Windows 11 is also testing support for 80Gbps USB4 connectivity
AMD Hawk Point CPUs are expected to officially launch on January 31, and a series of leaks over the past few months have revealed several technical specifications. The latest reports confirm that these components will feature USB4 on select AM5 motherboards.
Benchlife reports: Some AM5 motherboards designed for the Ryzen 8000 “Hawk Point” processors may support USB4. Gigabyte is reportedly looking to implement this new feature on some of its AM5 boards, such as the AORUS B650E series, making them the first AMD motherboards to support USB4.
Notably, while AMD is expected to roll out USB4 support with its upcoming CPU lineup, Intel implemented this functionality years ago with its 11th Gen Core processors. Although some current AMD boards may support USB4 functions via add-in cards from companies like MSI, this marks the first time Team Red is implementing native support for this feature.
Additionally, Microsoft is finally testing support for the USB4 Version 2.0 standard on Windows 11. Last week, the company released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23615 for Developers with support for the new USB standard, which enables ultra-fast speeds of up to 80Gbps. This is the first major upgrade to the USB4 standard, doubling the performance of the previous generation which only supported data transfer up to 40Gbps.
According to Microsoft, 80Gbps USB support will initially only be available on select PCs equipped with the latest Intel 14th Gen Core HX-series mobile processors, which were announced at CES 2024 last week. The new Razer Blade 18, unveiled before CES earlier this month, will be among the first devices to feature these ultra-fast transfer speeds.
