Intel’s Lynx Point Chipset Gets Detailed In Leaked Slide

A leaked slide detailing Intel’s “Lynx Point” chipset, which is set to release in 2013, has surfaced on the Chinese website Zol.com.cn. The chipset is for Intel’s Ivy Bridge successor, Haswell, and will be designated as the Intel 8-series when it is released. The Lynx Point chipset is much like current platforms (P55, P67, Z68), a platform controller hub (PCH). It handles all the connectivity of the system, but lacks the main PCI-Express root complex which is instead embedded on the CPU. The chipset does however, include an 8-lane PCIe hub, in order to wire out x4 and x1 expansion slots as well as onboard controllers. The Lynx Point chipset still uses DMI to interface with the CPU, but the slide does not detail the bandwidth it will provide. The connectivity options have significantly improved with Lynx Point compared to its predecessors, with the PCH offering full SATA 3 revision (6 Gb/s) on all sata ports. This will allow users the ability to set up complex RAID configurations (RAID 5,10, etc) that require more then two physical SATA 6 Gb/s drives for the first time. Sadly USB doesn’t get a full makeover, with a combination of USB 3.0 SuperSpeed and USB 2.0 HiSpeed ports in an unknown number for each. The chipset also lacks a PCI Express 3.0 hub onboard, and instead retains PCI Express 2.0. This may not seem important, but it means third-party manufacturers of USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers will now be encouraged to use PCIe 2.0 x2 controllers for their addon boards instead of PCIe 3.0 x1 controllers. The rest is made up by your typical connectivity options except in terms of the display output. The PCH will now only deal with analog display outputs. The rest comprised of Gigabit Ethernet MAC, SPI, SMBus, LPCIO, and HD Audio will be unchanged from their current implementations on previous chipsets. Haswell and Lynx Point are expected in the first half of 2013.