The speculation on the Z390 chipset and the 8-core processors kind of gets lost in space eh? We talked Z390 for quite a while now. We know it’s paired with at least a Coffee lake based 8-core part. The news today is that three CPU SKUs will be released alongside the chipset. An 8-core, 16-thread CPU (Core i9 9900K); a 6c/12t one (Core i7 9700K) and a 6c/6t part (Core i5 9600K ).
This round it’s the guys from wccftech that claim they have found the names of the CPUs that are to be released, the 9000 series with an i9 part. That seems to sound more ‘premium’, that Intel will house the new procs shared over the Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9 line. The processors all will be a series 9000 model and based on Coffee Lake architecture. Here are the lineup names they mention:
- Intel Core i9-9900K (est: 8 Core / 16 Threads)
- Intel Core i7-9700K (est: 6 Core / 12 Threads)
- Intel Core i5-9600K (est: 6 Core / 6 Threads)
Where it states est, that’s short for estimated. As nobody knows for sure if the SKUs indeed are 8 and 6 core parts. So that’s a best guess from their side, however, logic would indicate something like that. Albeit I don’t really see a non HT part for a 9000 series line-up. The Core i9-9900K (if it’s really named like that) of course would be the premium 8-core part, released to battle AMD with their 8-core Ryzen processors, in specific the ZEN+ Ryzen 2700X. Though I still have a gut feeling that AMD is hiding a 2800X for release to compete with the Core i9-9900K (but perhaps that’s wishful thinking). That 9700K really … would be the same as an 8700K? So that makes little sense. Anyway, we’ll see. Oh and perhaps Intel will launch + models as well, you know with Optane caching.
The Z390 chipset then, well one again, Z390 use the LGA1151 socket using the traditional DMI 3.0 chipset-bus (which basically is an x4 PCIe link lane up/downlink. Similar to the Z370 chipset, it’ll have 24 PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes. Also similar is storage at six SATA 6 Gbps ports with AHCI and RAID support; and up to three 32 Gbps M.2/U.2 connectors. LAN remains the same as well. 1 GbE, Intel recommends their Wireless-AC 9560 card for the motherboard manufacturers to pair this chipset with for 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5. Some differences are spotted though, USB is configured at six 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, ten 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports.
Above Intel Z390
Above (for comparison) Z370
