Intel H310 Motherboards Reportedly Support Incoming 8Core Coffee Lake Processors

There is evidence to suggest that existing motherboards based on Intel’s H310 Express chipset will support the company’s rumored 8-core processors when they arrive, by way of a BIOS update. That specific evidence is a picture of an ASRock H310CM-HDV/M.2 motherboard with a sticker that reads “8 Core CPU Support” on the packaging.As always, we have to take this sort of thing with a healthy dose of skepticism, if only because we have no idea where the photo originates from. The folks at Videocardz posted the picture, but did not mention its source. It would not be difficult to Photoshop a supposed sticker onto the image. We do not know if that is the case, but it is worth mentioning.

Assuming the picture is legitimate, it serves as further evidence of Intel’s plans to release an 8-core processor into the mainstream market, something it has never done before. Intel already offers CPUs with more cores than that, but those are high-end desktop (HEDT) and server chips—it’s mainstream lineup tops out at 6 cores and 12 threads.

It would not surprise us in the least if the photo is real. Motherboard makers have already hinted at supporting 8-core processors on their existing Intel Z370 Express boards with a simple BIOS flash, as the latest firmware updates point to supporting Intel’s next-gen CPUs. It seems logical that the same treatment would be given to Z310 boards as well.According to previous leaks, Intel is readying several Coffee Lake Refresh products, at least two of which are said to be 8-core chips. One is the Core i9-9900K with Hyper Threading, and the other is the Core i7-9700K without Hyper Threading. It seems odd that Intel would release a Core i7 chip that lacks HT, so we will have to wait and see if that is actually the case.