MSI has officially unlocked PCIe Gen 4.0 support for Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake CPUs that will soon vie for a spot on our list of Best CPUs. The update comes through new BIOS updates for MSI's entire Z490 lineup, following up on Z490's potential to bring PCIe 4.0 support to Rocket Lake platforms.
MSI says it designed its Z490 boards specifically for Gen 4.0 support from the very beginning by implementing " PCIe 4.0 ready clock generator, lane switch, redriver, PCIe slots, and M.2 connectors." You can see the list of supported motherboards below.
Of course, other manufacturers have designed their Z490 motherboards for Gen 4.0 support, but it remains to be seen whether these manufacturers will fully support PCIe 4.0 in all areas or if it will be supported in a limited capacity, say only on certain slots. We've reached out to MSI for clarification on the matter.
At least we know for certain that MSI is living up to Z490's promise by providing PCIe Gen 4.0 support to customers who want to upgrade to Rocket Lake without the hassle of upgrading the motherboard as well. We expect that other vendors will come forward with BIOS updates as we move closer to the Rocket Lake launch at the end of the month.
