Many internet denizens probably just had their biggest collective facepalm ever because of a single tweet.
According to a Twitter post by ASRock last Saturday, the company flat out confirmed that Intel's new 8th-generation Coffee Lake chips won't work with 200-series motherboards. This essentially means that anyone interested in upgrading their machines will have to purchase a new motherboard to support the chip.
Intel Coffee Lake Chips Won't Work On Current Motherboards
ASRock hasn't said anything more beyond the confirmation. Similarly, Intel hasn't responded to the Twitter post and has yet to confirm whether Coffee Lake chips will not be supported on today's crop of motherboards.
So what was the tweet all about? A prank? A hoax? Well, according to PCWorld, it's neither of those things. According to a reliable source outside of Intel, the new Coffee Lake CPUs will definitely not be compatible with Z270 motherboards, even though chipsets with the upcoming Z370 appear to be the same.
Why This Is A Bummer For Those Looking To Upgrade Their Machines
It's easy to see why Intel went down this route if it indeed proves accurate. The majority of Coffee Lake chip sales will most likely come from new systems such as laptops with the new CPU baked in.
However, Intel seems to have forgotten or downright ignored the relatively huge crowd of builders and upgraders who swap out older CPUs for newer ones. Needless to say, they'll be the ones most impacted by the incompatibility. If they have to go out and buy a new motherboard just to support Coffee Lake chips, then they'll either stick to their current guns or switch to AMD's Ryzen CPUs instead, which Intel surely won't be pleased about.
So why would Intel do something like this? Well, for starters, market segmentation. A fancy phrase that essentially means Intel simply wants customers to buy a new motherboard with the new Coffee Lake chips. That said, it's entirely possible that it simply isn't compatible with current motherboards, seeing as how the Coffee Lake lineup is believed to be the company's first six-core chip in a mainstream platform.
Whatever the reason, this only means one thing: prepare to buy a new motherboard if you're planning to upgrade to Intel's new upcoming CPUs.
Are you bummed about this news? Would you buy a new motherboard just to upgrade to Intel's Coffee Lake CPUs? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
