Intel Z370 motherboards do not support Kaby Lake

Posted on Monday, September 18 2017 @ 15:09 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck

One of the disappointments of Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake-S desktop processor lineup is that you will need to buy a new motherboard to be able to use these chips.

Despite the fact that the Coffee Lake processors stick with LGA1151, they are not compatible with current Z270 or older Z170 based motherboards. Hardware.info already got a sample of the Core i7-8700K and a Z370 motherboard and decided to do some testing.

The site confirms Coffee Lake doesn't work in Z270 motherboards and another interesting conclusion is that there appears to be no backwards compatibility in the other direction either. Hardware.info was able to test just one motherboard but a Kaby Lake CPU refused to boot on this Z370 board.

The site also uploaded a photo that compares the socket of the Intel Core i7-7700K (left) and Core i7-8700K (right) CPUs.

Intel 7700K vs 8700k socket

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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