New details for Intel's upcoming Z990 & Z970 chipsets powering next-gen LGA 1954 motherboards have been revealed.
Intel's Next-Gen Z990 & Z970 Are In Full Development: New Details Point To Higher Chipset Power Consumption, But With More IO Capabilities
Recently, there have been new details rolling out for Intel's upcoming chipsets, mainly the high-end Z990 and Z970 series. We got our first glimpse at these motherboards at Computex 2026, and while the launch is still several months away, the first motherboards are already in development and expected to be ready even before Nova Lake Desktop CPUs launch.
Z990 Chipset Smaller Than Z890 As It Focuses On Gen5 Entirely
The first pictures of Intel's Z990 chipset were shared by LC Tech Leaks a few days ago. The chipset doesn't look much different than the Z890 chipset at first glance, with a few slight changes on the interposer, but to make things interesting, Jaykihn dropped the exact dimensions of the chipset & the die, which we can use to compare against the existing solution.
It is stated that the Z990 chipset package will measure 25 x 24mm (600mm2) while the die will measure 11.15 x 6.5mm (72.5mm2). For comparison, the Z890 chipset package measures 28 x 23.5mm (658mm2), and the die measures 11.15 x 8.33mm (93mm2). That's a 8.8% smaller package and a 22% smaller die size, which is definitely interesting, and there's a reason why Z990, despite being a new chipset with more PCH capabilities, is smaller than Z890. The Z970 chipset will retain the same package and die as Z990, but with disabled capabilities.
The reason is plain and simple: while Z990 carries more Gen5 IO than Z890, it cuts off Gen4 lanes for M.2 slots. Instead, it focuses on offering expanded PCIe Gen5 capabilities, which is why we saw motherboards with full Gen5 M.2 and PCIe slot configurations at Computex. Gen4 lanes aren't entirely gone away on the Z990 chipset, but more focus is pushed towards Gen5 due to their enthusiast design.
Higher Power & Thermal Characteristics
In terms of power, the Z990 and Z970 chipsets will see higher power consumption. The base power for the Z970 chipset is rated at 6.4W, while the base power for the Z990 chipset is rated at 7.9W. The current Z890 chipset is rated at 6W base power.
This isn't a big jump in power figures, but Jaykihn states that with full Gen5 residency, the Z990 chipset can push up to 14W power. That's more than twice the base power of Z890. Full residency means that the full extent of Gen5 capabilities will have to be utilized to hit 14W on the chipset. This is only for a limited number of cases, as most users stick with just one discrete GPU on a PCI slot, and at least two M.2 SSDs.
The thermal threshold is also increased to 113 °C on both chipsets versus 108 °C on Z890. This means that we might be looking at some heavier cooling solutions for the chipsets, but we have been told by board makers that it isn't hot enough to require active cooling solutions.
More IO Capabilities Should Make Intel's 900-Series The Standard For Motherboards
Lastly, we have to talk about IO capabilities. Z990 will move the DMI to Gen5x4, while Z890 moves the DMI to Gen5x2 versus Z890's Gen4x8 link.
This leener configuration provides similar bandwidth between the CPU and the PCH. For M.2, you used to get three Gen4x4 lanes via the Z890 chipsets, but it has been dropped to a single Gen4x4 for Z970 and Gen5x4 for Z990. The USB 3 Gen2x2 configuration remains the same, and USB 2.0 support is removed entirely from the 900-series chipsets. An updated CVNi will be made available through an add-on CRF card, which is supported by the new chipsets.
The Z990 chipset will offer 12 Gen5 lanes and will be the go-to choice for higher-end Nova Lake Desktop CPUs in terms of overclocking support. These motherboards will offer triple 8-pin connectors to unleash the maximum potential that Nova Lake-S chips have to offer. Thunderbolt 5 will also play a crucial role as Intel 900-series will be among the first to support the latest IO functionality.
Intel 900-Series Chipsets (Source: Jaykihn):
| Chipset Name | Z990 | W980 | Q970 | Z970 | B960 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total PCIe Lanes | 48 | 48 | 44 | 34 | 34 |
| CPU USB4/TB4 Ports | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| DMI Gen5 Lanes | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| PCH PCIe 5.0 Lanes | 12 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| PCH PCIe 4.0 Lanes | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 |
| SATA 3.0 Lanes | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| USB 3.2 20G Ports | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| USB3.2 10G Ports | 10 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| USB3.2 5G Ports | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 |
| IA OC | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| BCLK OC | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Memory OC | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| ECC Support | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Displays Supported | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Once again, Intel 900-series motherboards will debut at CES 2027, along with the introduction of Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs before their formal launch a few weeks later.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
