According to a report, Intel's next-generation Z490 chipset powered motherboards and 10th Gen Comet Lake-S CPUs are expected to arrive in April 2020. The news comes from HKPEC who has received details from industry insiders and is expecting the new chipset to bring a major update.
Intel Z490 Motherboards Launching Alongside 10th Gen Comet Lake-S CPUs in April 2020, Rumor Alleges
As a part of the 400-series chipset family, the Z490 chipset would be featured on the high-end board designs. There would also be other chipsets such as W480 (workstation), B460 (business) and H410 (entry-level). Focusing solely on the Z490 chipset, it is expected to be the main launch that would accompany Intel's 10th Gen processors codenamed, Comet Lake-S. A few Z490 series boards from various Intel partners got leaked out a few days ago so its no surprise we are getting this information now.
Following are some of the main platform features of the 10th Generation Comet Lake-S family:
- Up To 10 processor cores for enhanced performance
- Up To 30 PCH-H High-Speed I/O lanes for port flexibility
- Up To 40 PCIe 3.0 Lanes (16 CPU, up to 24 PCH)
- Media & Display features for premium 4K content support
- Integrated + Discrete Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi/BT CNVi) Support
- Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) Support
- Enhanced Core and memory overclock
- Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 Gb/s) support
- Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST)
- Programmable (Open FW SDK) Quad-Core Audio DSP
- C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby
The Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-S family would initially launch with 9 SKUs with more to come later. They would be segmented in the Xeon W, Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium, and Celeron parts. Surprisingly, Intel would have two different chip layouts for their Comet Lake family. The 10 core and 8 core variants would be based on the Comet Lake-S 10+2 wafer while the rest of the parts would be based on the Comet Lake-S 6+2 wafer. The entire (expected) lineup can be seen in the table below:
Intel 10th Gen Core Comet Lake Desktop CPU Family:
| CPU Name | Cores / Threads | Base Clock | Single-Core Boost Clock | Turbo Boost Max 3.0 (Single-Core) | All Core Boost Clock | Cache | TDP | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i9-10900K | 10/20 | 3.7 GHz | 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz (Velocity) | 5.2 GHz | 4.8 GHz 4.9 GHz (Velocity) | 20 MB | 125W | $488 US |
| Intel Core i9-10900KF | 10/20 | 3.7 GHz | 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz (Velocity) | 5.2 GHz | 4.8 GHz 4.9 GHz (Velocity) | 20 MB | 125W | $472 US |
| Intel Core i9-10850K | 10/20 | 3.6 GHz | 5.2 GHz | N/A | 4.8 GHz | 20 MB | 125W | ~$450 US |
| Intel Core i9-10900 | 10/20 | 2.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz 5.2 GHz (Velocity) | 5.1 GHz | 4.5 GHz 4.6 GHz (Velocity) | 20 MB | 65W | $439 US |
| Intel Core i9-10900F | 10/20 | 2.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz 5.2 GHz (Velocity) | 5.1 GHz | 4.5 GHz 4.6 GHz (Velocity) | 20 MB | 65W | $422 US |
| Intel Core i9-10900T | 10/20 | 1.9 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 20 MB | 35W | $439 US |
| Intel Core i7-10700K | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 16 MB | 125W | $374 US |
| Intel Core i7-10700KF | 8/16 | 3.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 16 MB | 125W | $349 US |
| Intel Core i7-10700 | 8/16 | 2.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 16 MB | 65W | $323 US |
| Intel Core i7-10700F | 8/16 | 2.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 16 MB | 65W | $298 US |
| Intel Core i7-10700T | 8/16 | 2.0 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 3.7 GHz | 16 MB | 35W | $325 US |
| Intel Core i5-10600K | 6/12 | 4.1 GHz | 4.8 GHz | N/A | 4.5 GHz | 12 MB | 125W | $262 US |
| Intel Core i5-10600KF | 6/12 | 4.1 GHz | 4.8 GHz | N/A | 4.5 GHz | 12 MB | 125W | $237 US |
| Intel Core i5-10600 | 6/12 | 3.3 GHz | 4.8 GHz | N/A | 4.5 GHz | 12 MB | 65W | $213 US |
| Intel Core i5-10600T | 6/12 | 2.4 GHz | 4.0 GHz | N/A | 3.7 GHz | 12 MB | 35W | $213 US |
| Intel Core i5-10500 | 6/12 | 3.1 GHz | 4.5 GHz | N/A | 4.2 GHz | 12 MB | 65W | $192 US |
| Intel Core i5-10500T | 6/12 | 2.3 GHz | 3.8 GHz | N/A | 3.5 GHz | 12 MB | 35W | $192 US |
| Intel Core i5-10400 | 6/12 | 2.9 GHz | 4.3 GHz | N/A | 4.0 GHz | 12 MB | 65W | $182 US |
| Intel Core i5-10400F | 6/12 | 2.9 GHz | 4.3 GHz | N/A | 4.0 GHz | 12 MB | 65W | $157 US |
| Intel Core i5-10400T | 6/12 | 2.0 GHz | 3.6 GHz | N/A | 3.2 GHz | 12 MB | 35W | $182 US |
| Intel Core i3-10320 | 4/8 | 3.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | N/A | 4.4 GHz | 8 MB | 65W | $154 US |
| Intel Core i3-10300 | 4/8 | 3.7 GHz | 4.4 GHz | N/A | 4.2 GHz | 8 MB | 65W | $143 US |
| Intel Core i3-10300T | 4/8 | 3.0 GHz | 3.9 GHz | N/A | 3.6 GHz | 8 MB | 35W | $143 US |
| Intel Core i3-10100 | 4/8 | 3.6 GHz | 4.3 GHz | N/A | 4.1 GHz | 8 MB | 65W | $122 US |
| Intel Core i3-10100T | 4/8 | 3.0 GHz | 3.8 GHz | N/A | 3.5 GHz | 8 MB | 35W | $122 US |
| Intel Pentium G6600 | 2/4 | 4.2 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | $86 US |
| Intel Pentium G6500 | 2/4 | 4.1 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | $75 US |
| Intel Pentium G6400 | 2/4 | 3.8 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | $64 US |
| Intel Pentium G6400T | 2/4 | 3.4 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | $64 US |
| Intel Celeron G5925 | 2/2 | 3.6 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | ~$60 US |
| Intel Celeron G5920 | 2/2 | 3.5 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 MB | 58W | $52 US |
| Intel Celeron G5905 | 2/2 | 3.5 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 58W | ~$50 US |
| Intel Celeron G5900 | 2/2 | 3.2 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 MB | 58W | $42 US |
| Intel Celeron G5905T | 2/2 | 3.3 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 4 MB | 35W | ~$40 US |
| Intel Celeron G5900T | 2/2 | 3.2 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2 MB | 35W | $42 US |
Intel 400-Series Platform & LGA 1200 Socket Support
It is now confirmed that Intel is indeed moving to a new socket with their 400-series boards that will be introduced next year too. While the LGA 1200 socket has the same dimensions as the LGA 1151 socket (37.5mm x 37.5mm), the socket keying has shifted to the left side and Comet Lake is no longer electrically or mechanically compatible with Coffee Lake motherboards. Some details of the new LGA 1200 package and socket for Comet Lake:
- Comet Lake will transition to a higher pin-count package
- Comet Lake LGA will not have backward compatibility with legacy platforms
- No changes to ILM dimensions or thermal solution retention
- Comet Lake LGA improves power delivery and support for future incremental I/O features
- Pin 1 orientation remains the same, but socket keying has shifted left
The good thing is that your existing coolers would still be compatible with the LGA 1200 socket so that's one hardware change you shouldn't be worrying about. The Comet Lake-S family will retain support for DDR4-2666 memory UDIMM and support up to 32 GB capacity DIMMs per channel.
Intel plans to have several chipsets deployed in the 400-series family. There would obviously be Z490 which will target the 'K' unlocked SKUs I mentioned above but aside from that, we are looking at the W480 (Entry Workstation), Q470 (Corporate with Intel vPro), and H410 (Value) chipsets. These would target more corporate and entry tier users. Also interesting to note is that H410 is not pin-compatible with W480 and Q470 chipsets which reveals a very cut down design for the entry-level chip.
Intel 400-Series Chipset Family:
| Chipset Name | Intel Z490 | Intel W480 | Intel Q470 | Intel H410 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total HSIO Lanes | 46 Lanes (16 CPU + 30 PCH) | 46 Lanes (16 CPU+ 30 PCH) | 46 Lanes (16 CPU+ 30 PCH) | 30 Lanes (16 CPU+ 14 PCH) |
| Total PCIe 3.0 Lanes (CPU + PCH) | Up To 40 (16 CPU + | Up To 40 (16 CPU + | Up To 40 (16 CPU + | 22(16 CPU + 6 PCIe 2.0) |
| Chipset PCIe 3.0 Lanes | Up To 24 | Up To 24 | Up To 24 | 6 (PCIe 2.0 Only) |
| SATA 3.0 Ports | Up To 8 | Up To 8 | Up To 6 | 4 |
| Maximum USB 3.2 Ports Gen 2 (10 Gb/s) / Gen 1 (5 Gb/s) | 8/10 | 8/10 | 6/10 | 0/4 |
| Tota USB Ports (Maximum USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s)) | 14 (10) | 14 (10) | 14 (10) | 10 (4) |
| Intel RST Technology For PCIe 3.0 storage ports | 3 PCH | 3 PCH | 3 PCH | 0 |
| eSPI | 2 Chip Select | 2 Chip Select | 2 Chip Select | 1 Chip Select |
| Overclocking Support | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Processor PCIe Express 3.0 Lanes Configuration | 1x16 or 2x8 or 1x8 + 2x4 | 1x16 or 2x8 or 1x8 + 2x4 | 1x16 or 2x8 or 1x8 + 2x4 | 1x16 |
| Display Support (Ports / Pipes) | 3/3 | 3/3 | 3/3 | 3/2 |
| DMI 3.0 Lanes | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 (DMI 2.0 Only) |
| System Memory Channels / DPC | 2/2 (DDR4-2666) | 2/2 (DDR4-2666) | 2/2 (DDR4-2666) | 2/1 (DDR4-2666) |
In terms of chipset features, W480 would be the most feature-rich of the three chipsets that are mentioned here. Z490 would be the most appealing for the enthusiast and gaming audience but let's take a look at the mainstream chipsets. The W480 chipset would offer a total of 46 high-speed IO lanes and a total of 40 PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes. The CPUs would retain 16 lanes with the chipset offering up to 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes.
There would be support for up to 8 SATA III ports, 8 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports or 10 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 14 USB 3.2 Gen ports and Intel RST. Neither of the three chipsets would feature overclock support since that is restricted to the Z490 chipset but we will get more information on overclocking later on from Intel themselves. Expect more information on the Z490 motherboards and Comet Lake-S desktop CPU family at CES 2020 where we should get more details about Intel's next-gen desktop family roadmap.
