When assembling a new gaming PC, there are many specifications and configuration choices to consider, which may make choosing the proper motherboard difficult. The PCIe 5.0 motherboard specification is one item that is certain to generate further misunderstandings and discussions in the near future. It's the newest and best thing around; it provides an abundance of bandwidth needed for high performance components to operate as intended.
The challenge is updating your system to support PCIe 5.0, which is limited to the newest Intel 12th generation and the future AMD Ryzen 7000 Series motherboards and CPUs. Thankfully, PCIe 5.0 won't be an issue for you anytime soon.
For the foreseeable future, as least, components pertinent to high-end PC gaming needs will be concentrated around the PCIe 4.0 standard. However, because of internet arguments between PC aficionados and individuals who want to see specifications on paper vs practical applications, this may become complicated. Furthermore, we can see that motherboards from Intel's 12th generation already support PCIe 5.0. Additionally, this will apply to AMD Ryzen 7000 Series motherboards.
The PCIe 5.0 specification won't benefit gamers very soon, but it will be helpful for professionals and producers that need greater performance. This essentially comes down to the price involved as well as the absence of software support for the aforementioned hardware. Adding the PCIe 5.0 motherboard configuration restrictions to the mix, and it's easy to go over budget when buying a gaming PC.
The Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Ultra, which can accommodate up to four PCIe 4.0 SSDs and PCIe 5.0 x16 in the main graphics card slot, is shown. Photo courtesy of AnyBet365.
With PCIe 4.0
, your next graphics card will function flawlessly.The primary distinction between PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 that you should be aware of is that PCIe 5.0 provides twice as much overall bandwidth as its predecessor. For GPUs to interface with the CPU and storage devices efficiently, a certain bandwidth need exists. However, graphics devices can only transfer a certain amount of data at once, thus having too much bandwidth may easily be squandered.
This may be best understood as the flow of water through a pipe. Assume that, even during downpours, your rainwater-mitigating drain pipe never fills more than halfway. Although the pipe is enough for the work, it could have been possible to utilize a smaller drain pipe without any issues.
This demonstrates what happens to modern graphics cards when they are used in the main graphics card slot on PCIe 4.0 and all 16 lanes are available. When all 16 lanes are used, there is more than enough bandwidth available. Even PCIe 3.0 is comparable, unless you happen to be running a graphic card from the RTX 3090 class. But because framerates are so important to gamers, we've included several benchmarks that demonstrate how little PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 differ from one another.
There's no need to get too worked up about this little variation since benchmarks might change from run to run. Photo courtesy of AnyBet365.
Although more bandwidth will be needed for future generations of graphics cards, it seems that PCIe 4.0 won't be a problem for gamers' framerates very soon. Considering that PCIe 4.0 provides double the bandwidth compared to PCIe 3.0, there ought to be plenty space for many more generations of graphics cards in the future. In conclusion, even if new graphics cards are tagged as PCIe 5.0 compatible, you won't have to worry about compatibility with older motherboards anytime soon.
Not all motherboards with PCIe 5.0 are completely future-proof
.Future proofing is a major selling point for purchasing a motherboard with PCIe 5.0 capability. With its Z690 12th generation CPUs, Intel was first to market, although AMD will shortly offer On its X670 motherboards for the Ryzen 7000 Series, PCIe 5.0 functionality is available. For certain models, there will be a catch, however.
In order to guarantee future proofing in every way, those who are interested in purchasing a new motherboard must make sure that at least 20 PCIe 5.0 lanes are accessible. Four of them will be required to support an SSD, while the other sixteen will go toward the primary graphics card slot.
Lane configuration limits are the source of possible issues. Regretfully, the PCIe lane configuration choices available at this time are x1, x4, x8, and x16. Because of this, any CPU with more than 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes will cause problems for those who are committed to future proofing. You will not be allowed to operate a PCIe 5.0 SSD in the same system in order to maintain the entire PCIe 5.0 bandwidth for future graphics cards. If you do, PCIe 5.0 configuration restrictions will compel you to use the graphics card slot in an x8 configuration, with the SSDs using the remaining lanes in x4 configurations. Furthermore, the slot for your main graphics card does not have an x12 configuration.
The PCIe 5.0 x8 configuration option for the GPU and x4 configuration for future PCIe 5.0 SSD addition is already supported by the ASUS ROG Z690 Strix-E Gaming motherboard. (Photo courtesy of ASUS ROG).
For those who are interested in complete future proofing, this may undoubtedly be an issue, but practically speaking, it's not the worst thing. Review the PCIe 3.0 vs. PCIe 4.0 benchmarks for x16 graphics card combinations. Performance is not noticeably different between PCIe 5.0 x8 and PCIe 4.0 x16.
Choosing the appropriate motherboard and CPU is your responsibility if you want a "future proof," no-compromise lane configuration option. For the time being, however, if you give up lanes to run x8 to the graphics card and x4 + x4 for PCIe 5.0 SSDs, everything will work just fine. Alternatively, you may utilize PCIe 4.0 SSDs and connect an x16 PCIe 5.0 arrangement to the graphics card. In any case, if you stick to this pattern, it will be years before your lane arrangement causes you to lose performance in games. The PCIe 4.0 standards will provide a long-term standard for gaming storage solutions, which we shall discuss next.
Games still fail to fully leverage PCIe SSDs' potential
The main issue with PCIe-based SSDs is that game engines don't support them. While just a few seconds quicker than less expensive SATA SSDs, the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs enable you to load your OS and games much faster than HDDs. This has been the case for many years, and the reason why these (formerly expensive) storage devices generate such a stir undoubtedly eludes the general gaming public.
Many PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market today can read data at up to 7,000 MB/s. SATA SSDs, in contrast, have a maximum speed of 550MB/s. Not even the fastest HDD can read at more than 160MB/s. The newest generation of consoles has PCIe 4.0 drives, whereas older generations utilized HDDs. At first glance, it would seem like a significant rise, but console PCIe 4.0 SSDs are designed to be reasonably priced. They are nothing like the expensive, high-performance ones that PC users may purchase. It will take some time for console generations to catch up. Given this, it is clear why PC gamers who purchase good PCIe 4.0 SSDs won't have to worry about upgrading their storage device anytime soon.
While there are many alternatives available, make sure the PCIe 4.0 SSD you choose is quick if you want to play games for a long time. (Western Digital provided the image).
Right now, the true issue is with the program. The hardware that developers anticipate customers will utilize to run their games informs the design of game engines. Despite the fact that PC gaming has increased dramatically in recent years, consoles—which relied on HDDs until the current generation—continue to dominate the gaming business. PCIe 4.0 drives will be required in new games after game developers stop supporting earlier systems. Game creators may then use this information to construct engines that make the most of fast SSDs. This will enable technologies such as DirectStorage to provide near-instantaneous load times. Possibly more crucially, asset streaming will be possible. Better render optimizations and smaller game files will be made possible by this technology, improving in-game performance.
Gaming consoles and older systems will specify the requirements for SSDs.
The first PC game to use DirectStorage won't even release until the following year, despite the current generation of consoles having been available for over two years. When asset streaming will be used is even less clear, although new engines like Unreal Engine 5 should lead the way. For the time being, more end users adopting better SSDs will be necessary for game developers to make the expenditures and difficulties of creating game engines that make use of that hardware worthwhile. While things won't happen quickly, when new applications take use of the technical advantages of high-bandwidth PCIe SSDs, we can be sure that developers will showcase dazzling tech demonstrations.
Therefore, in order to fully enjoy games that make use of DirectStorage and other features made possible by fast SSDs, would you need a PCIe 5.0 SSD? No, is the response. And it won't alter for a very long time. As previously stated, console SSD specifications are still far behind the capabilities of a high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD. If anything, firmware and software support will be essential in helping storage drives operate more quickly. In a video he made on creating the Playstation 5, Mark Cerny of PlayStation said this.
When creating games, developers will keep console specifications in mind. Another crucial component to guarantee compatibility with a variety of SSDs and enable more prospective customers to satisfy the hardware requirements is scalability. While PCIe 4.0 SSDs won't negatively impact your experience until consoles continuously surpass the PCIe 4.0 specification for many years, we may ultimately see PCIe 5.0 SSDs perform somewhat better with quicker loading times and less stuttering in-game. Investing in a high-quality PCIe 4.0 SSD today will pay off handsomely for many years to come, if not over ten years.
The cost and cooling of PCIe 5.0 SSDs will be further obstacles. Once goods start to hit the market, you shouldn't anticipate PCIe 5.0 SSDs to be inexpensive. Large heatsinks or active fan cooling are required to avoid thermal throttling at high speeds. PCIe 5.0 SSDs will probably remain in enthusiast circles for some time to come since these features will only provide new challenges that PC OEMs and console makers can reasonably handle.
Exist in the here and now
Since gaming PCs can become pricey very quickly, it's wise to know what you need and don't need to buy. In this scenario, you won't have to worry too much about the PCIe 5.0 specification until the technological advantages have stronger application cases. Purchasing parts like motherboards that support PCIe 5.0 won't harm, but you shouldn't feel as if you're losing out on performance if you don't have it.
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