Gigabyte has 8 new motherboards for the Z890 chipset coming to market alongside Intel's Arrow Lake "Core Ultra 200" series processors, according to leaks. The high-end of the boards will join in the AI branding craze, listing as "AI TOP" models.
The source for this leak seems interesting, to speak generously. The leak was first reported in the West by Wccftech, and comes originally from Iranian tech news site Faceit.ir. Wccftech claims Faceit received the news from "a local Gigabyte distributor" —a claim Faceit does not make itself in its article. So as usual with leaks like this, take everything with a hefty dose of salt. The motherboards described in the leak are listed below:
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS XTREME AI TOP
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS MASTER AI TOP
- GIGABYTE Z890 AI TOP
- GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS 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 seem par for the course for Gigabyte. The only new naming convention among tried and true titles like "Aorus" and "Elite" is "AI TOPm," a mysterious title that could hint at a new AI feature set for the top end of Gigabyte motherboards. Though AI TOP could be Gigabyte's new title marking a high-end product to cash in on AI marketing; Cooler Master did the same thing recently with its "AI thermal paste."
The 800-series motherboards will be part of the first wave of Intel's LGA1851 socket, released for the first time 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 have support on LGA1851.
Arrow Lake processors are slated to arrive in Q4 2024, with their first processors adopting the "Core Ultra 200 series" branding. Rather than becoming the 15th generation of Core i Series, branding Intel has used for 15 years, the next generation of processors will follow the path of Meteor Lake's Core Ultra naming scheme. Arrow Lake CPUs will also reportedly not launch with Hyper-Threading, carrying the same number of threads as they have cores (though the core counts are reportedly high enough to satisfy most non-enterprise needs). Arrow Lake is perhaps most exciting for its new iGPU based on Alchemist, which will reportedly draw over 2x the performance of Raptor Lake's integrated graphics.
Of course, it is good to remember that the details on these Gigabyte motherboards, the Core Ultra 200 series, and the new Arrow Lake GPU performance are all based on various leaks and insider blurbs. Intel has confirmed very little about its upcoming Arrow Lake lineup. So hold onto some skepticism about everything you see on this subject before Computex 2024 or an official Intel announcement, as any leaks could be based on outdated or false information.
Thankfully, we won't have long to wait to find out, as Computex officially starts in less than two weeks, on June 4th. We'll be on the ground in Taipei reporting on the latest products and announcements, so check back for confirmation on the information above and so much more.
