It's basically what we expected, I was last told by my friend in the know that CPU's won't launch until summer, but Intel may paper launch them in April.
 
https://wccftech.com/intel-z490-motherboards-and-comet-lake-desktop-cpu-april-2020/
According to a report, Intel's next-generation Z490 chipset powered motherboards and 10th Gen Comet Lake-S CPUs are expected to arrive in April 2020. The news comes from HKPEC who has received details from industry insiders and is expecting the new chipset to bring a major update.

Intel Z490 Motherboards Launching Alongside 10th Gen Comet Lake-S CPUs in April 2020, Rumor Alleges

As a part of the 400-series chipset family, the Z490 chipset would be featured on the high-end board designs. There would also be other chipsets such as W480 (workstation), B460 (business) and H410 (entry-level). Focusing solely on the Z490 chipset, it is expected to be the main launch that would accompany Intel's 10th Gen processors codenamed, Comet Lake-S. A few Z490 series boards from various Intel partners got leaked out a few days ago so its no surprise we are getting this information now.
 
 

 

🤔 ill wait for pci 5 support

😁👎

No PCIe 4,0??? (shake my head)
Bad enough its 14nm still
 
but 5.1GHZ Boost from 3.0GHZ isn't all that bad - under watercooling that would be a better buy than a 9900k CPU
 
 
 
 

boylerya

atfrico
🤔 ill wait for pci 5 support

😁👎

Ill wait for PCIe 6.0 support.  Itll make the switch to PAM-4 encoding which will be the next switch to improved encoding since PCIe 3.0 which resulted in small fps gains.  The switch from PCIe 4.0 to 5.0 will only increase bandwidth which will probably never have any performance impact on GPUs for the foreseeable future, unless perhaps NVLink is somehow implemented on PCIe 5.0 and not 4.0, if at all for either of those two.

 
no seriously do it!
 
Z490 a new name with the same old tech. Let me find my x58 and stamp a lake x motherboard compatible label to it and sell it to you for $700.  I should have a bowl of popcorn every time i see an Intel headline, it is worth the entertainment.

I'm hoping it has more overclock ability, maybe 5.4GHz... if this platform has a 10 core processor that can do at least 5GHz on all cores, it's going to be the best gaming processor until 2021, when we should be getting the new 10nm stuff with significant IPC gains. I really hope TSMC can get some significant gains on their 5nm stuff, so AMD has something decent to compete with Intel's 10nm processors. 

You'd think the one thing Intel would learn from AMD smacking them in the sack would be to stop with the variable socket crap with every new board generation; but here we are.

Backwards compatibility is a double edged sword. While it increases the lifespan of the product, it decreases the stability or support of new features. It would be kind of goofy to get a processor with 40 PCI-E lanes but be limited by the chipset, so you can only use 16. Never running into incompatibility issues that would require a lot of technical troubleshooting is kind of a nice thing... 

ty_ger07

RainStryke
Backwards compatibility is a double edged sword. While it increases the lifespan of the product, it decreases the stability or support of new features. It would be kind of goofy to get a processor with 40 PCI-E lanes but be limited by the chipset, so you can only use 16. Never running into incompatibility issues that would require a lot of technical troubleshooting is kind of a nice thing... 

Having the foresight to splurge an extra $10 on the chipset to support future technologies which have already been technically determined and only wait on being implemented, would solve that. The current CPU doesn't need to support future technologies, but why not design the chipset to be compatible with future technologies? Designing a motherboard and socket for only 16 PCI-E lanes is extremely short-sighted. It's not that Intel isn't able to avoid new chipsets every year, they are simply unwilling. In some cases it is unavoidable. But in most, it is a purposely chosen stiff-arm maneuver.

They definitely have foresight into their own plans and expected launch dates of products they will be releasing... But they also depend on an operating system they don't own and having a dormant feature in place for future models isn't going to be easy to explain to shareholders that they are investing ahead to ensure the sales of future products. The majority of public owned companies see that as a risk and won't put support behind it, especially when the alternative path is less risky. Too many variables where the company can lose money for adding a feature before it's in use and fully vetted. For instance, X470 board's technically support PCI-E 4.0, but not officially and has been roadblocked by AMD so it's no longer an available option to people utilizing the latest BIOS. Having access to those features ahead of time can also open them up to all kinds of security flaws or loopholes they maybe didn't think of while trying to fully develop the new feature before it's actual release to the public.
 
You also have things like huge contracts with 3rd parties that must be fulfilled in order to meet the demand of the products. If they have to switch companies because they can't keep up with manufacturing, they are stuck with the original company because of the original investment to add a feature before it was ready to be implemented or they will have to take a loss.

Aye, breaking compatibility was very much a deliberate choice on Intel's part. No new tech, no new RAM or PCIe 4.0 support, nothing to justify the change. Don't forget Intel broke compatibility with Coffee Lake too, again over an arbitrary reason to sell more 300 series chipset boards. 
 
Intel can't even claim future proofing with LGA1200 because DDR5 will force a new socket whenever Intel does get around to introducing it. So this new socket will last two years, tops. 

vegajf51
I am sure the motherboard vendor's don't mind selling more motherboards that are almost identical to the last generation. For example from Z170 all the way to Z390 the actual motherboard R&D is low due to much of the board is the same, just new bells and whistles. 

Exactly. This does nothing besides hurt the consumer but pads profits for vendors.

kougar
Aye, breaking compatibility was very much a deliberate choice on Intel's part. No new tech, no new RAM or PCIe 4.0 support, nothing to justify the change. Don't forget Intel broke compatibility with Coffee Lake too, again over an arbitrary reason to sell more 300 series chipset boards. 
 
Intel can't even claim future proofing with LGA1200 because DDR5 will force a new socket whenever Intel does get around to introducing it. So this new socket will last two years, tops. 

Oh, no, you're wrong. This is a substantial change and backwards compatibility would have been dangerous. It's not a deliberate intent to sell more chipsets. [/sarcasm]

vegajf51

kevinc313
I'd just like to stop by to personally thank Intel for not obsoleting my 9900K / Z390.  I mean the socket will be phased out but they aren't introducing any significant advances.

I suppose that is one way to look at the lack of innovation. 
 

 
 

Well pc stuff is pretty expensive.  Especially gpu's.  It's nice to not see them plummeting in value like 2nd gen ryzen or ram or ssd's.

Well, to counterbalance my other post there is one positive thing about this. It will only spur more AMD converts.