Forum Post Claims Z390 Chipset, Intel 8-Core CPUs Coming To Market Next Year (Updated)

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By Paul Alcorn
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Updated, 3/12/2018, 2:00pm PT: More clues about the Z390 chipset's potentially imminent launch arrived via AIDA64, a "system information, diagnostics, and benchmarking solution" regularly used to test pre-release hardware. The software was updated to add "motherboard specific sensor info for MSI B360/H310/H370/Z390-Series." That could mean that MSI is preparing to launch a board equipped with the Z390 chipset.

Original article, 9/19/2017, 3:40pm PT:

We are obviously on the cusp of Intel's Coffee Lake release, and we already know the processors are coming with Socket 1151 (the same as the existing Kaby Lake era processors) but will require a new 300-series chipset. However, if the latest leaks/rumors are to be believed, the initial wave of Z370 motherboards will be followed shortly by yet another new chipset.

A leaked Intel roadmap claiming a Z390 chipset will come in the second half of next year recently made news, but as with all leaks, we have to take the information with a shovel full of salt. However, a purported Eurocom representative claimed the company is readying products that support a new chipset: Z390. Eurocom is a boutique laptop manufacturer that specializes in high-performance products.

The post on the NotebookReview forums claims that the company is skipping the forthcoming Z370 in favor of the Z390 chipset. The post also claimed that the Z390 motherboards support 8C/16T processors and will arrive in the second half of 2018.

Whether or not the claimed eight-core models would utilize Intel's 10nm process, which is slated to appear with the company's Ice Lake processors, is an open question. Cramming in two more cores with Coffee Lake is quite the feat with 14nm technology, be it 14nm+ or 14nm++, but doubling core counts with the same process is unlikely due to thermal and power constraints. That implies the eight-core processors will feature Ice Lake's 10nm+ process, but the leaked roadmap specifically refers to the Z390 chipset for "Coffee Lake-S" processors.

Intel's 8th Generation lineup includes the 14nm+ Kaby Lake-R (refresh), 14nm++ Coffee Lake, and 10nm Cannon Lake processors, which might explain the need for another new chipset. Intel's disclosures indicate the company is moving forward with a new rollout strategy as the competition intensifies, so it will likely be some time until we have the complete picture of the company's plans. We can expect more info to come forward during the pending Coffee Lake launch.

Paul Alcorn
Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

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16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • AnimeMania
    They must be trying to make everybody switch to Ryzen.
    Reply
  • compprob237
    Just wait until Intel announces that this chip uses the new LGA1151v3 socket.
    Reply
  • DerekA_C
    How about the leaked pricing.Just watch, as they release these so called 8 cores Ryzen2 will be shipping at 10nm or less with much better clock rate and almost identical IPC with much lower prices, Dr. Lisa Su is on it.
    Reply
  • kinggremlin
    Intel indirectly announced an 8 core Cannonlake CPU over 2 years ago in a job posting. Why is there any speculation what process it will be? Cannonlake mobile chips were originally supposed to be released in q3 of last year, with desktop variants this year. The delay in 10nm forced Intel to add Kaby Lake (skylake refresh probably became coffee lake).

    All the AMD people who think Intel is releasing high core CPU's now because of AMD, don't understand how CPU development works. It's not AMD that has Intel scrambling, it's Intel's inability to execute their own roadmap that has them making all these disjointed and nonsensical partial generation releases. Intel had Cannonlake on their roadmap back in 2013, and knew there would be an 8 core version no later than summer 2015 which makes it impossible for it to be a response to unknown at the time Ryzen and completely contradicts people saying we wouldn't have gotten higher core CPU's from Intel if not for AMD. If the plan had gone to schedule we'd already be on 8 core Cannonlake now with 6 core Coffee Lake being released q3 of last year.
    Reply
  • toesis
    wait till new motherboard chipsets come out monthly. thanks for making it even harder.
    teh days of when i could upgrade a processor are over now because motherboards chipsets are changing way to fast. might as well solder the chip to the MB. oh yea Intel doesn't believe in solder reason behind deliding.
    Reply
  • berezini
    Time to save cash for yet another AMD killer.
    Reply
  • manleysteele
    I'm now, firmly in wait and see mode for Ice Lake and whatever AMD produces to challenge it. If PCIe 4.0 is on neither, I may wait another round for whatever replaces the entire xLake naming convention.

    Oh No!!! Turns out I forgot about Tiger Lake. SMH.
    Reply
  • drajitsh
    I'm also holding right till they release a mainstream chip with more i/o
    Reply
  • brainsalad.jordan
    The monolithic die is dieing.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    20191122 said:
    Intel indirectly announced an 8 core Cannonlake CPU over 2 years ago in a job posting. Why is there any speculation what process it will be? Cannonlake mobile chips were originally supposed to be released in q3 of last year, with desktop variants this year. The delay in 10nm forced Intel to add Kaby Lake (skylake refresh probably became coffee lake).

    All the AMD people who think Intel is releasing high core CPU's now because of AMD, don't understand how CPU development works. It's not AMD that has Intel scrambling, it's Intel's inability to execute their own roadmap that has them making all these disjointed and nonsensical partial generation releases. Intel had Cannonlake on their roadmap back in 2013, and knew there would be an 8 core version no later than summer 2015 which makes it impossible for it to be a response to unknown at the time Ryzen and completely contradicts people saying we wouldn't have gotten higher core CPU's from Intel if not for AMD. If the plan had gone to schedule we'd already be on 8 core Cannonlake now with 6 core Coffee Lake being released q3 of last year.

    Yes Intel has executed terribly but they also did some of it on purpose. They have made a ton of money milking 14nm without any competition(I would have too in there shoes). Intel could easily do like they do on Skylake-X which uses there low core count(LLC) die for up to 10 cores ie disable cores. Intel can easily disable cores for better yields until there is competition which who is to say they wouldn't have especially on a new 10nm process node. In fact they may price things in a way that effectively does that for them, so volumes are very low on the 8 core consumer part. So I wouldn't be certain if we would see 8 core consumer parts so soon, or even the 6 core cores at reasonable prices that we have know, if Intel didn't have competition. Sure they already had the designs taped and those likely had up to 8 cores on the consumer Ice Lake chips.

    Anyhow Intel Ice Lake on 10nm vs Ryzen 2 on 7nm should be fun to watch. Much needed competition is back. Now if Intel will just get going in the GPU race for real this time.
    Reply