The release notes for a version of Intel Rapid Storage Technology (pictured above) leaked some interesting tidbits of information about some upcoming Intel desktop platforms.
First of all, the document mentions the much-discussed Z390 chipset that will allegedly replace the dated Z370 as the highest-end mainstream desktop chipset for Coffee Lake. There have already been plenty of leaks confirming the existence of Z390, but the new document states that the chipset will also support Cannon Lake processors. Unlike Intel’s current Coffee Lake processors that are fabricated on a 14nm process, Cannon Lake will be the first processors to use Intel’s long-in-development 10nm process.
The first Cannon Lake processors were set to release in 2017, but that didn’t happen. Early this year, Intel confirmed that it had shipped a small amount of 10nm parts, but the company has yet to make any official announcement of a Cannon Lake product.
The second big reveal in the document is the existence of a successor to the X299 chipset. A new high-end desktop (HEDT) chipset called the X399 is coming. That name is the same as AMD’s existing X399 chipset that the Threadripper processors use. When AMD took the name “B350” before Intel did, Intel chose to use “B360” instead. It looks like Intel isn’t backing down this time, so we don’t know how this situation of overlapping names will work out.
Intel’s X399 is listed as supporting Coffee Lake and Cannon Lake. Currently, X299 is the home of Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X parts; there are no Coffee Lake-branded parts for that platform. The previously known successor to Skylake-X was Cascade Lake-X. Because the name Cascade Lake comes from the Xeon product line, it’s possible that Intel has chosen to rename those parts as Coffee Lake-X.
The X299 chipset and its socket, LGA 2066, is only a year old, so we don’t expect X399 to use a different socket.
