comes to bandwidth sharing and what ports get disabled.

 

[epobirs]

This will be far more useful for hardware developers than end users. By the time PCIe 4.0 products are desirable items for mainstream use, we'll have been through enough generations that anybody looking to host such a device will want a more up to date machine in which to do it. Where PCIe 4.0 gets interesting for many will be getting more done with the fewer lanes on affordable boards. Such as M.2 SSDs using just two lanes to perform comparably to current x4 devices. We'll also need those lanes for when USB 4.0 makes Thunderbolt For Everybody attainable.

 

[Gillerer]

I just feel that compromises like this should not be present on the mainstream motherboards.

Your post is confusing; you don't state what product (or chipset) you're referring to - or even if it's Intel or AMD. Where did the images come from? The motherboard mentioned in the article (X470 Aorus Gaming Wi-Fi 7) doesn't have such M.2 slots - it uses designations M2A and M2B.

And you can't get info on X570 PCI Express lanes, since the products haven't been launched yet - all we have are advance teasers.

 

[razor512]

I was mainly pointing out something I have seen in common across the current gen mainstream AMD and Intel platforms. The example I posted was from an X470 board, though similar limitations can be found on Z390 boards. It just doesn't seem like any of these companies are giving much attention to PCI-E lanes.

 

[unsivilaudio]

Option also exists on my Gigabyte AX370-Gaming K5 motherboard. Will investigate further. I seriously doubt Gigabyte will make a statement about it (lest backlash from AMD such as Asus experienced). Hopefully they leave it in future bios revisions.