Asus appears to have sent a Z690 motherboard for review in the box to a B660 device. A box that indicates that motherboards with the upcoming control circuit may be without support for PCI Express 5.0.
With the launch of Intel’s Alder Lake architecture, it also launched its Z690 control circuit. This is the one that is at the top of the hierarchy of new control circuits for consumers. Intel is also expected to launch control circuits intended for lower price ranges. Among these, the B660 is expected to be the control circuit for locked, non-K models of processors in the middle class.
This upcoming control circuit now looks like it could be without support for PCI Express 5.0, which the Z690 can be proud of. The information comes from Videocardz which claims to have received a picture of the box for a B660 from a source not mentioned by name. The box in question must have been sent out together with a Z690 motherboard to be reviewed.
Should it turn out that the B660 will actually be without any support for PCI Express 5.0, it can probably raise a lot of eyebrows. This is given that PCI Express 5.0 paths are connected to the processors themselves and not to the control circuit in question. Another possibility is that Intel will let motherboard manufacturers choose between PCIe 5.0 and 4.0 on their B660 motherboards. Like the memory support of the Z690 where we see either DDR4 or DDR5 depending on which price range the motherboard in question fits into.
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