Intel Z170 ‘100-Series’ Chipsets Ready for Rollout by AIBs – Awaiting Skylake Processors’ Launch

Usman Pirzada

The word on the rumor mill (via bitsandchips.it) is that AIBs have been all done with the 100 series chipset for quite some time now and are actually waiting for Intel to initiate the roll out. Intel has been following its staggered launch stratagem and Skylake processors are expected in a few months this year. We have already seen completed 100-Series boards from AsRock so this leak isn't really that surprising.

AIBs have 100 Series Motherboards ready to rollout - Waiting for compatible processors

The 100-Series chipsets will be separated into the Q170 and Q150 motherboards for the corporate spectrum, B150 Motherboards for the business spectrum, Z170 and H170 for the consumer spectrum and H110 for the value spectrum. All chipsets will support Skylake and will feature LGA 1151 socket. Intel Skylake processors will be based on the 14nm process and are slated to be the successor to Broadwell-K (something that might or might not make it to the market).

Intel's desktop spectrum has undergone delay after delay and Skylake is poised to be the next major update. Even thought Skylake-S is going to consist of multiplier locked processors, there are reports that Skylake will contain something brand new and exciting. 14nm has proven to be a very troublesome node for Intel because we have yet to see Broadwell-K enter the market either, something that was supposed to happen before Skylake-S. Its absence could indicate an architectural jump from Intel among other things. Here are the platform comparison charts for Skylake:

Intel Sandy Bridge Platform Intel Ivy Bridge Platform Intel Haswell Platform Intel Broadwell Platform Intel Skylake Platform
Processor Architecture Sandy Bridge Ivy Bridge Haswell Broadwell Skylake
Processor Process 32nm 22nm 22nm 14nm 14nm
Processors Cores (Max) 4 4 4 4 4
Platform Chipset 6-Series “Cougar Point” 7-Series “Panther Point” 8-Series “Lynx Point” 9-Series “Wild Cat Point” 100-Series “Sunrise Point”
Platform Socket LGA 1155 LGA 1155 LGA 1150 LGA 1150 LGA 1151
Memory Support DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR3 DDR4 / DDR3 (Up to 64 GB)
Thunderbolt Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes “Alpine Ridge”
Platform Desktop LGA Desktop LGA Desktop LGA Desktop LGA Desktop LGA
Launch 2011 2012 2013-2014 2015 2015
Variant SKL-Y (BGA) SKL-U (BGA) SKL-H (BGA) SKL-S (LGA)
Cores Configurations 2 2 / 2 4 / 4 4 / 2 / 4
Graphic Configurations GT2 GT2 / GT3e GT2 / GT4e GT2 / GT2 / GT4e
eDRAM - 64MB - GT3e 128MB - GT4e 64MB - GT4e
Memory LPDDR3 1600Mhz LPDDR3 1600Mhz DDR4 2133Mhz DDR3L/DDR3L-RS 1600Mhz, DDR4 2133Mhz
TDP 4W 15-28W 35-45W 35-95W
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