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20Gbps USB 3.2 ports

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I've been comparing X570 vs Z590 motherboards and I've seen a few 20Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2x2 ports on the ~$250 Z590s that I haven't seen on any of the X570s. The best I saw were 10Gbps ones that were 3.2 gen2.

Do the X570 ones simply not have 20Gbps capability? And what's the use of such a port? External NVMe enclosures?
 

tabascosauz

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Didn't you just have another thread about rear I/O?

20Gbps is 2x2 Gen2. The Z590 PCH integrates support for it. X570 was released much earlier in July 2019, and like most stuff from before 2021, only supports 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps).

10Gbps USB is used for external NVMes but sequential performance tops out at about 1250MB/s (some popular Gen2 controllers top out at 1000), which you can imagine is a little low for even 3.0 x4 drives.

You can have 2x2 on unsupported chipsets (X570 VIII Extreme I think), it just requires a third party controller for 2x2 capability - just like extra 3.0 ports on old boards, etc. Which can generally be a bit worse than native support
 
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You are right. But that thread is about why high speed ports are required on the motherboard's back panel. This one is about the higher-speed ports being absent on the x570 motherboards, which is (potentially) bad news for me who is considering an AMD build with an x570 motherboard.

a little low for even 3.0 x4 drives.
Definitely. I know first hand because my z97 board has the M.2 slot at that speed - PCIe 2.0x2.
The drive only runs at quarter speed in that slot. I have to run my graphics card at 3.0x8 and use an adapter for the SSD to run at full speed.
 
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X570 is too old. However there are both X570 and B550 boards with Thunderbolt 4 that has 40gbps throughput, if you're worried about connecting fast external storage.
 
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I havn't checked all but many X570S motherboards have a 3.2 gen 2x2 port.
 
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They(e.g. the Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master) also cost north of $400...
 

tabascosauz

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All the Vision D boards have Thunderbolt 3, same 40Gbps as TB4. B550 Vision D, B550 Vision D-P, some other high end boards I'm missing (X570 Aorus Extreme?). The B550 and X570 ProArts also.

They(e.g. the Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master) also cost north of $400...

Can't really complain about that. You gotta pay to play. Like I said, 2x2 integration omto X570 is not native so extra third party controllers, and they milk the snot out of a perceived "cutting edge" feature on an already expensive board series.

Thunderbolt solves your bandiwdth issues........at a cost. You'll quickly find that 10Gbps external enclosures are abundant and relatively affordable, while anything Thunderbolt certified carries with it extra tax, external enclosures are not an exception. Sabrent's 10Gbps enclosure costs $35, Sabrent's TB3 enclosure costs $130, and that's the cheapest one.

And to an extent depending on where you are, you also pay the TB tax on boards as well (Vision D-P), although the Visions also punch above their weight for OC so it's not too unjustified.
 
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I've seen TB headers on the (cheaper) motherboards I've looked at, but not a single case that has a cable that connects to that header. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong cases, or they don't exist and what you need instead is a card that goes into one of your expansion slots.
 

tabascosauz

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I've seen TB headers on the (cheaper) motherboards I've looked at, but not a single case that has a cable that connects to that header. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong cases, or they don't exist and what you need instead is a card that goes into one of your expansion slots.

The "TB headers" on other boards need to be plugged into the specific vendor's own proprietary TB add-in PCIe card.

 
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Read the specs online, use the manufacturer's "Compare Motherboards" feature, or download the owner's manual.

The manual will explain it. No need to guess or speculate.
 
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