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More affordable X-series boards without top-end features like quad-channel memory will supposedly be available for those who spring for the lower-spec Kaby Lake-X CPUs. As you probably know, that range is unable to access the platform’s quad-channel memory and only supports 16 PCIe lanes, so a high-priced, fully featured X299 board would not make much sense. In another article, the same Intel employee insists that the 18-core i9 is not a response to AMD and states that the company was “always planning that sort of trajectory.”
Intel’s Frank Soqui explained to me at E3 that they've been working with the board manufacturers to give them a way to differentiate their X299 options from each other. “We give guidance about how to do the PCI bus lanes," said Soqui, "how much memory to put in and how to configure them. Different motherboard manufacturers will have a different density of memory support. They all change a little bit, I mean you can build a common board to scale across processors, but the different motherboard manufacturers can decide how much of those X-series features they want to take care of when they’re serving the market.”
Intel’s Frank Soqui explained to me at E3 that they've been working with the board manufacturers to give them a way to differentiate their X299 options from each other. “We give guidance about how to do the PCI bus lanes," said Soqui, "how much memory to put in and how to configure them. Different motherboard manufacturers will have a different density of memory support. They all change a little bit, I mean you can build a common board to scale across processors, but the different motherboard manufacturers can decide how much of those X-series features they want to take care of when they’re serving the market.”