With Z390 Chipset, Intel directly planning to push 8-core i9-9900K processors

Intel introduced the Core i9 processor at last year’s Taipei Computer Show. It belongs to the Skylake-X family and its interface is LGA2066. 

This year, the i9-8950HK entered the high-end gaming console as a 6-core benchmark processor.

With 10nm CPU skipping and AMD’s deeper prowess, Core i9 seems to be taking on a new mission.

According to WCCFTech, Intel will launch the Z390 chipset in the second half of the year. The Z390 Chipset based motherboards will initially support three desktop processors, i9-9900K (8 Core / 16 Threads), i7-9700K (6Core / 12 Threads) and i5-9600K (6Core / 6 Threads).

Among them, i9-9900K is the long-rumored 8-core 16-thread mainstream CPU, which means that Intel wants to pull down its position from Core X enthusiast to fight AMD’s second-generation Ruilong.

However, there are some hard-to-understand places. For example, the Z390 is still the LGA 1151 interface, so the new Core i9 is definitely redesigned. In addition, it is doubtful whether LGA1151 can suppress 8 cores.

From the naming point of view, the 9000 series is theoretically a 9-generation Core, so the codename will be Whiskey Lake or the earliest IceLake may need Intel’s confirmation.

According to the latest news, the Z390 chipset can even be directly regarded as the renamed Z370. It is still a 22nm lithography process. It only adds three missing features of the Z370, Intel Wireless-AC 802.11 AC, Bluetooth 5.0 and native Up To 6 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Ports…

As there is no other source of evidence, for the time being, let these bullets fly for a while.