Intel document points to X399 chipset and Cannon Lake support for Z390

The release notes for a version of Intel Rapid Storage Technology has revealed (likely inadvertently) some details of Intel’s upcoming desktop chipsets.

For starters, the document mentions again the Z390 chipset that has been circulating in rumor mills for a while now. Z390 will supposedly replace Z370 as the flagship mainstream desktop chipset for Coffee Lake, but plenty of earlier leaks have already suggested as much.

What’s new, however, is the fact that the release notes mention support for Cannon Lake processors on Z390. While Intel’s existing Coffee Lake chips are fabricated on the 14nm process, Cannon Lake will be the first to use Intel’s long-awaited 10nm process.

Cannon Lake was initially supposed to be released in 2017, but we’re long past that date now. That said, Intel confirmed at CES 2018 that it had begun shipping a small amount of 10nm parts, so we may finally be approaching a proper launch announcement.

The other interesting reveal is the existence of an X399 chipset, presumably the successor to Intel’s current high-end desktop (HEDT) X299 chipset. The name is also the same as the X399 chipset that AMD’s Threadripper chips use, and it’s not immediately clear how much confusion this will cause consumers.

Intel has previously avoided overlapping names, such as when it chose to use the B360 name instead of B350 (already an existing AMD chipset) for its mainstream Coffee Lake chipsets.

Intel X399 is listed as supporting both Coffee Lake and Cannon Lake.

Source: Intel

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