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Last month we found out that Intel’s upcoming Coffee Lake series would be incompatible with 200 series motherboards, instead being confined to a new 300 series. The same can be said for Kaby Lake processors, which have been found not to work with the new Intel Z370 motherboards.
Upon finding out about the incompatibility, many assumed that this was a result of Intel changing the socket on the Z370 boards. Surprisingly, despite Intel’s track record, the chipmaker has opted to stick with the same socket but bizarrely made the two generations incompatible anyway.
The Kaby Lake i7-7700K (left) compared to the Coffee Lake i7-8700K (right) via Hardware.info.
The inter-compatibility was tested by Hardware.info, confirming that those with Kaby Lake processors will be unable to successfully upgrade to a Z370 motherboard. This is similar to those planning a CPU upgrade to the i7-8700K, as users will be unable to use the Z270 motherboard.
While Intel has yet to publicly address these compatibility differences, it is likely shifts in the micro-architectural improvements that will be read differently depending on the motherboard. If this is not the case, however, there is a possibility that the option could be unlocked via BIOS in the future.
KitGuru Says: While the incompatibility of the same socket is a strange one, Intel restricting newer processors doesn’t surprise me at all. Hopefully the company will clarify things too. Do you plan on upgrading to Coffee Lake?
typical intel, they could make them compatible but no no no, go buy a new mobo…
Intel is in shambles at the moment. I’m glad AMD are picking up the pace again but Intel have just butchered their response. I’m having to do a full upgrade to my rig just in time for Coffee Lake so hopefully it’s a worthwhile upgrade since it’s still on 14nm
… a new mobo with another Intel chipset. If you were obliged to buy new chairs and a sofa every time you changed your TV people would complain.
I’d wait till about middle of next year when Z390 launches. Z390 is suppose to bring 8 core/ 16 threads CPU’s from intel into the mainstream. And these 8 core CPU’s will not be compatible with Z370.
Who care if the old and new chips don’t work together. If ya got a Kaby lake just buy a z270. If ya buying coffee then get a Z370… why do they need to be backwards compatible?
If ya can’t afford to buy both at the same time then save up for longer!
Why not wait for 10 years and buy the 12core… at some point ya just gotta go for it. And regret not waiting later.
Perhaps, but having an 8 core 16 threaded intel cpu, you could probably end up waiting 10 years for the next upgrade 😀
But it seems cannon lake was delayed to end of 2018 so the 6 core is now the better buy.
The issue is people who are upgrading from kaby lake have less of an incentive to do so now. It’s not a matter of affording it, but that the requirement of a new MB doesn’t make a ton of sense. That on top of intel getting rid of their tick-tock cycle so people can’t even guess how long their HW will be the latest for.
But this post is about not being able to use old cpu in new mobo. But I see ya point.
I’m still using a 6 core 12 thread from 2010 (Xeon 5650, running at 4ghz on water) and still can’t justify upgrading yet.