Leaked Slide details Intel's Lynx Point Chipset
With Haswell set to release in 2013, we continue to learn more about Intel's new platform with leaked information on the Lynx Point chipset.
Ivy Bridge isn't set for release until April, but we have already begun to see leaked information on its successor, Haswell, which is set for release in 2013. In a recently leaked slide from Chinese website Zol.com.cn, we get an early overview of the Lynx Point chipset, or the Intel 8-series, as it'll be known at final release.
As we have learned, Haswell will be on the new LGA 1150 socket and is set to be released around the March to June 2013 time-frame. Now, let's take a little look at the chipset associated with Haswell. First, we see some of the display port features have been transferred over to the CPU under the new architecture for Haswell. As discussed here, the Lynx Point chipset will only handle analog displays, while the CPU will be handling the digital displays. In theory, this makes the Lynx Point not as advanced as Panther Point in that regard but it does still have its advancements.
Lynx Point marks Intel's switch to full SATA 6.0 Gb/s support for all native SATA ports (no more native SATA 3.0 Gb/s SATA ports). Intel has added two additional USB 3.0 ports for a total six ports, which is two more than Panther Point. Intel is introducing I/O port flexibility feature with Lynx Point. As the feature suggests, it should give users the ability to allocate which ports are USB 3.0 and which are USB 2.0. Additional features for Lynx Point include: SSD performance/power optimization, new Rapid Storage Technology driver & Intel vPro Technology enhancements, lower TDP and power usage, a smaller package (22x23mm FCBGA), and support for quad-read SPI devices. Based on the slide, it looks like Intel has still not moved to a faster DMI interface, as the chipset's PCIe ports are still running at PCIe 2.0.
It does look like the new LGA 1150 socket will follow suit like the LGA 1155 socket and last two CPU generations. It is expected that both Haswell and Broadwell, the 14 nm shrink of Haswell, will be on the LGA 1150 socket. Please keep in mind, of course, that these specifications are from a leaked source. We won't know for sure until Intel shares official information. Stay tuned!
Update: After reviewing some of the comments and feedback received on PCIe 2.0 vs. PCIe 3.0 for Lynx Point, I felt it was necessary to clarify my statement on the chipset's PCIe ports still running at PCIe 2.0.
First and foremost, Haswell / Lynx Point will support PCIe 3.0 just like Ivy Bridge will in coming months. If you look at the leaked slide in the Intel Haswell iGPU to support DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 3.2 news story, you'll see that the Haswell processor supports PCIe 3.0 on the CPU, not through the chipset. This was a move made by Intel to remove the bottleneck seen with the DMI interface by transferring PCIe support to the CPU. With Lynx Point, Intel still has not been able to solve the bottleneck issue with the DMI interface, so the PCIe ports running off the chipset (not the CPU) will still be running at PCIe 2.0. The ports running of the chipset are typically PCI ports, PCIe x1 ports, or USB 3.0/2.0 ports for example.

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Yes if you want awesome new features that are not compatible with older chip generations. I find it funny that so many people complain about this. How often do you upgrade the CPU and not the MB? I know that I tend to always upgrade the 2 at the same time.....
The point he was making was that there's no choice in that matter. How many times did you have the choice to keep your older motherboard when you switched chips?
These days? Never, because it is not a real option.
You clearly know nothing about chip design. There was little reason for 156-55, and no reason for 55-50, besides Intel padding their profits. Intel is still using the same basic bus it introduced with the first Core i7/i5/i3.
Thats is BS you can put the same new features on an existing socke for factor, you don't need to a scoket change every other year to do that, all you need is a chipset update.
It's business, and praticality. If you get a new chip then you need the board that supports all of it's features in order for the end user to have the fullest experience, changing the pinout forces that. Plus you want different pinouts for different product levels so that people will buy the more expensive products... even if you can OC the cheaper products to perform at a similar level. And lastly, it is good business relations for mobo manufacturers. When the manufacturers know that people will be buying more products, because they will be upgrading more often, then they are going to be more willing to put out better/more interesting products for your chips, and push your chips more than 'the other guy'.
On my first 775 board, I went from a E6400, to an E6600, to a Q6600.
Thats BS 478 might have the same ammount of pins but you cant run say a prescott chip in an early board, or a wilamette in the last gen boards, same as 775 -- a core 2 Q6600 prime example all the core 2 supported boards (early 965 chipsetset based boards) couldnt use it, P4 775 boards wouldnt touch core 2 chips etc.
second, why use a rubbish prehistoric board with new high end modern cpu? they revise it and change the socket (most of the time) so they can improve things etc
There is the PCIe that goes to your graphics card which in the latest chipsets is directly connected to your CPU, and then there is the chipset PCIe that can be used as additional slots (PCI, PCIe x1, x4, etc...) as well as expanding additional IO onto the board with. For example because there is no current USB3 support, chipset PCIe bandwidth is used to add USB3 ports to your board. Also in current boards although you have PCIe v2 for graphics, you have PCIe v1 for your chipset connectivity. In Ivy Bridge (or maybe it already happened in Sandy?) that chipset bandwidth was upgraded to PCIe v2. So basically it won't upgrade in Haswell either.
You might want to take another look at Moores Law. It states "number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years." Not that frequency, and/or speed, and/or performance increases every 2 years or 18 months. So, this is not the "new law" but the performance/speed, etc doubling every 18 months was stated after Moores Law, by David House, an Intel executive. Read all about it at Wikipedia by searching on: Moores Law
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN UPGRADE PATH
make the socket for only those CPU that work on it, and be done.