Monday, January 27th 2020
Intel 400-series Chipset Motherboards to Lack PCIe Gen 4.0, Launch Pushed to Q2
Intel's upcoming 400-series desktop chipset will lack support for PCI-Express gen 4.0. The motherboards will stick to gen 3.0 for both the main x16 PEG slots wired to the LGA1200 socket, and general purpose PCIe lanes from the PCH, according to a Tom's Hardware report. It was earlier expected that 400-series chipset motherboards will come with preparation for PCIe gen 4.0, so even if the upcoming 10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors lacked gen 4.0 root-complexes, the boards would be fully ready for the new bus standard in 11th gen "Rocket Lake" desktop processors.
10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors are built on 14 nm process, and implement Intel's current-gen CPU core design Intel has been implementing since 6th gen "Skylake." It's only with 11th gen "Rocket Lake" that the mainstream desktop platform could see a new CPU core design, with the company reportedly back-porting "Willow Cove" CPU cores to the 14 nm process. "Rocket Lake" is also expected to feature a small Gen12 iGPU with 32 execution units, and a new-gen uncore component that implements PCIe gen 4.0. PCIe gen 4.0 doubles bandwidth over gen 3.0, and while only a handful GPUs support it, the standard is made popular by a new generation of M.2 NVMe SSDs that are able to utilize the added bandwidth to push sequential transfer rates beyond M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 limitations.It is also being reported that Intel has delayed the launch of 10th gen Core desktop processors and 400-series chipset motherboards to Q2-2020, to as early as April. Motherboards based on Intel 400-series chipset were the most notable absentees at the 2020 International CES, and it's rumored that a last-minute decision to delay the platform's launch caused exhibitors to box up their Z490 chipset motherboards. With an April launch, "Comet Lake" will lead Intel's mainstream desktop product line for at least three quarters. Intel is expected to debut 11th gen "Rocket Lake" in the 2021 CES, unless something changes then.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
10th gen "Comet Lake" desktop processors are built on 14 nm process, and implement Intel's current-gen CPU core design Intel has been implementing since 6th gen "Skylake." It's only with 11th gen "Rocket Lake" that the mainstream desktop platform could see a new CPU core design, with the company reportedly back-porting "Willow Cove" CPU cores to the 14 nm process. "Rocket Lake" is also expected to feature a small Gen12 iGPU with 32 execution units, and a new-gen uncore component that implements PCIe gen 4.0. PCIe gen 4.0 doubles bandwidth over gen 3.0, and while only a handful GPUs support it, the standard is made popular by a new generation of M.2 NVMe SSDs that are able to utilize the added bandwidth to push sequential transfer rates beyond M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 limitations.It is also being reported that Intel has delayed the launch of 10th gen Core desktop processors and 400-series chipset motherboards to Q2-2020, to as early as April. Motherboards based on Intel 400-series chipset were the most notable absentees at the 2020 International CES, and it's rumored that a last-minute decision to delay the platform's launch caused exhibitors to box up their Z490 chipset motherboards. With an April launch, "Comet Lake" will lead Intel's mainstream desktop product line for at least three quarters. Intel is expected to debut 11th gen "Rocket Lake" in the 2021 CES, unless something changes then.
54 Comments on Intel 400-series Chipset Motherboards to Lack PCIe Gen 4.0, Launch Pushed to Q2
As for PCIe 4.0, the 4Gb 5500 does a lot better on it than on PCIe 3.0, due to the quirk of only having 4Gb to work with, thus resorting to using slower system RAM as-needed. But it is true that there isn't yet any mainstream products for 4.0 past the NVMe, although NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel have all committed to their next gen products (mainly GPUs, but some interconnect standards too) being capable of using 4.0 (and even 5.0) in different ways.
That aside, complaining about it at all is a moot point; AMD has said they're aiming at PCIe 5.0 with Zen 4, and Intel originally was planning to skip out on PCIe 4.0 and go straight for 5.0 before continued delays and setbacks had them adding implementation of 4.0 into their near-future chipsets. That will provide enough future-proofing for several years, and may last for a long while considering how long it took for products to develop on PCIe 3.0 (and in a few situations, actually max out the bandwidth).
lack of imagination and foresight evidenced on a tech forum.
I'm being hard on Intel because the Intel hounds of Hell came out back when AMD released the Bulldozer design, and the company got mangled by Intel this and Intel that.
Give credit where credit is due, AMD implements PCIe4 and people love it, as there M.2 drives run as efficient as they can get.
Keeping PCIe4 away from the mobile market makes total sense, eventually a modified mobile version of the tech will become a welcomed addition.
Explain more to me about this botched PCIe4 implementation.
Look at that Massive M2 heatsink taking up so much room in my build and blocking everything.
Corsair MP600 Gen 4
Drive temps 47c crazy hot.
pcie 3 $599USD
www.newegg.com/samsung-970-evo-2tb/p/N82E16820147715?Description=Samsung%20970evo%20&cm_re=Samsung_970evo-_-20-147-715-_-Product
pcie 4 $409USD
www.newegg.com/corsair-force-mp600-2-tb/p/N82E16820236549?Description=corsair%20MP600%20&cm_re=corsair_MP600-_-20-236-549-_-Product
The price performance ratio is best with 1TB drives currently once you hit 2TB they jack the prices up quite abit. So mixed storage works best for my budget. 1TB pci4 + Sata SSD for bulk storage works better right now.
Looking to grab another M.2 with 2TB or 1TB as my current 500GB gets eaten up quite fast lol
The delay is bad news for Intel, like, really bad. Lisa Su has already confirmed Zen3 this year, and this uses 7nm+ with EUV and I expect another double-digit IPC increase - even if the clock rates remain the same - the performance uplift will already be pushing it ahead of Comet Lake, even on a core to core basis.
So at the end of the day, it comes down to price now. And Intel must realise that they are no longer the premium CPU brand, and adjust their prices accordingly. But can they afford to do that? Being fabless has worked out very well for AMD, and Zen2's chiplet design makes it very economical even on a leading-edge process technology. AMD nailed not only the uArch, but the scalability and economics.
I don't think Intel can afford to wage a price-war with AMD, because they are also paying for R&D &maintaining their fabs and sunk-cost of their 10nm development and 7nm, whilst also funding 7nm... High prices are not just greed with Intel: their long-term profit margins are eaten into by the aforementioned factors, whereas AMD just buys wafers from TSMC: their R&D of said wafers and manufacturing is highly subsidised by TSMC's other clients, also.
Zen3 is rumoured to have a unified L3 cache system, each chiplet with a single monolithic (I assume) 32 MB L3 cache. Obviously, each core is not going to be able to access that entire chunk at the same low latency (unless the lookup tables are HUGE) but if these 8 cores can communicate with each other faster via the cache rather than going to the I/OD like on Zen2, further latency reductions in gaming scenarios could be made. What if Zen3 is actually more performant in the typically Intel-held bastion of ultra high-FPS gaming?
TLDR: i9-10900K for $399, $449 tops, please. Thanks Intel.
But maybe only on 8core and below models will be curious to see how the 2 CCD models will look like.
And in the 0.1% chance it is, given Intel's naming schemes, it won't launch anytime before 2023 i.e. 7nm?
It was officialy supported with ivy...so like I said new technology allways has some problem at the beginning.
And just because YOU have no need for something it doesn't mean it should not exist.
I lack PCI-e slots, have all full but most people don't have that problem.
But the fact remains that hammering on Intel for this is a little... Eh?
I can't buy a brand new 1151 board with anything but PCIe 3.0. AMD still sells B450 and X470, and their chipset lines run at 2.0...
3.0 is honestly fast enough for most people, but AMD has no bloody excuse for selling chipsets that are still PCIe 2.0. 2.0 on the other hand is slow and it's impact is appreciable.
I give props to AMD for pushing 4.0, and I rewarded them. I just think it's a little ironic that the AMD hounds are just hammering over this when B550 might still be 2.0...
Intel should have just stuck to jumping to 5.0. I really suspect the real reason is trying to fit the 5.0 controller and making it do 4.0 on 14nm, which it was never meant for is what caused these issues.
Anyways... It's really sad that Intel has had so many troubles. Complacency mixed with too much confidence has really bitten them hard.
It's great that AMD has finally managed to challenge and push Intel again. You can really tell Intel got caught flat on this all.
Though I wish AMD made it easier to fanboy for them.
Anyhow, look back at the Bulldozer / Piledriver CPU days, where AMD was struggling to stay afloat, they were getting hammered by Intel in every single industry segment. So due to there laziness and there incompetence or arrogance to see a real threat from AMD, Intel deserves all the hammering they can get. This back and forth is great for fair competition. Though I would prefer if both AMD and Intel both shared ea. 50% market share in desktops, notebooks and enterprise, that way each company can make each other innovate and compete on an even footing. We can dream can't we? lol
They amuse me to no end. Its one thing to fan boy for a company and you own stock I get it. But most of these people will fight till the death for these companies due to some blind allegiance. They own no stock and are getting raped with high prices like everyone else.
PCIe 4.0 is a good thing, it's got definite perks for the server and desktop market. Saying it's no good is just silly.
We can dream definitely and I really hope we see healthy competition pushing them both. Fanbois will fanboi. Brand loyalty doesn't benefit anyone except the brand.
It's like the fanboys who don't see a problem with nV pushing closed proprietary extensions. It's why AMD cleaned house in the console market. Microsoft had to do fancy code to get around the NV hardware. Sony dumped team green like a dirty pair of underwear.
Intel and AMD pushing open standards is good for all of us. AMD is pushing Intel into even more open and universal standards which is great.
Oh and I reserve the right to hammer AMD still. I have a 2700 sitting here that like every Zen+ has it's hardware virtualization tech disabled... That's almost unforgivable... So it's really a good time for AMD, Intel is struggling, and AMD can keep improving.
Hopefully Zen 3 will actually see AMD get ahead of Intel in per core performance across the board.
The topic is not fanboys.
Play nice and have a civil discussion.
No insulting other members.
Thank You and Have a Good Day
I just checked even the 2990WX lacks hardware VT. It's there but AMDs microcode has it disabled.
Zen+ is ironic because it supports ECC ram, but no HW-VT.
Zen 2 flips and generally doesn't support ECC ram, but has working HW-VT.