Z270 coffee lake 6 core cpu support

[iamgenius]

So are we now certain that coffee lake will need a new chipset to work? Sorry to ask this in a thread but the forum is crowded with cpu topics with endless replies and the best I could find in google is that Asrock said in one of their tweets that it will not be supported and later deleted this specific tweet.

I mean it should be supported since Z270 was only released months ago.

Mad i7 7700K owner

 

[jpiniero]

Intel uploaded the box shot, it literally says 300 series only.

If you have a 7700K, why would you want to blow another $380 or so on the 8700K?

 

[BigDaveX]

Most likely either it's the electrical configuration of the socket that's actually been overhauled and the change from 200-series to 300-series chipsets is incidental, or Intel did another of their genius moves and made the 200-series unable to operate with CPUs that have more than 4 physical cores, so that motherboard makers wouldn't be able to make HEDT motherboards with mainstream chipsets.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Intel uploaded the box shot, it literally says 300 series only.

If you have a 7700K, why would you want to blow another $380 or so on the 8700K?

Two more cores, higher frequency potential.

 

[iamgenius]

Two more cores, higher frequency potential.

That and I'm just crazy speed maniac. My rig was built with bragging rights in mind.

 

[Arachnotronic]

That and I'm just crazy speed maniac. My rig was built with bragging rights in mind.

No shame in that, that's called being an enthusiast!

 

[crashtech]

You're not the only one that's ticked off, especially when many in the know were predicting that the higher end Z270 boards would get CFL enabled BIOses. Due to the uncertainty, I did not stick with Intel when my Z170 board needed replacing, but CFL will probably be desirable enough for me to buy into Z370, even though it's a dead-end platform.

 

[andrehide]

There is no official word yet.
But there is the Asrock tweet, leaked box shot, and tomshardware said they checked their sources to confirm the Asrock tweet.

I'm using a pentium g4560. Initially, it was a stop-gap to upgrade later to the 7700k.
Then the rumours about a 6-core started, with the possibility of compatibility with z270.
Now that it is almost certain that it won't be compatible, I don't know if I go for the 7700k, or just stick some more time with the Pentium, and then replace the mobo too. Might as well go for Zen 2.

 

[pantsaregood]

There is no official word yet.
But there is the Asrock tweet, leaked box shot, and tomshardware said they checked their sources to confirm the Asrock tweet.

I'm using a pentium g4560. Initially, it was a stop-gap to upgrade later to the 7700k.
Then the rumours about a 6-core started, with the possibility of compatibility with z270.
Now that it is almost certain that it won't be compatible, I don't know if I go for the 7700k, or just stick some more time with the Pentium, and then replace the mobo too. Might as well go for Zen 2.

There is official word. The boxes for Coffee Lake CPUs specifically state that Z370 motherboards are required.

Some people believe there's a genuine need for new motherboards to support these CPUs, but I'm not buying it. They aren't meaningfully different from Skylake/Kaby Lake in any way that a motherboard or PCH should care about. Z370 itself appears to be a rebranded Z270, as the true "new" PCH (Z390) isn't launching until next year.

On top of this, it looks like current LGA 1151 CPUs will continue to work on Z370 motherboards, so the motherboards appear to be electrically compatible. I have no official source on this, but if older LGA 1151 CPUs weren't going to be compatible, we'd likely have seen "for use with Z170 and Z270 only" printed on boxes by now.

 

[jpiniero]

Some people believe there's a genuine need for new motherboards to support these CPUs, but I'm not buying it.

I think it's one of those things that Intel could have in theory made it work, but chose not to.

 

[mikk]

On top of this, it looks like current LGA 1151 CPUs will continue to work on Z370 motherboards, so the motherboards appear to be electrically compatible.

What is your source for this claim? I don't think this is the case because there are electrical differences.

 

[Arachnotronic]

There is official word. The boxes for Coffee Lake CPUs specifically state that Z370 motherboards are required.

Some people believe there's a genuine need for new motherboards to support these CPUs, but I'm not buying it. They aren't meaningfully different from Skylake/Kaby Lake in any way that a motherboard or PCH should care about. Z370 itself appears to be a rebranded Z270, as the true "new" PCH (Z390) isn't launching until next year.

On top of this, it looks like current LGA 1151 CPUs will continue to work on Z370 motherboards, so the motherboards appear to be electrically compatible. I have no official source on this, but if older LGA 1151 CPUs weren't going to be compatible, we'd likely have seen "for use with Z170 and Z270 only" printed on boxes by now.

SKL and KBL are not compatible with Z300-series.

 

[CakeMonster]

Two more cores, higher frequency potential.

I have a 6700K running 4.4GHz on all cores, and I'm way over due for an upgrade and it won't take much to convince me. If for nothing else, because of boredom.

But I'm not convinced or sold on the frequency argument. Because games are my main use, and if CFL can't at the minimum match ST performance, meaning reaching the same frequencies in all scenarios, then an upgrade is a waste of money or at least not great value for money. Preferably, it should provide better ST performance after more than 2 years.

I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[crashtech]

What is your source for this claim? I don't think this is the case because there are electrical differences.

Link?

 

[StinkyPinky]

It could be no "official" support but it wouldn't surprise me if it works anyway.

 

[pantsaregood]

SKL and KBL are not compatible with Z300-series.

What is your source for this claim? I don't think this is the case because there are electrical differences.

There are no officially documented electrical differences as of now. The expectation of Skylake and Kaby Lake working on Z370 is simple - if it weren't compatible, we'd almost certainly see "for use on Z170/Z270 only" on Kaby Lake CPUs at this point.

It could be no "official" support but it wouldn't surprise me if it works anyway.

Sometimes BIOS mods allow for this kind of thing to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.

 

[mikk]

There are no officially documented electrical differences as of now. The expectation of Skylake and Kaby Lake working on Z370 is simple - if it weren't compatible, we'd almost certainly see "for use on Z170/Z270 only" on Kaby Lake CPUs at this point.

So what is your source now? You are saying it looks like current LGA 1151 CPUs will continue to work on Z370 motherboards. There is no hint that Kabylake is going to work in Z370 branded boards which is unusual if this would be the case. Z370 isn't even available for purchase, there is no need for such a "for use on Z170/Z270 only" label at this point. According to my source Z370 is for Coffeelake only. LGA 1151 v2 isn't just for fun. It's not that simple as you might think.

 

[jpiniero]

Sometimes BIOS mods allow for this kind of thing to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.

I know what you mean. You can assume that Intel will change enough that a bios hack isn't going to work.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're not the only one that's ticked off, especially when many in the know were predicting that the higher end Z270 boards would get CFL enabled BIOses. Due to the uncertainty, I did not stick with Intel when my Z170 board needed replacing, but CFL will probably be desirable enough for me to buy into Z370, even though it's a dead-end platform.

Yes, the need to buy a dead-end Z370 board, just for CFL-S, is a bit of a turn-off. I really wanted to get a 6C/12T CFL just for comparison purposes with my R5 1600, but if the board cost is too much, then forget it, I don't need it right now. Gaming (what little I do) is fine on the Ryzen, I can always OC a bit if I need to.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Yes, the need to buy a dead-end Z370 board, just for CFL-S, is a bit of a turn-off. I really wanted to get a 6C/12T CFL just for comparison purposes with my R5 1600, but if the board cost is too much, then forget it, I don't need it right now. Gaming (what little I do) is fine on the Ryzen, I can always OC a bit if I need to.

Do you know for certain that Z370 is dead end, or are you just assuming that?

 

[crashtech]

Do you know for certain that Z370 is dead end, or are you just assuming that?

I said dead end too. It would be foolish at this point to assume otherwise, but if not, that will be a nice bonus for users like me who actually repurpose boards and swap CPUs often. Counting on being able to at this point seems about as smart as counting on Z270 supporting CFL.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I said dead end too. It would be foolish at this point to assume otherwise, but if not, that will be a nice bonus for users like me who actually repurpose boards and swap CPUs often. Counting on being able to at this point seems about as smart as counting on Z270 supporting CFL.

I don't know. Z68/Z77 supported two gens, Z87/Z97 supported two gens, Z170/Z270 supported two gens, so why wouldn't Z3xx/Z4xx support two gens?

 

[pantsaregood]

I don't know. Z68/Z77 supported two gens, Z87/Z97 supported two gens, Z170/Z270 supported two gens, so why wouldn't Z3xx/Z4xx support two gens?

While this is technically true, it ignores the fact that the "two generations" that came out on Z170/Z270 were fundamentally the same architecturally. At the very least, Ivy Bridge was a die shrink of Sandy Bridge with an improved memory controller.

Coffee Lake's cores are more similar (identical) to Skylake than Ivy Bridge was to Sandy Bridge. Compound this with the fact Intel now seems to arbitrarily consider everything a new generation - the second wave of Kaby Lake products is another generation now.

 

[iamgenius]

I think it's one of those things that Intel could have in theory made it work, but chose not to.

I tend to agree with this.

 

[kirbyrj]

There is no architecture changes...it's essentially a skylake/kabylake processor with 2 extra cores. The process is still 14 nm. There is very little chance that Intel can convince me that this is anything more than a money grab.