Intel 200-Series (Z270/H270) Chipset Platform Detailed – Kaby Lake and Skylake Processors To Work On Both 200 and 100 Series Boards

7th Gen Intel Core processors are manufactured on silicon wafers at Intel production facilities. New 7th Gen Intel Core processors deliver richer experiences, incredible performance and responsiveness, and true ultra HD 4K entertainment in stunning new devices. (Credit: Intel Corporation)

Intel's 200-series chipsets which include the Z270 and H270 platforms have been fully detailed. The new PCH will support the upcoming Kaby Lake processors which are headed for launch on 5th January 2017.

Intel 200-Series (Z270 and H270) Chipsets Detailed For Kaby Lake-S Platform

The two chipsets that will be offered with the new Kaby Lake processors are Z270 and H270. We can confirm with the latest Intel will be offering support for the Kaby Lake and Skylake processors on both 100-series and 200-series motherboards. This means that consumers can use their Skylake chips on a 200-series board or a Kaby Lake chip on a 100-series board.

Intel 200-Series chipsets for Kaby Lake-S Platform Detailed. (Image Credits: Benchlife)

The two new chips are marketed towards specific markets. The Z270 series is aimed at the consumer market while the H270 series is aimed at the consumer and corporate market. We will get on to the features of these chipset which is an update from the previous 100-series generation of products.

Intel Z270 and H270 PCH Features Detailed

Intel Z270 and Z170 offer the same CPU PCIe configuration support. They allow for 1 x 16, 2 x 8 or 1 x 8 + 2 x 4 config whereas the H270 and H170 chipset offers just 1 x 16 config. The total number of independent Display Port offered by the PCH are 3 and power up to four memory DIMMs in Dual Channel mode. The Z Series offers overclocking support while the H Series is restricted from such support. All chipsets offer Intel SmartSound tech but Intel AIB partners will be offering their own custom Audio codecs to power audio.

Moving on, the new 200-series has official support for Optane technology which is not available on 100-series products. Intel Rapid Storage technology is also pushed to 15 (was 14 on 100-series). Some other features in the new chipsets include Raid 0, 1, 5, 10 support, PCIe Storage Drive support, Smart Response Technology and I/O Port flexibility.

Intel has increased the number of high-speed I/O lanes to 30 on both 200-series chipsets. The Z170 had 26 while the H170 had 22 lanes. Total USB ports have remain the same at 14 (10 USB 3.0) for Z Series and 14 (8 USB 3.0) for H Series. All boards would have 6 SATA III 6 GB/s ports. Expansion slots would be powered by 24 PCI-e lanes on Z270 and 20 PCI-e lanes on H270. This is a slight increase over 20 PCI-e lanes on Z170 and 16 on H170.

The KBL-PCH will be able to support Mansion Beach (Optane SSD PCIe/NVMe Gen3 x4), Brighton Beach (Optane SSD PCIe/NVMe Gen3 x4) and Stony Beach (Optane Memory PCIe/NVMe Gen 3 x2 (m.2)) solutions. We covered this topic in more detail over here.

Intel's 7th Generation Kaby Lake Processor Lineup and Price Details

Intel Core i7-7700K – The Fastest Core i7 Kaby Lake Processor:

The Intel Core i7-7700K processor is the fastest Core i7 chip in the Kaby Lake lineup. This chip features a quad core, multi-threaded design. The chip is based on the latest 14nm Plus process node which delivers improved efficiency and performance on the existing 14nm FinFET technology. The clock speeds are rated 4.2 GHz base and 4.5 GHz boost. The processor packs 8 MB of L3 cache and has a TDP of 91W. The Core i7-7700K CPU will retail at $349 US.

Intel Core i5-7600K – The Fastest Core i5 Kaby Lake Processor:

The Intel Core i5-7600K processor is the fastest Core i5 chip in the Kaby Lake lineup. This chip features a quad core, non-multi-threaded design. The chip is based on the latest 14nm Plus process node which delivers improved efficiency and performance on the existing 14nm FinFET technology. The clock speeds are rated 3.8 GHz base and 4.2 GHz boost. The processor packs 6 MB of L3 cache and has a TDP of 91W. The Core i5-7600K CPU will retail at $239 US.

Intel Core i3-7350K – The Fastest Core i3 Kaby Lake Processor:

The Intel Core i3-7350K processor is the fastest Core i3 chip in the Kaby Lake lineup. This chip features a dual core, multi-threaded design. The chip is based on the latest 14nm Plus process node which delivers improved efficiency and performance on the existing 14nm FinFET technology. The clock speeds are rated 4.0 GHz base and 4.2 GHz boost. The processor packs 4 MB of L3 cache and will have a TDP around 91W. The Core i3-7350K CPU will retail around $180 US. Expect more details on the new processors prior to their CES 2017 launch.

Intel 7th Generation 'Kaby Lake' Desktop Lineup