What Happened to H370 and B360 Motherboards!

The Confusing World of Intel Motherboard Naming Schemes

In recent years, Intel has introduced several new motherboard naming schemes, making it increasingly difficult for consumers to keep track of the latest and greatest options. In this article, we'll delve into the world of H and B boards, exploring the supposed launch dates of these motherboards and trying to make sense of the naming scheme.

First up are the H 370 and B 360 motherboards, which were supposedly expected to fall back to Skylake. However, it appears that Intel has decided to keep their new naming scheme going, with the H 370 and B 360 now falling under the Coffee Lake moniker. The business lineup, including the B be 150 and B be 250, is also getting a refresh, moving from X 299 to H 374.

But what about the H3 10 chipset? This one is particularly interesting, as it's rumored to have originated from Skylake. However, Intel has decided to stick with their new naming scheme, renaming it H3 10. The company has also introduced a new chipset, the H 110, which seems to be an attempt to catch up with AMD's latest offerings.

So what's taking Intel so long to launch these motherboards? According to several sources, including Intel reps, the main reason is power consumption. With the introduction of more powerful Core i7 processors, previous generation Z 270 boards simply weren't able to handle the increased power requirements. This has led to issues with voltage regulation and non-die management systems, causing stability problems in certain scenarios.

Intel's decision to rely heavily on previous generation cable architecture for their Coffee Lake launch also seems to have contributed to the delays. By pushing out more powerful processors with lower core counts and power consumption, Intel needed to tweak the Z 270 chipset to make it compatible with the new hardware. This is why the Z 370 chipset was introduced as a "quick and dirty" solution, aimed at catching up with AMD's X 299 lineup.

In an interview with Steve from Gamers Nexus, we discovered that Intel pushed back the launch date of their Z 370 platform to coincide with the release of AMD's Threadripper. The company also moved forward the launch date of X 299 by around three weeks, reportedly in an effort to snipe Threadripper and limit AMD's competitive advantage.

However, it appears that Intel had limited stock of their high-end processors when they initially launched quarter four last year. To combat this, the company rushed to have these items on the market sooner than anticipated, resulting in a premature launch. This strategy seems to be paying off, as Intel is now trying to capitalize on AMD's success with their own lineup.

In conclusion, the H 370 and B 360 chipsets are not late; they were simply early due to Intel's forced hand. With the introduction of more powerful processors, previous generation boards became inadequate from a power delivery standpoint. As for when we can expect to see these lower-grade chipsets on the market, it's rumored that we'll see some budget-oriented systems with Coffee Lake CPUs in late March or early April this year.

Finally, I'd like to thank Steve for confirming my story and making this video possible. Without his input, I wouldn't have had the guts to release this article because a lot of it is just making one's own conclusions based on what we do know. It's fascinating to see Intel have to rush something because AMD was so successful at launch.

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