MSI Goes On Intel Z390 Rampage As MEG Godlike, MAG Tomahawk Motherboards Leak
Intel might as well go ahead and release its 9th generation Core processor lineup right now, because unless it has something up its sleeve that has not already been leaked, there will not be any surprises. This applies to the crop of Z390 motherboards waiting in the wings, too. In the latest batch of leaked images, we see more than half a dozen Z390 motherboard models from MSI, including its MEG Z390 Godlike board.
There is no doubt that the Meg Z390 Godlike is a beastly motherboard. While we don't have detailed specs to share, we can see in the press render that it has four reinforced PCI Express x16 slots with three M.2 slots sandwiched in between them. Most users probably don't plan on running a bunch of M.2 drives, but for those who need more than 'just' three slots, it looks like MSI is bundling in an M.2 add-in card. Other bundled accoutrements include a Wi-Fi antenna and a streaming card of some sort.
We can also see at least six SATA 6Gbps ports, a robust VRM, lots of heatinks, and a fixed I/O shield to make installation a little more convenient.
This is the not first leak of MSI boards. Just last week, images of the company's Mag Z390 Tomahawk and MPG Z390 Gaming Plus surfaced on the web. It turns out that those were only the tip of the iceberg.
MSI has several other Z390 motherboards on tap. So far they include the following models:
- MSI Meg Z390 Godlike
- MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
- MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC
- MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC
- MSI Z390-A Pro
- MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus
- MSI Mag Z390 Tomahawk
The MPG Z390I Gaming AC is a mini-ITX motherboard for builders looking to configured a compact system, perhaps for a living room PC or doom room setup. We imagine MSI will also release a micro-ATX model for slightly larger small form factor (SFF) builds, though none have surfaced yet.
Click to Enlarge (Source: Intel)
All of these motherboards are built around Intel's Z390 Express chipset. Based on previous documentation that has surfaced, Z390 is similar to Z370, but with support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth baked into the chipset. The Z390 chipset also introduces native support for 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen2 connectivity.
Rumor has it Intel will launch three 9th generation processor SKUs at launch. They include the following:
- Core i9-9900K: 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.6GHz to 5GHz, 16MB L3 cache, 95W TDP
- Core i7-9700K: 8 cores / 8 threads, 3,6GHz to 4.9GHz, 12MB L3 cache, 95W TDP
- Core i5-9600K: 6 cores / 6 threads, 3.7GHz to 4.6GHz, 9MB L3 cache, 95W TDP
The most interesting thing to note here is the lack of Hyper Threading on the Core i7-9700K. If that holds true, it will be the first time Intel has launched a Core i7 part without Hyper Threading.
Intel is expected to launch its next round of CPUs in October, possibly on the 1st or 8th of the month.
