MSI has issued (or rather, reissued, since it originally made a blog post on the matter in late March) an explanation on how its B560 motherboards are able to enable their first M.2 slot for use by 10th Gen Intel processors, despite some motherboards disabling the slot in the absence of 11th Gen Intel processors instead.
According to MSI, the answer lies in the form of a switch that allows the first M.2 slot to switch between the CPU and chipset as necessary. “When the 11th Gen processor is installed, the first M.2 slot is connected to the CPU to utilize the PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth,” said the gaming brand. “It’s switched to the chipset and utilizes the PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes when the 10th Gen processor is installed.”
MSI says that the majority of its B560 motherboards, including those with only one M.2 slot, have this switch, with the relevant models including the following:
MPG B560i GAMING EDGE WIFI
MAG B560M MORTAR / WIFI
MAG B560M BAZOOKA
B560M PRO-VDH /WIFI
B560M-A PRO
B560M PRO
B560M PRO-E
MSI also added another piece of information, which is that its MEG Z590I UNIFY motherboard’s first M.2 slot is similarly capable of supporting both 11th and 10th Gen Intel processors, while the MEG Z590 UNIFY / UNIFY X offer switching capabilities via their second and third M.2 slots.
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