Please note that this post is tagged as a rumor.
Intel Meteor Lake desktop platform with more PCIe lanes
With rumors about the cancellation of the Meteor Lake-S desktop series, one must not forget that the platform specs must have been already shared with certain Intel partners. This does not confirm or debunk what will happen to the next-gen Core series, but rather what Intel was or still is planing for its new desktop client platform.
One of the hardware leakers, TCL (@leaf_hobby) who had previously revealed the full specs of Intel Xeon W3400/2400 series before launch, claims to know the details on Meteor Lake-S desktop platform.
The new CPU series would finally get 20 PCIe Gen5 lanes, with 16 lanes dedicated to the GPU and 4 for storage (the current platform is limited to 16 lanes). Furthermore, it is said that the Z890 chipset itself is to feature 4 additional Gen4 lanes. That said, Intel is clearly preparing a direct competitor to the AMD 600E platform.
MTL-S has additional 5.0 x4 from CPU(for M.2?)
5.0 x16
5.0 x4
4.0 x4
From CPU Direct
No AVX512Z890 has additional 4.0 x4 from chipset, x24 Gen4 lanes total
Wi-Fi 7 debutIt says support windows 12 on OS list(?)
Now only 6P+8E and 6P+16E, 8P under dev?
That’s everything I know— TLC (@leaf_hobby) February 25, 2023
The details on the next-gen desktop platform were leaked many months ago. The new chipsets are to be paired with LGA-1851 socket supposedly for Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs. The package size has not changed since Alder Lake, which means that new LGA1700 coolers should still be compatible with new “V1” socket.
Intel LGA 1851 socket, Source: Benchlife
Details that are yet missing is memory support. One can assume that the Z890 will support faster DDR5 memory than 5600 MT/s, but this was not mentioned yet. Furthermore, there is no mention of DDR4 memory support, which strongly suggests that Intel will discontinue supporting this technology with the new series.
Interestingly, the Z890 is said to support Wi-Fi 7 technology. This likely means Intel will develop its own wireless network chipset by the time this platform is market ready. Finally, the specs the leaker has also seen mention Windows 12 support.
Timing for the Z890 release is currently not available, but some sources claim it should come out in the second quarter next year. It would follow the refresh of Raptor Lake for desktops planned for Q3 this year.
| Intel Consumer Z-Chipsets | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | Z890 | Z790 | Z690 | Z590 | Z490 |
| Chipset |  |  |  |  |  |
| Launch | Q2 2024 | Q4 2022 | Q4 2021 | Q1 2021 | Q2 2020 |
| Socket | LGA-1851 | LGA-1700 | LGA-1700 | LGA-1200 | LGA-1200 |
| DDR5 Memory Support | DDR5-5600+ | DDR5-5600 | DDR5-4800 | – | – |
| DDR4 Memory Support | TBC | DDR4-3200 | DDR4-3200 | DDR4-3200 | DDR4-2933 |
| Intel Core Support | Meteor Lake-S Arrow Lake-S | Alder Lake-S Raptor Lake-S Raptor Lake-Refresh | Alder Lake-S Raptor Lake-S Raptor Lake-Refresh | Rocket Lake-S Comet Lake-S | Rocket Lake-S Comet Lake-S |
| CPU PCIe Gen5 | 16+4 | 16 | 16 | – | – |
| CPU PCIe Gen4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16+4 | – |
| CPU PCIe Gen3 | – | – | – | – | 16 |
| Chipset PCIe Gen5 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Chipset PCIe Gen4 | 24 | 20 | 12 | – | – |
| Chipset PCIe Gen3 | TBC | 8 | 16 | 24 | 24 |
| DMI | TBC | x8 Gen4 | x8 Gen4 | x8 Gen3 | x4 Gen3 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20G) | TBC | 5 | 4 | 3 | – |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 (10G) | TBC | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 (5G) | TBC | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Ethernet | TBC | 1G+2.5G | 1G+2.5G | 1G+2.5G | 1G+2.5G |
| Wi-Fi | WiFi 7 | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6E | WiFi 6 | WiFi 6 |
Source: @leaf_hobby via Expreview
