According to the leaks, Gigabyte has 8 new motherboards for the Z890 chipset coming to market with Intel's AeroLake “Core Ultra 200” series processors. High-end boards will join the AI branding frenzy, listed as “AI TOP” models.
The source of this leak sounds interesting to say the least. The leak was first reported in the West by Wccftech, and originally comes from Iranian tech news site Faceit.ir. Wccftech claims Faceit received the news from a “local Gigabyte distributor” – a claim Faceit does not make in its article. So as always with leaks like this, take everything with a heavy dose of salt. The motherboards mentioned in the leak are listed below:
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS XTREME AI TOP
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Master AI TOP
- GIGABYTE Z890 AI TOP
- Gigabyte Z890 Oris Master
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS PRO ICE
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS ELITE AX
- GIGABYTE Z890 A ELITE X ICE
Many of the motherboard model names listed are par for the course for Gigabyte. The only new naming convention in tried-and-true titles like “Aorus” and “Elite” is “AI TOPm,” a mysterious title that hints at a new AI feature set for the top end of Gigabyte motherboards. can Although AI TOP may be Gigabyte's new title marking a high-end product to achieve AI marketing. Cooler Master recently did just that with its “AI Thermal Paste.”
The 800 series motherboards will be part of the first wave of Intel's LGA 1851 sockets, first released with Intel's Arrow Lake processors. The LGA1851 socket is expected to see product support until 2026, bringing with it new changes including Intel's decision to say goodbye to DDR4 memory; Only DDR5 will be supported on LGA1851.
Arrow Lake processors are due in Q4 2024, with their first processors adopting the “Core Ultra 200 Series” branding. Instead of being the 15th generation of the Core i series, the branding Intel has used for 15 years, the next generation of processors will follow the path of Meteor Lake's Core Ultra scheme. Arrow Lake CPUs also reportedly won't launch with HyperThreading, which will have the same number of threads as their cores (though the core count will reportedly be enough to handle most non-business needs). is more). Arrow Lake is perhaps most excited for its new Alchemist-based iGPU, which will reportedly pull more than 2x the integrated graphics performance of Raptor Lake.
Of course, it's good to remember that the performance specs for these Gigabyte motherboards, the Core Ultra 200 series, and the new AeroLake GPU are all based on various leaks and internal blurbs. Intel has confirmed very little about its upcoming Arrow Lake lineup. So maintain some skepticism about anything you see on the subject ahead of Computex 2024 or any official Intel announcement, as any leaks could be outdated or based on incorrect information.
Thankfully, we won't have to wait long to find out, as Computex officially kicks off in less than two weeks, on June 4th. We'll be reporting on the latest products and announcements in Taipei, so check back to confirm the information above and more.