ASRock has just launched new motherboards with models featuring PCI Express 3.0 slots. This series is comprised of five models: Z68 Extreme7 Gen3, Z68 Extreme4 Gen3, Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, P67 Extreme4 Gen3, and Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3. All of them support Intel LGA1155 processors.

The main feature of the PCI Express 3.0 is the new 1 GB/s bandwidth per lane, in each direction, for a total of 2 GB/s per lane (each lane has two directions). The original PCI Express specification supported 250 MB/s per lane, and the PCI Express 2.0 supports 500 MB/s per lane. This means that a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot provides a maximum transfer rate of 32 GB/s (2 GB/s x 16), whereas a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot can reach up to 8 GB/s.

However, to explore the full potential of the new PCI Express 3.0 connection, there are three prerequisites that must be met. First, since currently the PCI Express x16 slots are controlled by the CPU, you must have a CPU with an embedded PCI Express 3.0 controller. The problem is that they’re not available yet. The first Intel CPU with this feature will be the upcoming “Ivy Bridge,” due in 2012. Second, the motherboard must use PCI Express 3.0 channel switch chips. (The abovementioned ASRock motherboards feature this chip.) Third, the video card must be compatible with the PCI Express 3.0 standard, and so far, there are no video cards based on this standard yet.

So, ASRock is paving the way for PCI Express 3.0 support, as the benefits of the PCI Express 3.0 cannot be achieved today, since it depends on other components not yet available on the market.

In the table below, we’ve listed the main specifications for these new motherboards from ASRock.