Intel Z87 Chipset For Haswell Rumored To Have All SATA III Ports

Are you wondering what is next when it comes to Intel desktop platforms? The rumor mill says that Intel Haswell processors will be coming out in Q2 2013 if all goes as planned. These processors use socket LGA1150, which is a brand new socket design and is by no means backwards compatible with LGA1155 processors. This means Intel is also coming up with new chipsets and that means the Intel Z87 Express will be the new go-to chipset for Intel’s Kinsley Z87 motherboard platform. We aren’t sure what new features the chipset will bring to the table that are not available today, but sites are reporting that the chipset will not have any PCI or SATA II support. For most enthusiasts the legacy PCI slot that came out nearly 20 years ago, often goes unused and is not a big deal. The same can be said for SATA II 3.0Gbps ports as SATA III 6.0 Gbps ports are backwards compatible and much faster. So, Intel Z87 motherboards are coming and it looks like PCI slots are on the way out. If all the storage drive ports on the board are SATA III based it will be interesting to see what types of RAID storage configurations Intel will support. Pictured below is a ‘leaked’ Intel chipset roadmap from work week 38 (September 17, 2012 to September 23, 2012) showing the details of the Intel Z78 chipset.