Intel 900-series chipset spcs leaked: B960, Z970, Z990, Q970, and W980 for Nova Lake-S

Core Ultra 400S and next-gen Xeon for LGA-1954 socket have five chipsets to choose from

A new table of Intel “900 Series” chipset stack has been leaked by hardware leaker “Jaykihn”. This platform is tied to the LGA-1954 socket and Nova Lake-S desktop CPU s, expected to carry Core Ultra 400S branding. The lineup shown include s B960, Z970, Z990, Q970, and W980. VideoCardz reported yesterday that Z970 and Z990 were on Intel’s roadmap, and this table lines up with those names.

Consumer Z970 and B960

The table shows B960 and Z970 with the same headline I/O limits, which points to a shared baseline design. Both list 34 total PCIe lanes, DMI Gen5 x2, and no chipset PCIe 5.0 lanes, alongside 14 chipset PCIe 4.0 lanes and four SATA ports. The split comes in overclocking flags, with Z970 listing CPU overclocking support (IA OC) while B960 does not, and both listing memory overclocking support.

Interestingly, the list does not include the H910 chipset, the entry-level segment.

Intel 900 Series Chipset (up to)
Source: Jaykihn	B960	Z970	Z990	Q970	W980
Total PCIE Lanes	34	34	48	44	48
Processor TB4/USB4 Ports	1	1	2	2	2
DMI Gen5 Lanes	2	2	4	4	4
Chipset PCIE 5.0 Lanes	❌	❌	12	8	12
Chipset PCIE 4.0 Lanes	14	14	12	12	12
SATA 3.0 (6G Lanes)	4	4	8	8	8
USB2 Ports	12	12	14	14	14
USB3.2 (20G) Ports	~2	~2	~5	~4	~5
USB3.2 (10G) Ports	~4	~4	~10	~8	~10
USB3.2 (5G) Ports	~6	~6	~10	~10	~10
IA OC	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌
BCLK OC	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
Memory OC	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Processor PCIE 5.0 Slot Lane Config	1×16	1×16	1×16 + 1×4 or 1×8 + 2×4 or 2×8 or 4×4	1×16 + 1×4 or 1×8 + 2×4 or 2×8 or 4×4	1×16 + 1×4 or 1×8 + 2×4 or 2×8 or 4×4
Processor PCIE 5.0 Storage Lane Config	1×4	1×4	1×8 or 2×4	1×8 or 2×4	1×8 or 2×4
ECC	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Simultaneous Displays Supported	4	4	4	4	4
PCIE RAID 0/1/5/10 Support	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 Support	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Intel vPro + Standard Manageability	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅

Flagship Z990 with up to 20 PCIe 5.0 lanes on CPU

Z990 moves to higher limits across the board in the same table. It lists 48 total PCIe lanes, DMI Gen5 x4, and 12 chipset PCIe 5.0 lanes, plus 12 chipset PCIe 4.0 lanes and eight SATA ports. Z990 also lists IA OC, BCLK OC, and memory OC, which is the widest overclocking feature set in the chart.

Business Q970 and workstation W980

The business and workstation entries add their own segmentation. Q970 lists 44 total PCIe lanes, DMI Gen5 x4, eight chipset PCIe 5.0 lanes, and vPro plus standard manageability, but it does not list IA OC, BCLK OC, or memory OC. W980 lists 48 total PCIe lanes with 12 chipset PCIe 5.0 lanes, and it is the only one in the table marked with ECC support, while also listing memory OC and vPro plus standard manageability.

The table indicates all chipsets support PCIe 5.0 lane configurations from the CPU for graphics and NVMe, while only Z990, Q970, and W980 add PCIe 5.0 lanes from the chipset itself. If accurate, the B960 and Z970 pairing also supports the idea that Intel’s 900-series naming could map closely to prior segment splits, with Z970 looking like the same base I/O as B960 plus CPU overclocking enabled.

Intel has not confirmed these specifications or the final chipset feature matrix. Jaykhin did not share any information on DDR5 memory support. Check the comparison below between all PCIe 5.0-compatible Zx90 platforms from Intel to date.

Intel Consumer Z-Chipsets
VideoCardz.com	Z990 🆕	Z890	Z790	Z690
Chipset
Launch	2027	Q2 2024	Q4 2022	Q4 2021
Socket	LGA-1954	LGA-1851	LGA-1700	LGA-1700
DDR5 Memory Support	DDR5-????	DDR5-5600+	DDR5-5600	DDR5-4800
DDR4 Memory Support	❌	❌	DDR4-3200	DDR4-3200
Intel Core Support	Intel Nova Lake-S	Meteor Lake-S Arrow Lake-S	Alder Lake-S Raptor Lake-S Raptor Lake-Refresh	Alder Lake-S Raptor Lake-S Raptor Lake-Refresh
CPU PCIe Gen5 (CPU+Chip)	20 + 12	16 + 4	16 + 0	16 + 0
CPU PCIe Gen4 (CPU+Chip)	0 + 14	4 + 24	4 + 20	4 + 12

Source: Jaykihn

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