Intel's Next-Gen Chipset Roadmap: Z990 and Z970 for Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs
Intel has unveiled its latest roadmap, revealing plans for the Z990 and Z970 chipsets, which will be designed for the upcoming LGA-1954 platform. This development marks a significant shift in Intel's desktop CPU architecture, as these chipsets will be integral to the Nova Lake-S series, expected to launch as the Core Ultra 400S. The roadmap provides a glimpse into Intel's future product lineup, offering insights into the company's strategic direction in the desktop computing market.
The Z990 and Z970 chipsets are currently shrouded in mystery, with no specific details about their specifications, including I/O, lane counts, or feature sets, available at this time. However, Intel's roadmap suggests that the Z970 will be the spiritual successor to the H870, which was not released for the Arrow Lake-S series. This implies that Intel will maintain an H-class desktop chipset tier, albeit with a new name, as part of this platform update. The Z970 is expected to share the underlying chipset with the B960, indicating a firmware and board feature-based segmentation rather than a separate silicon design. Intel has not yet disclosed the specific positioning of these chipsets, but they may be related to overclocking options.
The Nova Lake-S platform, which will be powered by the Core Ultra 400S series, is set to introduce the LGA-1954 socket, necessitating new motherboards for the Nova Lake-S lineup. Intel has not yet shared any platform-level details for the chipset family, but the company has publicly confirmed that Nova Lake will be available at the end of 2026, placing the Z990 and Z970 chipsets in the same late-2026 desktop cycle, unless Intel updates its schedule.
Source: VideoCardz
