Leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, has built new BIOS decreasing AM5 booting time. ASRock is dedicated to providing products with the best user-experience. The new BIOS providing better compatibility and shorter booting time has been built, and it will be available on ASRock website after product launch. Besides, all ASRock X670E/X670 motherboards support BIOS flashback, which allows users to update their motherboards to the newest BIOS with merely 24-pin power supply and a USB drive.[Editor's Note: This news post will provide more context.]

MSI has put up the pricing of its upcoming X670E and X670 motherboards on its website and it's already causing a stir online, as MSI seems to have priced itself out of the market. Starting at the bottom of the product stack, where the Pro X670-P WiFi sits at US$289.99, which should be compared to the X570-A Pro (without WiFi) which retails for around $110. Admittedly we don't know the exact pricing of MSI's competitors at this point in time, but this seems like a very steep price for a lower-end board in the category. However, things don't improve, as the MPG X670E Carbon WiFi comes in at US$479.99, or about $200 more than its X570S counterpart is currently selling for. This is also at least $70 more than what we expect Gigabyte's X670E Aorus Master to sell at.

Next step up is the MEG X670E ACE which comes in at a steep $699.99, which is at least $100 more than what Gigabyte's X670E Aorus Xtreme is expected to sell for and around twice the current retail price of the MEG X570 ACE Gaming. Finally, MSI is asking for a whopping US$1,299.99 for the MEG X670E Godlike, a price we can't see many being willing to pay for what appears to be a fairly unexciting flagship board, at least compared to what we've seen from ASUS. It's obviously far from the first $1,000 plus board, but despite a fairly feature packed bundle, this board is simply bad value for money no matter how you look at it. Hopefully MSI will adjust their pricing based on the comments that are already posted around the internet, but we're going to have to wait until the official retail date to see if these boards will come down in price or not.

At this point, we don't know if this is a limitation at AMD's level or ASRock's, but someone with access to a retail ASRock X670E Steel Legend motherboard, with all its packaged paraphernalia in place, spotted an interesting sticker covering the board's four DDR5 DIMM slots. The sticker has some info on the ideal DIMM slot selection for dual-channel memory (4x sub-channels); but what catches our eye is a table which states just how long the motherboard will take to train the memory the first time it's booted up, or after a clear-CMOS operation (where your BIOS settings are erased).

The table says that a typical setup with two 16 GB modules (read: two single-rank modules in a 1 DIMM per channel/1DPC configuration), takes 100 seconds to train (or until first boot). Two 32 GB modules (typically a pair of dual-rank modules in 1DPC configuration) take 200 seconds, as do four 16 GB modules (four single-rank modules in a 2DPC configuration). The least optimal config, four dual-rank modules in a 2DPC configuration, takes a whopping 400 seconds (almost 7 minutes) to train. That's 100 to 400 seconds of a black screen, or no display signal, enough to unnerve anyone and assume something is DOA.Update Sep 2nd: The source behind this story confirmed that this is an ASRock-level issue, and that it's been "fixed" with the latest BIOS.

Update Sep 8th: This has been fixed according to ASRock.

Dedicated to innovation in embedded board computing, AAEON are delighted to announce an impressive breakthrough in its ATX motherboard range with the release of the new ATX-Q670A, AAEON's first ATX board with DDR5 support. With this innovation, the ATX-Q670A can provide customers with an unprecedented 50% increase in bandwidth and also a decrease in power consumption compared to prior generations. Particularly suited to IoT applications, the ATX-Q670A also combines the greatest maximum SATA performance with the very fastest SSD to give customer applications access to higher I/O speeds.

The ATX-Q670A is not just faster, but also far more expansive and accommodating to higher-performance modules, offering two PCIe [x16] slots alongside both a PCIe [x4] and PCIe [x1] slot, in addition to a further three PCI slots. Such specifications, alongside the ATX-Q670A's dual graphic card support mean that it can facilitate everything from video capture to AI calculation for vision-based applications, with four independent 4K@60 Hz resolution display capabilities to complete the package.

With AMD announcing an October 2022 debut of its mid-range Socket AM5 motherboard chipset, the AMD B650E and B650; manufacturers appear to be ready with a fairly broad selection of products targeting various price-points. The B650E and B650 are expected to have a lighter I/O feature-set than the X670E/X670, and will enable manufacturers to sell motherboards at prices starting at $125. Two of the leading manufacturers, ASUS and ASRock, are ready with their product lists.

The initial ASUS motherboard lineup for the AMD B650E and B650 chipsets include just one product in the mainline Prime series, as many as four from the TUF Gaming series, and two from the ROG Strix series. From these, only one is based on the B650E (meaning, it gets a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 slot besides the M.2 Gen 5 slot). The others are based on the vanilla B650 (PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot besides M.2 Gen 5 slots). None of the boards has more than 4 SATA 6 Gbps ports. The board to watch out for will be the ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WiFi, as it could bring several high-end features into the mid-range, and if previous generations of AMD chipset are anything to go by, the B650/E retains CPU overclocking support.

ASRock is planning to introduce a new line of motherboards probably targeted at value-conscious creators, with the new LiveMixer series. The company's first LiveMixer product is based on the AMD B650 mid-range chipset. The Socket AM5 motherboard's PCB was leaked to the web, revealing a fairly mid-range feature-set, notwithstanding the 17-phase VRM. We spy at least three M.2 slots, from which one should be Gen 5, an M.2 E-key slot for the WLAN card; addon slots that include a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and two Gen 3 x4 slots. For all its talk of live-mixing, the onboard audio solution appears to be rather basic, with jacks for just 6-channels, and the CODEC pin-out seems to be made out for an entry-level CODEC, such as the ALC892.

Intel 700-series chipset motherboards could come with improved memory overclocking capabilities, suggest an alleged leaked specs-sheet of an MSI Intel Z790 chipset motherboard. As the pioneering platform for DDR5, Intel 600-series chipset motherboards, particularly those based on the Z690, typically marketed DDR5 memory overclock speeds of around DDR5-6000 or DDR5-6200 in their specs sheets, as the then-expensive DDR5 memory kits started at JEDEC-spec speeds of DDR5-4800 in the entry-level, with performance-segment kits around the DDR5-6000 mark.

The unnamed MSI Z790 chipset motherboard supports DDR5 overclocked frequencies of over DDR5-6800 at 1DPC (one DIMM per channel) with single-rank modules; over DDR5-6400 with 1DPC + dual-rank modules; over DDR5-6400 with 2DPC + single-rank modules; and over DDR5-5600 with 2DPC + dual-rank. Earlier reports suggested that Intel is "discouraging" motherboard vendors from coming up with 700-series motherboards that feature DDR4 memory slots, but this doesn't mean there won't be any. MSI has an Intel Z790 motherboard with DDR4 slots in the works, and it's capable of overclocks of up to DDR4-5000 in the most optimal configuration, and DDR4-4000 in the least optimal one.

BIOSTAR finalized the design of its flagship Socket AM5 motherboard, the X670E Valkyrie. While the PCB design appears identical to the board BIOSTAR showed at Computex 2022, there are some aesthetic improvements, such as some ARGB lighting elements with acrylic diffusers on the large VRM heatsink and the chipset heatsink. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and two 8-pin EPS connectors. Powering the CPU is a 22-phase VRM that uses 105 A DrMOS. The Socket AM5 is wired to four DDR5 slots, two PCI-Express 5.0 x16 slots (x16/NC or x8/x8), and a couple of M.2 Gen 5 slots.

Storage options on the BIOSTAR X670E Valkyrie include two M.2 slots with PCI-Express 5.0 x4 wiring, two additional M.2 slots with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring, and six SATA 6 Gbps ports. Besides the Gen 5 x16 slots from the CPU, there's one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (electrical x4) slot wired to the chipset, and an M.2 E-key slot for the WLAN card. There's no WLAN module included with the board, but there's preparation that includes two coaxial antenna jacks, and a cable leading up to the M.2 E-key slot. Wired networking comes from a 2.5 GbE interface powered by an Intel i225 controller. The board is expected to go on sale alongside Ryzen 7000 series processors, in September.

ASUS today announced a new generation of AMD-based motherboards to accompany the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme and support the latest Ryzen 7000 processors: the ROG Crosshair X670E Hero, the ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi, and the TUF Gaming X670E-Plus WiFi. Introducing the new generation of AMD ROG motherboards: the X670E series. Featuring support for DDR5 memory modules and PCIe 5.0 devices, the ROG Crosshair X670E Hero, ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi, and TUF Gaming X670E-Plus WiFi is equipped with improved bandwidth capabilities, stability, and overall connectivity.

All three boards feature the latest ASUS Q-Design innovations. The ROG Crosshair X670E Hero and ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming WiFi includes the PCIe Q-Release button, a feature that lets users release their graphics card from the PCIe slot with one press. In addition, all three featured motherboards will include the single-sided Q-DIMM latching design to ensure ease of installation and allowing memory sticks to hold firmly in place. Lastly, the boards include the M.2 Q-latch, allowing users to secure or loosen an M.2 drive with just their fingertips.

A bit late to the game compared to its competitors, MSI has finally published its product pages for three of its upcoming X670 and X670E motherboards. The three models are the MEG X670E ACE, the MPG X670E Carbon WiFi and the Pro X670-P WiFi. Earlier todaywe got a first hint with regards to the pricing of a couple of these boards and now we have most of the technical details with regards to the boards themselves. As with all other boardmakers, MSI hasn't revealed any information with regards to memory clocks and obviously no details about which CPUs will be supported. We already had a pretty good idea what to expect from these boards based on the details MSI released at Computex, but features like the power design weren't revealed at the time, nor did we get a very good look at the board.

The MEG X670E ACE appears to be MSI's high-end board for those that aren't interested in spending a small fortune on the Godlike board and it should cater to just about all needs. The board has a 22+2+1 phase power design and MSI is using a heatpipe as well as a stacked fin-array heatsink and a MOSFET backplate to help cool the oversized power circuitry. Other features include 10 Gbps Ethernet, although there is only one Ethernet interface, a DisplayPort 1.4 compatible USB-C 10 Gbps port (which was said to be DP 2.0 compliant at Computex), as well as two 20 Gbps USB-C ports around the back. USB4 is nowhere to be seen, but is most likely related to ASMedia being late to the game with its host controller. MSI has gone for a design where the x16 PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU are split between the first two PCIe x16 slots and the third slot is using four lanes of PCIe 5.0 from the CPU. The final four PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU are for one of the M.2 NVMe slots and the board has a further three M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots. On top of that, MSI also includes an M.2 Xpander-Z Gen5 Dual add-in card that can accept a further two PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD at the cost of eight PCIe lanes from the GPU.

The first X670 motherboards from MSI have recently been listed for pre-order on several Italian sites before their official announcement. The two motherboards listed are the MSI PRO X670-P WIFI and the MPG X670E Carbon Wi-Fi with all the sites featuring the same product details and imagery but with varying pricing. The motherboards both include Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5 GbE LAN networking along with PCIe 5.0 storage while only the X670E Carbon will support PCIe 5.0 graphics cards. The X670E Carbon also includes upgraded power delivery circuitry with an 18+2 phase 90 A design versus 14+2 80 A on the PRO X670-P.

The three Italian retailers currently offering the boards for pre-order include the 22% Italian VAT in the price which we have deducted in the following prices. The MSI PRO X670-P WIFI is listed for between 307 EUR (315 USD) and 349 EUR (360 USD) while the MPG X670E Carbon Wi-Fi is available for 461 EUR (475 USD) and 525 EUR (540 USD). These prices would represent a significant increase from their equivalent X570 counterparts with even more expensive boards such as the MEG Ace and Godlike also expected to be released.

ASRock today introduced the WRX80 Creator, a Socket WRX8 motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000 series workstation processors. Built in the E-ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, a 6-pin PCIe, and two 8-pin EPS connectors. The star attraction with this platform is 8-channel DDR4 memory, with all eight memory slots on this board featuring a dedicated memory channel. There are seven PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slots, from which five operate at full x16 bandwidth, and two can subtract 8 lanes each from two of the other x16 slots. So x16/x16/x16/NC/x16/NC/x16, or x16/x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x16.

Storage connectivity on the ASRock WRX80 Creator include two M.2 PCIe Gen 4 slots, and a U.2 port, besides eight SATA 6 Gbps. Networking interfaces include two 10 GbE, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 1 GbE used by the IPMI controller. Speaking of which, an ASPEED AST2500 provides basic display and various remote management capabilities. USB connectivity includes two 40 Gbps USB4 ports with mini-DP inputs for DisplayPort passthrough, four 10 Gbps USB 3.2, and a number of 5 Gbps USB 3.2 ports. A premium onboard audio solution featuring a Realtek ALC1220, and TI NE5532 headphones amp, makes for the rest of it. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards, all-in-one gaming and multimedia solutions, and high-performance storage, introduces the CVN B660I GAMING FROZEN and CVN B660I GAMING Mini-ITX motherboards as the latest addition to the CVN Series motherboards for the 12th generation Intel Core processors. The GAMING FROZEN motherboard features a white PCB from front to back, complemented with silver CVN cooling armor heatsinks.

The CVN B660I motherboards are perfect for small-form-factor PC enthusiasts seeking a compact powerhouse. The Mini-ITX motherboard sports an 8+1 Dr MOS power phase design and two DDR4 DIMM slots support up to 64 GB dual-channel capacity, and up to DDR4-4600 (OC) frequency. The motherboard features dual M.2 slots (PCIe 4.0 + PCIe 3.0), supporting up to two NVMe SSDs for storage.

GIGABYTE Technology, an industry leader in high-performance servers and workstations, today became the first-to-market with a dual-socket motherboard, MP72-HB0, that supports up to 256 Arm cores, making it ideal for cloud native workloads. Also, the launch includes two more servers, G242-P35 and G242-P36, to offer up to 120 TB of NVMe (Gen4) storage capacity paired with Ampere Altra or Ampere Altra Max processors. These GPU-centric servers and motherboard will quickly find a home with hyperscaler and cloud workloads. Altra Max processors have predictable high-performance by having a high core count CPU with one thread per core, 128 threads on a monolithic 128-core chip. Multi-socket support and a wealth of PCIe/CCIX lanes make the platform highly scalable. At the same time, there is industry-leading power efficiency/core, which is highly sought after by our customers.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces a critical BIOS update for Intel 600 series motherboards to support the latest 13th generation Raptor Lake CPUs.

Preparing for the imminent release of the latest Intel processors, BIOSTAR is already prepping up a BIOS update that will enable users to upgrade their 600 series motherboards directly to the latest processors. BIOSTAR has put a considerable amount of thought and work into the upcoming BIOS update, which promises seamless integration and flawless performance numbers that rival any other competitor in the market.

MSI announced BIOS support and updates on our motherboards for the upcoming series of next-gen Intel CPUs. As a world-leading motherboard brand, MSI is the commitment to keep updating and improving to deliver the best optimizing performance for gamers. BIOS updates are always great news and improvements for users. With MSI M-Flash or Flash BIOS button, allows users to update the BIOS with ease. MSI 600-Series motherboards will receive support for the next generation of Intel's Processors. BIOS updates will be available on its respective motherboard support pages, which can be accessed via the MSI Support website.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce the IMB760, a server-grade extended ATX motherboard (330 mm x 305 mm) powered by the dual LGA4189 socket 3rd Gen Intel Xeon scalable processors (code name: Ice Lake-SP) with the Intel C627A chipset. It comes with an effective load balancing between two CPUs and multiple accelerator cards to stabilize computation loads and maximize computing power. Featuring optimized performance, more PCI Express Card slots, and high-density memory expansion, this EATX server motherboard enables high level computing, AI workload and deep learning for the data-fueled future.

"Performance, security, and flexibility are indispensable for AI in next-gen computing. As the first and flagship EATX motherboard of Axiomtek, the IMB760 features built-in AI and crypto acceleration functions as well as advanced security capabilities to meet the specific needs of automated manufacturing, robotics, image or video analytics, and other AIoT applications. This server-grade motherboard has sixteen DDR4-3200 RDIMM sockets with a memory capacity of up to 1 TB. Ready for the demands of massive data storage and high-speed data transmission, the industrial motherboard supports two NVMe SSD, one IPMI LAN, and two 10GbE LAN ports. Rich expansions with enough PCIe x16 slots and PCIe x8 slots for GPU acceleration, making IM760 a perfect solution for computationally intensive imaging, intelligent video analytics, and heavy workload processing," said Wayne Chung, the product manager of AIoT Team at Axiomtek.

Although AMD has not as yet announced its B650E chipset, rumour about such a chipset started before Computex. To date, no specific motherboard models have been mentioned by model name, but courtesy of Videocardz, we now have a list of several upcoming models from ASRock. The company has already announced its X670E range of motherboards, which consists of five models, of which four can already be seen on the ASRock website. ASRock appears to be planning five B650E boards, plus another six B650 SKU's. The company also appears to be the OEM for NZXT's second AMD motherboard, which appears to be called the N7-B65XT, which might also be a B650E based board.

Unfortunately we don't know any of the technical details about the upcoming B650/B650E boards from ASRock, but the model names give away that two of the five B650E boards will be Mini-ITX boards. It doesn't look like ASRock will be offering a high-end B650E model, but at least there will be an upper mid-range Steel Legend board. ASRock will also have a couple of mATX B650 boards, one should be a more gaming focused mid-range model, with the other being what appears to be a fairly basic model. One peculiar addition is a B650 SKU with the prefix LiveMixer, which is a new series from ASRock as far as we're aware. ASRock doesn't appear to be offering any X670 motherboards at all, at least not based on the current information.

At the end of last month, ASRock revealed its UEFI/BIOS updates for its 600-series motherboards for the next generation of CPUs from Intel and now ASUS has announced that it will offer updates for its Z690 motherboards. We're not sure why ASUS has limited itself to only Z690, but we'd expect updates for all of its 600-series chipset motherboards to arrive in due time. ASUS has been just as short on details as ASRock, although in the case of ASUS, all the Z690 boards will start on the same UEFI version—160x—when it comes to Raptor Lake support.

ASUS will offer updates for its ROG, ROG Strix, ProArt, Prime and TUF Gaming boards at this first stage. ASUS recommends using the BIOS Flashback functionality on the motherboards, or its EZ Flash 3 program in Windows. To get the latest UEFI update for your motherboard, you need to head over to ASUS' support site and download it manually according to the press release.

Slowly but surely, we're getting more and more details about upcoming AM5 motherboards and ASRock has put up a very spec light page for its upcoming X670E Pro RS motherboard. Not much has changed since the Computex reveal, but the product page did contain a couple of extra board shots as well as a look at the rear I/O. This time around the M.2 WiFi card slot is also populated, suggesting that there will be a WiFi version of this model shipping. The board has a single "Blazing" M.2 slot for a PCIe 5.0 SSD as well as what should be three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, of which two come with a shared heatsink and one has no heatsink at all. The final M.2 slot is limited to PCIe 3.0. As this is an X670E board, the PCIe x16 slot is of course PCIe 5.0.

Other features include Realtek's Dragon branded 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controller that has some gaming specific software. It appears that ASRock has trimmed the audio jacks to a bare minimum, with only a line out, a mic in and an optical S/PDIF being connected to the Realtek ALC897 audio codec. The board also has a single USB-C port around the back, although it's at least a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port (20 Gbps). There are a total of five USB-A 3.2 ports, of which one is capable of 10 Gbps speeds, with the other delivering 5 Gbps. There are also four USB 2.0 ports, a DP and HDMI port, as well as a UEFI/BIOS update button around the back. Other expansion options include an internal USB-C header and two PCIe x1 slots of unknown type, as well as six SATA ports and two USB 3.x type headers. This should be one of the more affordable X670E motherboards when the AM5 platform launches later this year.

Intel is preparing to launch its next-generation desktop platform codenamed Rocket Lake-S. According to the presentation held by Intel today in Shenzen, China, we have official information regarding some of the platform features that Raptor Lake is bringing. Starting with memory support, Raptor Lake is still carrying the transitional DDR4 and DDR5 support, as the full swing towards DDR5 is still in progress. Unlike the previous generation Alder Lake, which brought DDR5-4800 support, Raptor Lake's integrated memory controller can drive DDR5 modules with a 5600 MT/s configuration. As DDR4 support remains, it is limited to 3200 MT/s speed.

Interesting information from the leaked slide points out that support for CPU-attached NVMe storage remains PCIe Gen4. While AMD will provide an AM5 socket with CPU-attached NMVe storage on PCIe Gen5 protocol, Intel is taking a step back and holding on to Gen4. The CPU is outputting 16 PCIe Gen5 lanes on its own. Motherboard vendors for the upcoming 700-series boards for Raptor Lake can still provide a PCIe Gen5 NVMe slot; however, it will have to subtract eight Gen5 lanes from the PCI Express Graphics (PEG) slot and route them to NVMe storage. As our testing shows, this will affect GPU's performance by a few percent. AMD's upcoming AM5 platform has no such issues, as the CPU provides both the PEG and CPU-attached NVMe storage with sufficient PCIe Gen5 bandwidth.

LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of aluminium chassis and PC accessories, premieres the LIAN LI 2022 DIGITAL EXPO 2.0 at 9 am EST on YouTube (here). The 2-part video series reveals new prototypes of 3 cases, 4 fans, and an All-In-One liquid cooler. The new cases include the LANCOOL 216, DAN Cases A3 m-ATX, and the highly anticipated O11D EVO XL. LIAN LI also presents the next generation UNI FANs with SL120 V2, SL140 V2, AL120 V2, and AL140, including an update of the UNI FAN P28. And the show closes with a new 100% LIAN LI design All-In-One liquid cooler.

The LANCOOL 216 is a mid-tower with excellent cooling and is configurable for air or All-In-One liquid cooling. The rotatable I/O shield enables Upper Motherboard or Air Cooling mode, where the motherboard can be installed higher for extra room for vertical GPUs and larger CPU tower coolers. By rotating the I/O shield 180 degrees, it enables the Lower Motherboard or All-In-One Liquid Cooling mode to support thicker radiators and lengths of up to 360 mm. To maximize the air intake and exhaust, an external rear fan 120 mm bracket can be installed below the GPU IO ports, and a cover plate can be added on the top to seal off unnecessary openings to reduce air pressure loss.

For those wondering what happened to the Intel 12VO standard for motherboards, well, it's not dead, but it seems like the motherboard makers have chosen to largely ignore it. However, MSI has just launched a new 12VO motherboard, the PRO H610M 12VO, which is as the model name implies, a H610 based mATX motherboard. MSI is targeting the PRO H610M 12VO towards business computers and it's not hard to see why once you take a closer look at the specs. This is a bare minimum board in every aspect possible, with the chipset covered by the smallest of heatsinks and the VRMs getting none at all.

The board has a mere two DDR5 memory slots, one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot for an NVMe drive, a single x16 PCIe 4.0 slot and a x1 PCIe 3.0 slot, as well as a second M.2 slot for an optional CNVi or PCIe based Wi-Fi module. There's also four SATA ports, an Intel based Gigabit Ethernet port, two rear USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port and three audio jacks via an ageing Realtek ALC897 audio chip. Rather unusually for a budget board, MSI went with a DisplayPort 1.4 and an HDMI 2.1 port, although both are limited to 4K 60p output and there's also a VGA port, just in case. MSI only appears to provide one power adapter for SATA drives, which seems to be limited to two SATA power connectors, although there's a second connector on the board, for a second SATA power cable. Overall, not a particularly impressive product, but it does at least keep Intel's 12VO platform alive for another day.

ASRock has released UEFI/BIOS updates for at least 47 of its 600-series chipset based motherboards, which will add support for the next generation of CPUs from Intel. The new CPUs are of course Intel's 13th gen Core CPU's, codenamed Raptor Lake, even though ASRock doesn't specifically mention this anywhere in the text on its portal site. We're expecting to see similar announcements from the other motherboard makers in due time. ASRock doesn't go into any kind of details as to which CPUs are supported and the company doesn't appear to have updated its CPU support lists yet, which is a shame, but not entirely unexpected, since the Raptor Lake CPUs aren't expected to launch until later this year.

However, ASRock has implemented what the company calls Auto Driver Installer or ADI in this UEFI/BIOS update for the boards and this is likely to be an unpopular addition, as it means drivers will be automatically be downloaded and installed if the system is connected to the internet. Presumably there will be an option to disable this feature, but it appears to be enabled by default, which has proven to be an unpopular option when other companies have done it. Admittedly it could be a handy feature during a new build or OS reinstall, but it's also a potential attack vector for malware.

Although Intel's 13th generation of Core CPUs—codenamed Raptor Lake—aren't expected to launch until sometime in September or October this year, details of some of ASRock's motherboards for the new CPUs have leaked. ASRock is preparing to launch at least nine Z790 and three H770 motherboards, of which at least four will have support for DDR4 memory, according to VideoCardz. The list is missing a flagship Aqua model, but contains Taichi, Pro RS, Phantom Gaming Lightning and Riptide models, as well as a Steel Legend H770 boards and a couple of -C models, which are likely budget boards, despite being based on the Z790 chipset.

There will be a microATX Phantom Gaming Lighting board with DDR4 and a Phantom Gaming Riptide model with DDR5 support. So far no other features have been reported and from our understanding, the Z790 won't differ hugely from the Z690 chipset. The extra PCIe lanes from the 13th gen Core CPUs are expected to support PCIe 5.0 this time around, which will allow for faster NVMe based M.2 drives to be used. Intel is not planning on integrating Thunderbolt 4 support in these CPUs based on available information.