Yes that was my understanding as well, although, we won't necessarily know for sure until Asus elaborates on their press release and BIOS descriptions or the products start shipping:
quote:
Easy-fit ASUS USB 3.1 Card with dual Type-A ports or reversible Type-C
ASUS USB 3.1 Card is the worlds first USB 3.1 expansion card that fits swiftly into any PCIe x4, x8 or x16 slot to accelerate existing PCs to deliver lightning-speed transfers of up to 10Gbit/s. Available in two models, with either dual Type-A sockets or reversible Type-C, the new PCIe card is compatible immediately with all ASUS X99 and Z97 chipset-based motherboards and will be compatible soon with more ASUS motherboards, to be enabled by a simple BIOS and driver update.
USB 3.1 Type-A Card (Dual) is also included with two new motherboard bundles with a /U3.1 suffix Rampage V Extreme/U3.1 and X99-Deluxe/U3.1 preconfigured and ready to go. Both USB 3.1 Type-A (Dual) and Type-C Card (Single) are available to purchase individually.
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rog.asus.com/403332015/a ··· lutions/I take this to mean that in order to properly use these USB 3.1 add-in cards a BIOS update must be applied.
So for example I have an Asus X99-A motherboard and an Asus Z97-E motherboard. A quick look at their respective support pages yields the following:
quote:
X99-A BIOS 1401
1.Support USB 3.1
2.Support NVMe
2015/02/17
quote:
Z97-E BIOS 0602
Enhance the compatibility with some CPU Fans
2015/02/15
What this suggest to me is that the X99-A has the necessary updated support to properly function with these new add-in cards whereas the Z97-E does not (yet). If you look at the press release you'll see that the Z97-E is listed under:
quote:
Compatible with ASUS USB 3.1 Card (both Type-A and Type-C card). Update to latest BIOS required.
as "Yes Avalible in March"
Asus motherboards with the prerequisite BIOS support are listed as "Yes" with the specific BIOS revision listed. So for my Asus X99-A is listed as "Yes" (BIOS 1401).