Intel is preparing its Z490 chipset for the upcoming Comet Lake-S processors with LGA 1200 socket, while AMD is apparently working on a mid-range B550 chipset for its Ryzen 3000 series.
As for the Z490 chipset, several Gigabyte-branded models were spotted on the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) website in September. They include the following models:
- Z490 Aorus Elite
- Z490 D
- Z490 Gaming X
- Z490 UD
- Z490 White
- Z490M
- Z490M DS3H
- Z490M Gaming X
Since then, there have been several new models listed by the EEC, including some others that have just appeared. All models added since September are as follows:
- Z490 Aorus Xtreme
- Z490 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce
- Z490i Ultra
- Z490 Aorus Pro
- Z490 Designate
- Z490 Aorus Ultra-GU
- Z490 UD AC
- Z490 Vision G
- Z490 Vision D
- W480 Vision D
The lineup offers 17 Models of Z490 motherboards and a single W480 card for workstations. Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, is the new Vision series. It is not entirely clear what Vision models will differ from the rest of the lineup.
The Z490 chipset will carry a new socket, the LGA 1200. There will be no major I/O improvements, such as PCI Express 4.0 support (for which we will have to wait for the launch of 10nm Tiger Lake).
The Comet Lake-S family will present processors with up to 10 physical cores (and presumably 20 threads) of computing, up to 30 I/O lanes, up to 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes (16 CPUs, up to 24 PCH), built-in Wi-Fi 5 support, Intel Wi-Fi 6 support, USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10Gbps) support and other minor features.
AMD B550 Chipset for Ryzen
In AMD territory, there is a B550a chipset for OEMs, but there is still no equivalent for the consumer market. According to Robert Hallock of AMD, it only supports the PCIe 3.0 standard but not PCIe 4.0.
"OEMs are also customers and may have different needs and desires than a regular user," Hallock said on Reddit.
Instead, the normal B550 chipset for consumers is expected to have PCIe 4.0 support. It essentially takes its place as a mid-range offering. Just like with Z490, Gigabyte has many B550 motherboard models planned, which include:
- B550 Aorus Master
- B550 Aorus Elite
- B550 Aorus Pro AC
- B550 Aorus Pro AX
- B550 Aorus Pro
- B550M Aorus Pro
- B550 Gaming X
- B550M Gaming
- B550M DS3H AC
- B550M DS3H
- B550M H
- B550M S2H
It seems that there will be at least half a dozen micro-ATX and mini-ITX models for small form factor builds, along with several regular ATX models. At least one of these models will feature built-in Wi-Fi based on the Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) standard.
We just have to wait for the official moment of commercialisation.
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