Intel's upcoming Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processor introduces a new socket, the LGA1851, alongside the new Intel 800-series desktop chipset. We now have some idea what the 151 additional pins on the new socket are used for, thanks to a leaked platform map on the ChipHell forums, discovered by HXL. Intel is expanding the number of PCIe lanes from the processor. It now puts out a total of 32 PCIe lanes.

From the 32 PCIe lanes put out by the "Arrow Lake-S" processor's system agent, 16 are meant for the PCI-Express 5.0 x16 PEG slot to be used for discrete graphics. Eight are used as chipset bus, technically DMI 4.0 x8 (these are eight lanes that operate at Gen 4 speed for 128 Gbps per direction of bandwidth). There are now not one, but two CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slots possible, just like on the AMD "Raphael" and "Granite Ridge" processors. What's interesting, though, is that not both are Gen 5. One of these is Gen 5 x4, while the other is Gen 4 x4.

Intel, in its Computex 2024 event unveiled its Core Ultra 300 "Lunar Lake" processor, along with a Q3 2024 date for the processors. It now turns out that the processors won't arrive until Fall 2024, specifically September, when the various notebook OEMs will merely announce their products based on the chips, followed by market availability of these notebooks through Holiday 2024, according to a DigiTimes report. The report also says that Intel's Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors could see an October 2024 announcement and availability for at least the Unlocked K- and KF SKUs, along with compatible Socket LGA1851 motherboards based on the top Intel Z890 chipset.

The DigiTimes report invited a clarification from Intel through Digital Trends. The company in a statement reaffirmed that the chips will be available "starting in Q3 2024, as noted at Computex." This statement aligns with the timeline that the company would commence shipments of "Lunar Lake" processors to OEMs starting in June, followed by product announcements and market availability in the following months.

ASRock at the 2024 Computex presented a massive lineup of gaming and overclocking motherboards based on the Intel Z890 chipset. The company is not allowed to use the term "Z890," and refers to it as "next-gen Intel," but for convenience's sake, we will use Z890 in this article. Z890 is the highest tier desktop chipset for Socket LGA1851, which will power the Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors that launch in Q4 2024. With the Z890 generation, ASRock stratified its coveted Taichi brand of high-end motherboards further up, clubbing its enthusiast-grade OC Formula brand along with it.

There are now Taichi OCF motherboards with either 1-DIMM per channel memory configurations (best dual-channel topology for memory overclocking), or with a new CAMM2 slot. There's also a mainline Taichi Lite, which is a no-frills variant with less bling, and essential high-end features such as a strong VRM and good onboard audio; and there's also the new Taichi Aqua, targeting the creator crowd, with its liquid-cooled VRM+SSD heatsink setup.

At the BIOSTAR booth at Computex, we found two new Intel Socket LGA1851 motherboards built around the Intel Z890 chipset, both ready to receive the new Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" processors. The two motherboards in question are the Z890 Valkyrie and Z890A-Silver. They use the ATX form factor (305 x 244 mm) and have 4x DDR5 slots, DP, HDMI, and SATA 3 connectors. Both motherboards use the same Realtek ALC 1220 7.1 channels HD for audio and come equipped with 1x 12 V RGB and 4x 5 V ARGB LED headers.

BIOSTAR Z890 Valkyrie sports 23 phases VRD, features 3x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, USB 4 40 Gbps ports, 6x M.2 (M Key), 1x PCIe Gen 5 and 5x PCIe Gen 4 slots, and also dual Realtek 5 GbE + 2.5 GbE LAN ports. The slightly more common model, Z890A-Silver features 15 phases VRD, 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 (x4) PCIe 4.0 x16, and 2x PCIe x1 slots, plenty of USB 3.2 Gen 2, Gen 1, and USB 2.0 ports but no USB 4. Also on the connectivity side, it has a single Realtek 2.5 GbE port.

During Computex 2024, GIGABYTE unveiled its new "AI TOP" series designed to empower users to develop and run AI applications locally on their systems. The AI TOP lineup includes AI-optimized motherboards, graphics cards, and complete system solutions. The flagship motherboard is called TRX50 AI TOP, which boasts support for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 7000 PRO and a regular series of CPUs. The flagship TRX50 AI TOP motherboard features a special VRM design with beefy heatsinks, four PCIe 5.0 x16 slots for quad-GPU setup, eight-channel DDR5 memory with room for eight DIMMs, and a few M.2 PCIe Gen 5 slots. Next in the AI TOP line is the GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AI TOP edition. Formed as a blower-style cooler, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AI TOP is envisioned for tight spaces and parallel installation with other GPUs to accelerate local AI development and inference.

Supposedly, there will be more AI TOP motherboards and GPUs than what is showcased. GIGABYTE may have an AI TOP makeover for Intel's upcoming Z890 AORUS Xtreme, and there could be more GPUs in the future with the blower-style AI TOP design. The goal of AI TOP series is optimization for AI workloads, which require lots of GPUs and lots of memory, like the TRX50 AI TOP motherboard shows.

GIGABYTE in its Computex 2027 booth showcased a huge lineup of next-generation Socket LGA1851 motherboards based on the top Intel Z890 chipset, which are ready for Intel's Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors. GIGABYTE has taped out the motherboard model names, so all mentions of Z890 in this article are based on our assumption that it's the name of the next-gen Intel chipset. These chips are expected to bring generational IPC increases from their "Lion Cove" P-cores, "Skymont" E-cores, a more complete PCIe Gen 5 I/O (including for the CPU-attached NVMe slots), and other innovations. If the socket looks similar to the LGA1700, it's because it's identical in physical dimensions, and you can use your LGA1700 cooler on the LGA1851, but the processors are not inter-compatible. The company also showcased a few AMD Socket AM5 motherboards based on the new AMD X870E chipset.

The first motherboard to catch our eye is the Z890 AORUS Tachyon. This board is geared for record-seeking CPU overclocking. The processor is wired to just two DDR5 memory slots (1 DIMM per channel, the best configuration for memory OC); and the CPU-attached NVMe slots being close to the socket, with a combined heatsink. The only expansion slots are a PCI-Express 5.0 x16, and what could be a Gen 4 x8. There are plenty of overclocker-friendly controls, voltage measurement points, diagnostic LEDs, and status displays, scattered all over the board.

We've known for a while that the Z890 will be Intel's next-generation high-end desktop motherboard chipset for the Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors in the LGA1851 package, and that Intel's first wave of processors and motherboards will target PC enthusiasts like they usually do—with just the unlocked K/KF processor SKUs and motherboards based on the Z890. We are now learning that the B860 will indeed be the company's mid-tier chipset for the processor. MSI has registered at least four motherboard models based on the B860, which showed up on Device Report.

These four motherboard models are the MPG B860M Edge Ti WiFi, the MPG B860I Edge WiFi, the MAG B860 Tomahawk WiFi, and the MAG B860M Mortar WiFi, with MSI internal product numbers 7E38, 7E39, 7E40, and 7E43, respectively. There's no word on whether B860 will even be available when the processors debut. Going by past trends, the mid-tier chipset and 65 W-class processor SKUs usually come out in the Q1 following a new processor generation launch, which means we could see these sometime early-2025. The B860 will lack CPU overclocking capabilities, and probably feature a narrower chipset bus, and fewer PCIe general purpose lanes than the Z890. As for MSI's Z890 motherboard lineup, there are at least eight models recorded—the MEG Z890 GODLIKE, the MEG Z890 Ace, MEG Z890 Unify-X, MPG Z890 Carbon WiFi, MPG Z890 Edge Ti WiFi, MPG Z890I Edge Ti WiFi, MAG Z890 Tomahawk WiFi, and the PRO Z890-P WiFi.