Motherboard with Intel Z390 chipset appears in benchmark database

The SiSoftware benchmark database lists the SuperMicro C7Z390-PGW motherboard. The board has a CPU with six cores and twelve threads, with a TDP of 92 watts. It may also be a new processor.

It is the first time that a concrete reference to a Z390 motherboard appears. The entries in the database mention a board from manufacturer SuperMicro, with a processor with a speed of 3.3GHz. Like the Core i7-8700 and the 8700K, it is a hexacore that has twelve threads.

Other specifications such as the clock speed and tdp differ from the existing processors, it may be a new model. The benchmark scores are lower than those of the current motherboards with i7-8700 or 8700K, the processor is probably an engineering sample that is not yet running at its maximum clock speed.

SuperMicro claimed in September that the Z390 chipset is compatible with Intel octacores. Intel has not yet announced it, for now CPUs with eight or more cores are reserved at Intel for the hedt platform with the X299 chipset.

The arrival of the Intel Z390 chipset has been known for some time through leaked roadmaps. The high-end chipset for Coffee Lake CPUs is expected to hit the market in the second half of 2018. Other leaked documents from Intel showed that the H370 chipset for the mainstream segment will arrive early next year, along with the B360, Q360 and Q370 chipsets for the business segment.

The Z390 motherboard was spotted by VideoCardz. The website speculates that the release of motherboards with the high-end chipset may be pushed forward, because they are already in the database. The chipset could be announced along with new Coffee Lake processors as early as early 2018, to compete with the first refresh of Ryzen processors, which are expected in February.