Intel Outs Z390 Coffee Lake Chipset In Support Documents, Computex Debut Likely
Looking the specs for Z390, its features are similar to that of the 300-series chipsets that launched earlier this year, but it ups the ante with even higher-end features. The chipset of course supports all of Intel's 8th generation Core processors along with Optane memory. But Intel has beefed up its connectivity options to include not only 802.11ac (courtesy of an integrated Intel Wireless-AC 9560 MAC), but also Bluetooth 5.0.
Other features include support for up to 6 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (10 Gbps), 10 USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports or 14 USB 2.0 ports. 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes are supported, as are RAID 0, 1 and 5 with PCIe NVMe SSDs.
The Z390 takes the place of the Z370 at the top of the totem pole in Intel's chipset lineup, and of course includes support for overclocking unlocked Core processors and your DDR4 memory modules.
A recent leak from German IT distributor bluechip Computer revealed that the Z390 will likely be announced at Computex and will be available in the latest crop of enthusiast motherboards starting in Q3. Shortly after in Q4, Intel will allegedly release an 8-core, 16-thread Coffee Lake-S processor. We saw engineering samples of this processor hit the 3DMark database as far back as March.
With the Z390 chipset pretty much out in the open for all to see (at least from a specs perspective), we'll keep our eyes on the lookout for this upcoming 8-core Coffee Lake-S processor. However, all will likely be unveiled at Computex, which runs from June 5th through June 9th – that is unless everything leaks ahead of time (which it likely will).
