Thursday, August 3rd 2017

Intel Coffee Lake CPUs Will Require New Motherboards

A motherboard maker's official Twitter feed has just confirmed what we all had an inkling to believe already: Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake architecture, which promises the first major change in Intel's line-up strategy, won't be compatible with existing motherboards and chipsets. Now, granted, companies' official Twitter feeds may sometimes be open to failures or miscommunication from the account operator at the time of writing, but still, the company hasn't doubled back on the original posting.

This does make slightly more sense than other times where Intel didn't offer support for a new generation of its processors in a past chipset. However, this does confirm that Intel users are again left without an upgrade path for the top-of-the-line Intel solutions they may have acquired already. If you purchased an i7-7700K and were expecting to upgrade to an Intel six-core next round, you'll have to rethink that strategy, and your budget, to include a new motherboard with a new chipset (expectedly, Z370.)
Source: via Tom's Hardware
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48 Comments on Intel Coffee Lake CPUs Will Require New Motherboards

#1
Chaitanya
Not surprising at all. Usually Intel keeps the socket for two generations of CPUs.
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#2
jchambers2586
If I have to change a board I will switch to AMD while I am at it.
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#6
vega22
oxidizedWeird i'd never say that about you, i'd think you're pretty unbiased

Nice avatar btw :laugh:
yeah i might need to change that soon xD

never tried to hide the fact that i have a personal preference to amd, they have historically been the more innovative company while intel have been doing shady shit since before i even cared about the parts inside my pc :D

just never been daft enough to give any kind of blind loyalty to any company, my bottom line is what i care about most :D

amd copied my name for their gpu too :lol:
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#7
ppn
Well coffee may require Z370 not because of the chip set but because some new power planes or something, but can existing CPU's work on Z370 motherboards with backward compatibility.
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#8
chinmi
No big deal. Just sell the obsolette kaby lake and motherboard for some cash and get coffee lake and the new motherboard. We dont need to buy full price for coffee and motherboard then, since 70% of it comes from selling the old kaby and mobo.
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#9
5DVX0130
ppnWell coffee may require Z370 not because of the chip set but because some new power planes or something, but can existing CPU's work on Z370 motherboards with backward compatibility.
Well that's the thing, if it does, there is no reason why Coffee Lake shouldn’t also work on Z270.
There were also some talks, about Cannonlake needing the x390 chipset. No idea really, the whole thing is a complete mess as it stands now. As it stands now, Cannonlake being scheduled for Q1/18 with no guarantee it will work on Z370, I wouldn’t touch Coffee Lake till we know more about their 2018 plans.
Honestly, the chipset is quite a mayor let down for me. It’s essentially a marginally upgraded Z270, which is already a marginally upgraded Z170.
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#10
HimymCZe
ChaitanyaNot surprising at all. Usually Intel keeps the socket for two generations of CPUs.
That's the main issue, CoffeeLake will still be in LGA1151 socket and from HW pov everything on MB and socket is the same... This just looks like a greedy PUSH for costumers to upgrade.
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#12
The Data Master
Intel hasn't progressively used the same motherboard/socket since LGA 775.
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#13
dj-electric
Everyone, hold your horses. Wait for an official statement about this from intel

(everyone will probably ignore this and keep stirring the drama)
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#14
ensabrenoir
....sorta frightening how intel can go from looking like a well planned, well oiled machine to keystone cops flinging rubber chickens everywhere...
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#15
thesmokingman
ensabrenoir....sorta frightening how intel can go from looking like a well planned, well oiled machine to keystone cops flinging rubber chickens everywhere...
And in a very short amount of time.
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#16
R0H1T
Dj-ElectriCEveryone, hold your horses. Wait for an official statement about this from intel

(everyone will probably ignore this and keep stirring the drama)
When it;s on AT 'tis pretty much official, unless of course Intel does an Nvidia & backtracks on their front stabbing after potential buyers revolt ~
Coffee Lake Not Supported by Intel’s 200-Series Motherboards
www.anandtech.com/show/11687/coffee-lake-not-supported-by-intels-200series-motherboards
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#17
THU31
This will still be the fastest gaming CPU, so it does not really matter. Those who want top gaming performance will buy Intel anyway.

The only hope is that all new games will be optimized for Ryzen as well, but unfortunately no big games have come out since its launch.
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#18
TheoneandonlyMrK
HimymCZeThat's the main issue, CoffeeLake will still be in LGA1151 socket and from HW pov everything on MB and socket is the same... This just looks like a greedy PUSH for costumers to upgrade.
I've said it before but wth ,there Is a circuit interposer under every chip which could mitigate to a degree pin swaps ,which aren't that likely to be required since they won't add anything useful regards pciex lanes or memory channels.
So im in on your cash grab theory ,defo , and par for intels course.
Also a pretty blatant flap since amds x370 and x399 are clearly miles better to a dumb punter going by naming convention alone.
Seams like a undercounter back hander to Oem's to me.
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#19
R0H1T
Harry LloydThis will still be the fastest gaming CPU, so it does not really matter. Those who want top gaming performance will buy Intel anyway.

The only hope is that all new games will be optimized for Ryzen as well, but unfortunately no big games have come out since its launch.
Says who, there's quite a few who'd prefer an octa core (Ryzen) & 1080Ti or two in SLI.
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#20
THU31
Say the benchmarks that include minimum framerates, which are rubbish on Ryzen in many games.
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#21
R0H1T
Harry LloydSay the benchmarks that include minimum framerates, which are rubbish on Ryzen in many games.
Right, does that include this?


Rubbish six core 1600 trails the fastest mainstream CPU by a whopping (min) 8fps, clock for clock, I bet 4k is even closer!
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#22
Assimilator
HimymCZeThat's the main issue, CoffeeLake will still be in LGA1151 socket and from HW pov everything on MB and socket is the same... This just looks like a greedy PUSH for costumers to upgrade.
You have no idea how power delivery works, do you?
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#23
mcraygsx
At first I was pretty excited for my Maximux IX Code but now I feel as I should've settled for a much cheaper Z270 board instead.
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#24
fullinfusion
Vanguard Beta Tester
jchambers2586If I have to change a board I will switch to AMD while I am at it.
+1
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#25
Dave65
jchambers2586If I have to change a board I will switch to AMD while I am at it.
Yeah, people are already fleeing the Intel ship..
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