AMD is reportedly working on Z490 series chipset
AMD is reportedly working on Z490 series chipset
This upgrade is essentially what H370 and B360 provide when compared to Intel’s last-generation H270 and B250 chipsets, acting as a proper successor to Z270. Comparatively speaking Z370 was more of a side-grade, offering support for Coffee Lake CPUs but not much else over Z270.
Rumours are now circulating that AMD plans to make a similar move with a new Z490 chipset (AMD loves to 1up Intel’s Chipset names), providing users with four additional PCIe 3.0 lanes to offer end-users feature upgrades over X470.
The slide below reportedly comes from a leaked Gigabyte Aorus slide deck, detailing the new AMD chipset. At this time it is unknown what motherboard makers will do with these extra PCIe lanes, though they could be used to provide users with an additional M.2 slot. Alternatively, motherboard makers could use these ports to offer an onboard 10 Gigabit Ethernet port, provide support for Thunderbolt 3 (which is now royalty-free) devices or offer support for more onboard storage connectivity options (USB 3.1 or SATA ports).
At this time AMD’s Z490 chipset shouldn’t be considered as anything more than a rumour, as this is the first time that we have seen any references to an AMD chipset above X470. Since the release of Ryzen AMD has stolen a lot of chipset names from Intel, with AMD’s X399 and B350 providing a confusing comparison with Intel’s X299 and B250 (and now B360) chipsets, making a Z490 chipset more than plausible from a naming perspective.
You can join the discussion on AMD’s rumoured Z490 motherboard chipset on the OC3D Forums.
Special thanks to Dicehunter for the info.