you want to build the fastest PC you can
around AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 processor,
you’ll have to wait until November.
New SSDs (fave.co/2Z26gQg) built
using the PCI Express 5.0 interface will debut
then, AMD executives said during the late
August launch of the Ryzen 7000 (fave.
co/3BPNoVb) in Texas. PCI Express 5.0 will
be built into Ryzen 7000 and its four
supporting AM5 motherboard chipsets: the
X670 Extreme, the X670, and the B650
Extreme and B650. Current Ryzen 5000 PCs
use PCIe 4.0, and while Intel’s rival 12th-gen
Alder Lake chips incorporated PCIe 5.0 when
they launched last fall, no PCIe 5.0 consumer
SSDs have been released thus far.
AMD didn’t say much about the new
chipsets at its Monday evening launch. We

do know, however,
that the two Extreme
chipsets will feature
both PCI Express 5.0
lanes allocated for
both the GPU as well
as the SSD, allowing
both your PC’s GPU
and its storage to
benefit from the new,
faster interface.
(AMD has yet to
confirm or deny
rumors that say it may be prepping a
version of AMD’s Smart Access Memory
[fave.co/3pkDsgG] for SSDs, known as
Smart Access Storage.)
According to reporting from PCWorld’s
Gordon Mah Ung, the vanilla B650 will
likely not allocate PCIe 5 lanes to the SSD,
though it may be up to the
OEM. The vanilla B650 may
use PCIe 4 instead, AMD
representatives told him.
However, the ecosystem of
PCIe 5.0 SSDs is expected to
be large, which always means
favorable competitive
pressures that help keep prices
low. AMD showed the logos of
12 different companies
planning PCIe 5 SSDs, though
details of the new products
have yet to be released.
PCI Express 5.0 SSDs aren’t exclusive to
Ryzen 7000 processors, of course. But if
AMD’s chips live up to their blistering
performance promises (fave.co/3BPNoVb),
you’ll want to have fast peripherals that will
keep the rest of your system humming
along just as fast.