Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Which Motherboards Support PCIe 5.0? (2022)

Find out how to choose a motherboards with PCI-Express 5.0 support.

Motherboard Timur Garifov / Unsplash

Last Updated: April 12, 2022

Written by Kevin Jones

Perhaps you are upgrading to a new computer and want to know which motherboards will work with the latest generation of CPUs. Or maybe you want to know which devices are available that support PCIe 5.0. In this article, we'll fill you in on the details for future-proofing your system to support PCIe 5.0 speeds.

Which Motherboards Support PCIe 5.0?

Section Link

Intel's 12th generation Core processors, code-named "Alder Lake," support PCIe 5.0. Intel 12th Gen Core CPUs use an LGA 1700 socket.

AMD has not yet released its PCIe 5.0 processors but is expected to include PCIe 5.0 support in their next-generation Zen 4 architecture, which AMD will release in the second half of 2022.

For 12th Gen Intel CPUs, PCIe 5.0 support means either one x16 or two x8 PCIe slots can run at PCIe 5.0 speeds for graphics or storage purposes. The CPUs provide four additional PCIe 4.0 lanes (e.g., an x4 slot) that you can only use for storage devices.

For compatibility with Intel's 12th Gen Core CPUs, you'll need to use a motherboard with a Z690, H670, B660, or H610 chipset. Motherboards with the Z690 chipset were the first ones available, while motherboards with the other chipsets are starting to be released throughout 2022.

The W680 and Q670 chipsets are intended for workstation and business use cases; their availability in stand-alone motherboards is limited.

Get motherboard recommendations
for a specific 12th Gen Core CPU:
Intel 600 Series Desktop Chipsets
Z690H670B660H610W680Q670
Recommended Usage For Enthusiast Gamer PCs For General Home and Gaming PCs For Budget PCs For Barebones PCs For High-End Creative/Engineering Workstations For Nicer Business PCs
Motherboard Availability Limited Limited
Launch Date Q4 2021 Q1 2022 Q1 2022 Q1 2022 Q1 2022 Q1 2022
CPU Overclocking
See Exceptions: MOTHERBOARD 		Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Memory Overclocking Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
PCIe 5.0 Slots via Processor One x16 or Two x8 One x16 or Two x8 One x16 One x16 One x16 or Two x8 One x16 or Two x8
PCIe 4.0 Slots via Processor One x4 One x4 One x4 None One x4 One x4
PCIe 4.0 Lanes via Chipset Up to 12 Up to 12 Up to 6 None Up to 12 Up to 12
PCIe 3.0 Lanes via Chipset Up to 16 Up to 12 Up to 8 8 Up to 16 Up to 12
Memory Channels 2 2 2 1 2 2
Integrated Wireless Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+) Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+)
DMI 4.0 Lanes 8 8 4 4 8 8
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Up to 4 Up to 2 Up to 2 None Up to 4 Up to 4
USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 Gbps) Up to 10 Up to 4 Up to 4 Up to 2 Up to 10 Up to 8
USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 (5 Gbps) Up to 10 Up to 8 Up to 6 Up to 4 Up to 10 Up to 10
USB 2.0 Ports 14 14 12 10 14 14
Wi-Fi 6E Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SATA 3.0 Ports Up to 8 Up to 8 Up to 4 Up to 4 Up to 8 Up to 8
PCIe RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 None None 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10
SATA RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10 None 0, 1, 5, 10 0, 1, 5, 10

MOTHERBOARD The motherboard must support overclocking to use overclocking capabilities. Motherboards with Z-prefixed chipsets more commonly support overclocking.

Note that the chipsets don't provide PCIe 5.0 lanes for M.2 storage devices. PCIe 5.0 is only available for the PCI-Express slots connected directly to the CPU. However, the chipsets do use a new DMI 4.0 link which is twice as fast as the 3.0 link used by the 500-series chipsets.

GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

Check out my Recommended PCIe 5.0 CPUs and Motherboards below.

DDR4 or DDR5 Memory

Section Link

Because DDR4 and DDR5 are not backward or forward compatible, you must decide which one you want to go with before selecting a motherboard.

DDR5 memory is currently more expensive than DDR4.

However, it offers up to double the stock data rates of DDR4. Overclockers could push this limit even further.

Additionally, DDR5 supports higher-capacity UDIMMs (128 GB vs. 32 GB).

DDR5 may experience slower timings at initial release but should be much better than DDR4 as the technology matures. However, keep in mind that the timings scale inversely with the clock rate (frequency). The timing values are in units of clock cycles, but more cycles are happening per second with DDR5. For example, DDR3-2133 CL10 has nearly the same latency as DDR5-8400 CL40. So don't let the CL40 timings of DDR5 scare you away; the number just looks bigger!

Consumer DDR4 vs. DDR5
DDR4DDR5
Max UDIMM (Unbuffered) Capacity 32 GB 128 GB
Bandwidth 12800–25600 MB/s 38400–57600 MB/s
Transfer Rate 1600–3200 MT/s 4800–7200 MT/s
Base Frequency 800–1600 MHz 2400–3600 MHz
Effective Frequency 1600–3200 MHz 4800–7200 MHz
Voltage 1.2 V 1.1 V
On-die ECC No Yes
Section Link

Best Intel High-Performance Enthusiast CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K

  • Up to 5.2 GHz: perfect for games, video editing, and high-intensity tasks.

  • 16 cores (8 Performance + 8 Efficiency): Quite a few cores considering the frequency! This combination makes it a great all-around system that can handle almost any task.

  • Virtualization features make it great for running virtual machines.

  • Check the latest price of the Intel Core i9-12900K on Amazon (affiliate link).

    Intel Core i9-12900K Processor 16 Cores (8P+8E) up to 5.2 GHz Intel Core i9-12900K Processor 16 Cores (8P+8E) up to 5.2 GHz Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

  • For the Intel Core i9-12900K CPU, you'll need a motherboard with overclocking support to overclock the CPU. Motherboards with the Z690 chipset typically support CPU overclocking. Otherwise, you can use a motherboard with Intel's other 600-series desktop chipsets (e.g., H670, B660, H610).

  • Our recommended DDR5 motherboard to pair with the i9-12900K is Gigabyte's Z690 AORUS Master: GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

    • PCIe 5.0 support
    • It supports up to 128GB of DDR5 memory (DDR5 provides the fastest memory speeds)!
    • 10 Gbps Ethernet port is faster than any home Internet speed available with tons of room to spare for file transfers.
    • Wi-Fi 6E makes it easy to reach the fastest speeds and future-proof your Wi-Fi system.
    • Bluetooth 5.2 is great for streaming music to Bluetooth headphones.
    • Four x4 NVMe M.2 slots, which is fantastic! Three of these run at PCIe 4.0 speeds, and one at PCIe 3.0 speeds.
    • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
    • Check the latest price of the GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master on Amazon (affiliate link).

  • Our recommended DDR4 motherboard to pair with the i9-12900K is Gigabyte's Z690 AORUS Elite AX DDR4: GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Elite AX DDR4 GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Elite AX DDR4 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

    • PCIe 5.0 support
    • It supports up to 128GB of DDR4 memory!
    • 2.5 Gb Ethernet port is faster than most home Internet speeds with room to spare for file transfers.
    • Wi-Fi 6
    • Bluetooth 5.2 is great for streaming music to Bluetooth headphones.
    • Four x4 NVMe M.2 slots, which is fantastic! All four of these run at PCIe 4.0 speeds.
    • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
    • Check the latest price of the GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Elite AX DDR4 on Amazon (affiliate link).

Best Value CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K

  • Less than half the price of the i9-12900K, but still excellent performance at up to 4.9 GHz.

  • 10 cores (6 Performance + 4 Efficiency): This core count makes it suitable for everyday multi-threading tasks, such as having tons of browser windows open.

  • Virtualization features make it great for running virtual machines.

  • Check the latest price of the Intel Core i5-12600K on Amazon (affiliate link).

    Intel Core i5-12600K Intel Core i5-12600K Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

  • For the Intel Core i5-12600K CPU, you'll need a motherboard with overclocking support to overclock the CPU. Motherboards with the Z690 chipset typically support CPU overclocking. Otherwise, you can use a motherboard with Intel's other 600-series desktop chipsets (e.g., H670, B660, H610).

  • Our recommended DDR5 motherboard to pair with the i5-12600K is GIGABYTE's Z690 AORUS PRO motherboard: GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

    • PCIe 5.0 support
    • It supports up to 128GB of DDR5 memory!
    • Three NVMe M.2 slots, which is excellent! These all run at PCIe 4.0 speeds.
    • 2.5 Gb Ethernet port is faster than most home Internet speeds with room to spare for file transfers.
    • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
    • Check the latest price of the GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO on Amazon (affiliate link).

  • Our recommended DDR4 motherboard to pair with the i5-12600K is GIGABYTE's Z690 Gaming X DDR4 motherboard: GIGABYTE Z690 Gaming X DDR4 GIGABYTE Z690 Gaming X DDR4 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

    • PCIe 5.0 support
    • It supports up to 128GB of DDR4 memory!
    • Four x4 NVMe M.2 slots, which is fantastic! All four of these run at PCIe 4.0 speeds.
    • 2.5 Gb Ethernet port is faster than most home Internet speeds with room to spare for file transfers.
    • USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 offers 20 Gbps USB speeds!
    • Check the latest price of the GIGABYTE Z690 Gaming X DDR4 on Amazon (affiliate link).
Section Link

Intel's 12th generation Core CPU uses an LGA 1700 socket.

Locked Intel CPUs may come with a stock CPU cooler. These CPU models do not have a "K" in the name. While stock coolers will prevent your CPU from overheating, your CPU will throttle its performance during games and other intensive tasks. Higher TDP coolers will keep your CPU at turbo speeds for longer durations. Stock coolers are often quite loud at their maximum speed.

The LGA 1700 socket will require a CPU cooler that supports the new socket size. Some manufacturers are releasing upgrade kits for LGA 1200 heatsinks to support the new size.

Best AIO Liquid Cooler: Enermax Liqmax III 360

Best Dual-Fan Air CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15

  • Dual 140 mm fans provide 220-watt TDP (183 NSPR) of cooling capability.
  • Supports a variety of CPU sockets, including Intel LGA 1700, 1200, 1156, 1155, 1151, 1150, 2011, 2066 and AMD AM4, AM3, AM3+, AM2, AM2+, FM2, FM2+.
  • Quiet operation at 24.6 dBA. Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

Runner Up - Dual-Fan Air CPU Cooler: Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 510

  • This CPU cooler doesn't have any fancy LED lights, but the dual 120 mm fans do a great job of cooling LGA 1700 CPUs.
  • Suppose you think this cooler will take up too much space. In that case, Thermaltake has a few single-fan TOUGHAIR variants which use different orientations.
  • This CPU cooler has a 2000 RPM max speed for optimal cooling.
  • 180-watt TDP (Thermal Design Power). Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 510 Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 510 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link
Section Link

Before purchasing memory, review your motherboard specification to verify which speeds are supported. For example, if a DDR4 motherboard stated that it supports "DDR4 3400(O.C.) / 3333(O.C.) / 3300(O.C.) / 3200 / 3000," that would mean that it could support DDR4-3400, DDR4-3333, and DDR4-3300 with memory overclocking, and DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3000 at stock speeds. Motherboard specifications also indicate the maximum capacity per stick of RAM (DIMM) and across all slots.

  • At an effective frequency of 4800 MHz, this memory hits the fastest speeds supported by Intel Alder Lake (e.g., 12th Gen Core) CPUs without overclocking.
  • Compact heat spreaders avoid conflicting with a CPU cooler.
  • 32 GB provides ample memory for gaming and multitasking. Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 4800MHz Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 4800MHz Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

  • At an effective frequency of 3200 MHz, this memory hits the fastest supported stock DDR4 speeds.

  • It is also available in other (effective) frequencies for overclockers, including 3600 MHz and 4000 MHz.

  • Lower-speed versions are also available on Amazon, in various capacities, including DDR4-2933 (affiliate link), DDR4-2666 (affiliate link), and DDR4-2400 (affiliate link).

  • The low-profile form factor ensures that the heat spreaders don't get in the way of other devices, including your CPU heatsink. Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

How Fast Is PCIe 5.0?

Section Link

PCI-Express speeds are based on the PCI-Express version and the number of lanes used. One lane is referred to as x1, two lanes as x2, etc. PCI-Express technically supports up to a width of x32. However, most consumer motherboards have some set of these PCIe widths: x1, x2, x4, x8, x16.

PCI-Express Speeds (Rounded)
PCIe 4.0PCIe 5.0
x1 Bandwidth 2 GB/s 4 GB/s
x2 Bandwidth 4 GB/s 8 GB/s
x4 Bandwidth 8 GB/s 16 GB/s
x8 Bandwidth 16 GB/s 32 GB/s
x16 Bandwidth 32 GB/s 63 GB/s

Intel's 12th generation CPUs currently provide PCIe 5.0 support for CPU lanes (i.e., one x16 or two x8 PCIe slots) and PCIe 4.0/3.0 speeds for the remaining lanes.

The bandwidth for each PCIe 5.0 lane is 4 GB/s. 4 GB/s per lane means that if you use a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 device, it would have up to 64 GB/s of bandwidth available to it.

NVMe M.2 SSD cards use 2 or 4 lanes, which means they have 4–8 GB/s available to them with PCIe 4.0.

Samsung 980 1TB M.2 SSD Samsung 980 1TB M.2 SSD Check Price on Amazon Amazon Affiliate Link

NVMe PCIe add-in cards can use up to 16 lanes in an x16 slot, thus having up to 32 GB/s of bandwidth available to them with PCIe 4.0.

In comparison, PCIe 3.0 has half of the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0.

PCI-Express 3.0 Speed (Rounded)
x1 Bandwidth 1 GB/s
x2 Bandwidth 2 GB/s
x4 Bandwidth 4 GB/s
x8 Bandwidth 8 GB/s
x16 Bandwidth 16 GB/s

What Is the Latest Version of PCI-Express Available in CPUs?

Section Link

The latest available version of PCI-Express is PCIe 5.0. PCIe 5.0 CPUs are available from Intel, while AMD currently only supports PCIe 4.0.

Intel's 12th generation Core CPUs currently provide PCIe 5.0 support for CPU lanes (i.e., one x16 or two x8 PCIe slots) and PCIe 4.0/3.0 speeds for the remaining lanes.

AMD's Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs will be their first to support PCIe 5.0. The Ryzen 7000 CPUs aren't expected to be available until the second half of 2022.

PCIe versions such as 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 are sometimes informally referred to as PCIe Gen 3, PCIe Gen 4, and PCIe Gen 5. This naming is based on them being the third, fourth, and fifth generations of PCI-Express.

PCIe 5.0 graphics cards and storage devices are not currently on the market.

Other Considerations When Building a PC

Section Link

Want to brush up on other new technologies to consider when building a computer? Check out these articles:

Learn More About PCI-Express

Section Link

Want to brush up on the latest PCIe products, versions, and features? Check out the articles in this PCI-Express series: