Because of a Tweet by @momomo_us, we’ve got our first detailed have a look at Asus’ model new ROG Gen-Z.2 M.2 riser card that comes with the brand new AM5 ROG Crosshair X670E Excessive (opens in new tab) motherboard. What makes the brand new card so particular is added assist for PCIe Gen 5 SSDs.
The Gen-Z.2 is a proprietary PCIe card designed to fit into supported Asus motherboards. The cardboard options two M.2 slots on both aspect, with one supporting Gen 4 speeds and the opposite Gen 5. Each slots assist a most size of 110mm SSDs, however the Gen 5 slot will get its personal devoted passive heatsink cooler to assist in cooling extra power-hungry Gen 5 SSDs.
The cardboard sports activities an all-black end to match the colour scheme of Asus’ ROG Crosshair motherboards, and can sit perpendicular to the DDR5 slots to the precise of supported motherboards when put in. The stealthy coloration scheme of the Gen-Z.2 ought to support customers in search of a streamlined aesthetic, the place the DDR5 modules can stand out from the considerably cumbersome M.2 card.
The added heatsink will even considerably enhance the cooling efficiency of M.2 SSDs sitting within the main Gen 5 slot in comparison with SSDs sitting throughout the motherboard. The built-in heatsink has direct entry to airflow from the entrance consumption followers of a pc case, and is aided by the exhaust airflow from a CPU tower cooler.
The GenZ.2 card will even enhance the X670E Crosshair Excessive’s M.2 storage capability fairly a bit, and can double the board’s M.2 slot capability from two to 4 –three of which assist PCIe Gen 5. This isn’t to say the extra PCIe 5.0 M.2 card that the Excessive ships with, additional rising the board’s M.2 capability.
PCIe Gen 5 SSDs can be out coming quickly, with launch dates for some drives as early as October. However do not get your hopes excessive simply but; these first-generation variants will be unable to saturate the total bandwidth of 4 PCIe 5.0 lanes and can be restricted to only 10GBps to 12.4GBps. Nonetheless, these first-gen drives can be a lot sooner than the most effective PCIe Gen 4 drives in the marketplace right now. Even sooner PCIe 5 SSDs are anticipated to reach in 2023.
