It's not often that a third-party manufacturer ships a cooler compatible with an unannounced socket, yet Intel Comet Lake. Is Arctic way ahead of the pack, or is this a sign of a delayed 10th Gen desktop processor launch?
In a press release issued this week, Arctic confirmed that its reshaped budget U cooler, the Arctic Freezer 7 X, will feature for the LGA 1200 socket. That's no feat in itself, Comet Lake chip's are set to remain the same size as their LGA 1151 predecessors, but it's potentially indicative of something greater going on behind the scenes.
The LGA 1200 socket has been all but confirmed for months. Intel tends to reshape its socket or nix compatibility every two generations, so this is right on cue. Yet it's not often that a U cooler heralds a new generation of U socket – or even foretells an unannounced U generation – it's usually the other way around.
We should be basking in the lofty clock speeds of a handful of K-series chips by now, yet the last major processor launch for our DIY rigs was the leaky benchmark databases.
The whole thing has the distinctive whiff of delay to it. If we could speculate as to why, beyond supply chain concerns from its partners in China, Intel is fending off its own supply concerns. It's also attempting to stuff 10 cores into a 14nm package, with higher clocks, and all without melting U coolers.
A influx of leaks recently would suggest an imminent release sometime between now and April/May. We're still waiting on official word from Intel, but motherboard manufacturers are reportedly gearing up for Z490 motherboards come May – barring any confirmed delays like those affecting the global tech industry.