Gigabyte Z590 AORUS Xtreme, the first motherboard for Rocket Lake
Gigabyte is set to launch its 500-series motherboards next week. The company will refresh its Aorus Xtreme motherboard by adding more power stages and faster Wi-Fi.
The Z590 Aorus Xtreme motherboard features 20+1 digital power stages, which is more than the Z490 series which features 16+1. The motherboard is equipped with advanced networking such as 1x 10Gbe and 1×2.5 Gbe Ethernet ports, Thunderbolt 4, and Wifi 6E (a new standard that operates in a 6 GHz band).
Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Xtreme motherboard, Source: VideoCardz.com
The motherboard still features three main PCIe x16 slots, with two being Gen4 compatible. There are three M.2 slots on this motherboard, but only two support PCIe Gen4. Similarly to PCI x16 slots, the M.2 PCI Gen4 support is exclusive to Rocket Lake-S CPUs, as these CPUs feature additional CPU lanes for high-speed storage.
The Z590 Aorus Xtreme is also the first known motherboard to feature the Realtek ALC4080 audio codec. This codec has not yet been announced by Realtek, but it appears that high-end Z590 motherboards from Gigabyte and other board makers will feature this ALC1220 codec replacement.
This motherboard represents the ultra-premium segment and is not expected to be cheap. The Z490 version is currently available for around 600 USD, thus the Z590 motherboard is not expected to cost any less.
Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme Z490 vs Z590 power delivery
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