Leaked Slide details Intel's 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.