GIGABYTE shows first Z990 motherboard for Intel Nova Lake-S, features three 8-pin power connectors
Posted by -protonsandneutrons-@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 20 comments
Ar_phis@reddit
I assume "power requirements" refers to distribution on the power plane because not even Intel would use tripple 8-pin EPS solely for the Watts on a desktop MB.
Exist50@reddit
It's probably less a "requirement", and more about enabling max clocks with the high end SKUs. Remember that coming from ARL, you're looking at ~2x core count, with no particular reason to expect peak per core to be much different.
Ar_phis@reddit
Triple EPS is 1000 Watt, the only reasonable thing for me is load distribution, on high-end SKUs.
I guess it comes down to the same millimeter thin PCB having an easier time along with the power stages, MosFETs, caps and it could reduce interference from transient loads as Intel CPUs have some insane load changes between full power and idle. Big reason for the 13/14th gen dying a lot was the aggressive load lines used to make them run.
Handling those over "more rails" seems like a good reason.
pinmux@reddit
As discussed in other threads about this article, it's not 3 EPS power connectors, it's 2 EPS and a PCIe 8 pin power connector. Some think it's for proper USB-PD over USB-C, finally, in a desktop motherboard.
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
That's even more interesting, thanks for sharing. What uses do people want "proper" USB-PD for on desktops?
That is, USB-C ports are USB-PD 15W (5V 3A) , but the higher voltages (9V, 12V, 15V, 20V) can push it much higher.
steve09089@reddit
Charge their laptop/tablet fast via their desktop?
michaelsoft__binbows@reddit
And flashlights... and power banks... and power tool batteries... and mini blenders... and run desk lamps... and
Droid_pro@reddit
This image shows the three EPS 8pins grouped together. The 8pin for USB-PD is under the 24pin connector, shown here, towards the right of the board. Also, USBC-PD support on boards has been around for a little bit now, for example the x870E Dark Hero board also has it.
AK-Brian@reddit
The leftmost socket in that trio is an 8-pin PCIe connector, note the keying.
The board has two EPS and two PCIe power connectors.
jedidude75@reddit
Is Nova lake expected for this year still? I would think the launch is fairly soon, 2-4 months maybe, if they already have a fully developed and ready motherboard out.
JunosArmpits@reddit
6 M.2 slots and not a single SATA port in sight (might be in the very bottom right corner which isn't shown)
jnf005@reddit
From the original article in, there's seems to be a pic videocardz missed (no idea how are they this bad a just copy paste), looks like 2 sata ports on the bottom right.
Exist50@reddit
Seems like an appropriate number for a modern, high end system.
zopiac@reddit
I use plenty of SATA drives myself, but apparently you can just convert an m.2 slot or two.
AK-Brian@reddit
There are a few existing boards with six M.2 slots, but one particularly fun option I noticed was ASRock's Z890 Nova. It has six drive slots (1xGen5, 5xGen4) plus a party trick - it's bundled with a unique four slot M.2 adapter card, too, which is wired for a single Gen4x1 lane per drive.
Nine NVMe M.2 drives (one Gen4x4 M.2 slot is disabled to switch lanes on the AIC) crammed in one system without needing to go full HEDT! This sort of storage chicanery is delightful to see. I wish more boards would allow that sort of single lane split config.
IANVS@reddit
I would much rather see more usable PCIe ports than all those M.2s. I don't know a single person that's using more than 3 M.2s on their consumer machine, 4 is more than enough. You can put a ton of things in a PCIe slot and convert them to a bunch of stuff, including M.2, but you can't use M.2 for anything else...
ThankGodImBipolar@reddit
MLID keeps saying that they really want it out this year, but he hasn't ruled out a Meteor Lake style launch (which was unveiled on Dec. 31 LOL)
Seanspeed@reddit
That was the plan, though rumors of a 'launch' in Q3 can sometimes be misleading given how differently some of these companies define 'launch' versus an actual product on shelves to buy. I'm still just assuming properly late this year, though seeing a motherboard now does maybe lend credence to a potential Q3 launch?
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
Original post, in Chinese: 3 組 EPS 8 PIN 供電設計，GIGABYTE 未命名產品宣示 Intel Z990 晶片主機板的可能性 - BenchLife.info
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