PCIe 4.0 options are now available in some 400-series AM4 motherboards

AMD’s next-generation Ryzen 3rd Generation processors will be supported on existing AM4 motherboards, utilising a new wave of BIOS updates to deliver backwards compatibility on AMD’s Zen 2 processors on previous generation AM4 mainboards. 

Back in January, we reported that some of AMD’s existing AM4 motherboards could support one of Ryzen 3rd Generation’s key features, PCIe 4.0, assuming that your existing AM4 motherboard met two requirements. The motherboard needed to meet the signalling requirements of PCIe 4.0, and second, the motherboard needs to support Ryzen 3rd Generation and support PCIe 4.0 in its BIOS. Gigabyte has become the first motherboard maker to deliver this support in their F40 BIOS for their X470 Aorus Gaming 7, at least according to Tom’s Hardware. 

Some reports online have also claimed that this feature has been added to B450 motherboards from Gigabyte, enabling PCIe 4.0 on PCIe lanes that connect directly to the user’s processor, restricting PCIe 4.0 support to specific sections of the motherboard. Beyond that, PCIe 4.0 will only work on Ryzen 3rd Generation processors. PCIe 4.0 support will be defined by a large number of factors, which means that PCIe 4.0 support on existing AM4 motherboards is likely to vary wildly between manufacturers and models.  

Gigabyte hasn’t officially announced PCIe 4.0 support on any of its 400/300 series AM4 motherboards, but the options are in their latest BIOS. PCIe 4.0 opens the door to faster PCIe devices, such as faster NVMe SSDs, PCIe 4.0 graphics cards and other devices that could benefit from the bandwidth boost.