Intel's entire 600-series chipset lineup which will be featured on next-gen HEDT, Mainstream & Workstation platforms has leaked out within the latest chipset drivers.
Intel's Entire 600-Series Chipset Lineup Leaks Out - X699 HEDT, W685 / W680 Workstation & Z690 Mainstream
The lineup was listed within Intel's Chipset Device Software Version (10.1.18836.8283) which was spotted by HXL. The driver list includes 19 Device IDs for various PCH (Platform Controller Hubs) that will be powering next-gen platforms from Intel. Before getting into the chipset list, let's talk about the segmentation of Intel's chipset families.
The Intel chipset families are segmented from top to bottom with the highest-end enthusiast chip being the 'X' series which is aimed at the HEDT segment, this is followed by the 'Z' series which is aimed at the enthusiast mainstream segment. There's 'W' series which is aimed at the workstation segment and then we have the Q, H, B, R, E series which are aimed at the enterprise, budget, entry-level, and embedded platforms. The Intel 600-series chipsets leaked within the driver are listed as follows:
- X699 (HEDT Enthusiast)
- Z690 (Mainstream Enthusiast)
- W685 (Workstation Enthusiast)
- W680 (Workstation Mainstream)
- Q670 (Business / Enterprise)
- Q670E (Business / Enterprise Laptop)
- R680E (R-Embedded Laptop)
- H670 (Mainstream Budget)
- B660 (Mainstream Budget)
- H610 (Mainstream Entry)
- H610E (Mainstream Entry Laptop)
The Intel Z690, W680, Q670, H670, B660 & H610 motherboards are based around the LGA 1700 socket and will feature support for Alder Lake-S Desktop CPUs. The Z690 boards will be first to hit the retail segment in Q4 2021 followed by more mainstream chipset-based products in Q1 & Q2 2022. The X699 chipset is a rather interesting listing as it is part of the HEDT family & could feature support for next-gen enthusiast-class chips. There was a recent rumor that Sapphire Rapids HEDT CPUs will be supported by the W790 chipset but no 700-series chipset is listed within the driver yet.
Intel 600-Series Platform For 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs
The Intel 600-series platform will comprise Z690, W680, H670, B660, and H610 SKUs. As for the launch, the Z690 flagship SKU will be the first to hit the market and is aiming for Q4 2021. That is also when we can start expecting to see the DDR5 memory in retail outlets. The Intel 600-series platform will also be compliant with PCIe 5.0 as we reported here.
All motherboards will feature the LGA 1700 socket to support 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs. The Intel Alder Lake CPUs will offer support for both DDR5-4800 and DDR4-3200 memory on the 600-series chipset platform while an x16 PCIe Gen 5.0 link would be provided directly to the discrete graphics card.
Intel's Management Engine has also listed down support for upcoming CPUs such as Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Meteor Lake as reported by Komachi.
ME16.50 ADL-N.
ME17.0 RPL.
ME18.0 MTL-M.— 遠坂小町@Komachi (@KOMACHI_ENSAKA) August 21, 2021
Interestingly, there are also two workstation chipsets mentioned. The W680 will power the Xeon mainstream workstation platform on the LGA 1700 socket while the W685 might be a premium offering that either comes to LGA 1700 socket or a different platform entirely to tackle the AMD Threadripper Pro chips. That's all speculation for now but expect more information such as the platform details in the coming month.
The post Intel 600-Series Chipsets Leak Out In Latest Drivers – X699 For HEDT, Z690 For Mainstream, W680 For Workstation & More by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
source https://wccftech.com/intel-600-series-chipsets-leak-out-in-latest-drivers-x699-hedt-z690-mainstream-w680-workstation/
