Intel Z890 motherboard reveal reportedly set for October 10 — Arrow Lake CPU review embargo seemingly lifts on October 24

A new rumor claims the purported appearance of Intel’s new Z890 motherboards and upcoming desktop Arrow Lake processors. Алексей on X claims that motherboard vendors will reportedly announce Z890 motherboards on October 10, and Arrow Lake CPU review embargoes allegedly lift on October 24.

The claims support previous rumors that Intel is announcing its desktop Arrow Lake chips and the new LGA1851 platform this month. Intel’s new platform will compete with AMD’s brand-new Ryzen 9000-series CPUs and new X870E/X870 chipset motherboards.

Arrow Lake is the codename for Intel’s upcoming Core Ultra 200-series desktop processors. Leaks have confirmed that there will be Ultra 9, Ultra 7, and Ultra 5 SKUs, as well as at least three K series models. The Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K, and Core Ultra 5 245K will be the first Arrow Lake processors out of the gate. The non-K SKUs will arrive later, probably in early 2025.

Rumored clock speeds and TDP are purportedly lower than those of the 13th and 14th Gen CPUs. The maximum boost clocks on the flagship model are rumored to be well below 6 GHz, while the amperage rating for most of the chips is also purportedly lower than that of their Raptor Lake counterparts.

LGA 1851 is the all-new socket powering Intel’s next-gen Arrow Lake chips. It features 9% more pins than LGA 1700 (the socket it replaces) and thus will have a more significant footprint compared to Intel’s outgoing hybrid CPUs. LGA1851 is reported to have a size of 45 x 37.55mm.

The new platform is rumored to be DDR5 exclusive, representing Intel’s first DDR5-only platform to date, just like AMD’s AM5 platform. The flagship chipset, Z890, is rumored to come with expanded connectivity over Z790, featuring native Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and expanded M.2 support with PCIe 5.0 support for the primary M.2 slot and PCIe 4.0 support for the secondary slot. Z890 will also purportedly drop PCIe 3.0 entirely from the chipset.

We will know soon if all of these Arrow Lake rumors are genuine, as Arrow Lake and corresponding LGA1851 motherboards are slated to launch before the end of the month.