Multiple Z990 Motherboard Models Surface Online As ASRock Starts Shipping Them Ahead Of Launch

As Intel prepares for the upcoming Nova Lake S desktop processors, motherboard vendors have started preparing their next-generation of motherboards.

Several ASRock Z990 Motherboards Appear in NBD Shipping Manifest, Including Creator, Steel Legend, Pro, and Challenger Series

As Intel schedules its next-gen Nova Lake processor lineup for late 2026 or early 2027 launch, its partners have started preparing their next-gen motherboard lineups. With the launch of Intel Nova Lake-S desktop processors, you can expect multiple motherboard vendors to release their new flagship Z990 chipset motherboards. We have previously reported on the 900 series motherboards several times, which will include several new chipsets, including Z990, Z970, W980, Q970, and B960.

However, the Z990 chipset remains the flagship offering in the 900 series, aimed at enthusiast-grade PC builds for users who want to deploy high-end Nova Lake chips such as the flagship 52-core processor. Looks like one of the vendors has already started shipping its Z990 motherboards, as recently revealed in an NBD shipping manifest spotted by Club386.

This manifest contains several Z990 motherboards from ASRock, shipping from Taiwan and Vietnam. The list reveals a few models under the popular ASRock families such as the Taichi, Challenger, Pro, and Steel Legend series. As many as six motherboard models have been mentioned, including regular and white models. In short, these models are expected to be on the market alongside the Nova Lake S processors when Intel launches the new family in early 2027.

ASRock Z990 Steel Legend WiFi

ASRock Z990 Taichi Creator

ASRock Z990 Challenger WiFi

ASRock Z990 Taichi White

ASRock Z990 Challenger WiFi White

ASRock Z990 PRO RS WiFi

Unfortunately, we cannot know the detailed specifications for these models from the NBD shipping log, but we know from various reports that Z990 chipset motherboards will offer more Gen 5.0 I/O than the Z890. The Z990 is also more power-hungry than existing high-end chipsets and can consume up to 14W. That said, expect more such Z990 leaks to surface online in the coming weeks as we come close to the official launch of the new Intel LGA 1954 platform.

Intel 900-Series Chipsets (Source: Jaykihn):

Chipset NameZ990W980Q970Z970B960

Total PCIe Lanes4848443434

CPU USB4/TB4 Ports22211

DMI Gen5 Lanes44422

PCH PCIe 5.0 Lanes1212800

PCH PCIe 4.0 Lanes1212121414

SATA 3.0 Lanes88844

USB 3.2 20G Ports55422

USB3.2 10G Ports1010844

USB3.2 5G Ports10101066

IA OCYesNoNoYesNo

BCLK OCYesNoNoNoNo

Memory OCYesYesNoYesYes

ECC SupportNoYesNoNoNo

Displays Supported44444