Intel to release Broadwell-E processors in Q2

While we have been hearing rumours surrounding Intel's release of Broadwell-E, today we actually have something a bit more concrete. According to the patch notes of a recent Gigabyte X99 motherboard BIOS update, Intel will be launching Broadwell-E during Q2 this year- which covers April, May and June.

Over on the Gigabyte website for the X99 SOC Force motherboard, a batch of BIOS updates were released earlier this month. If you look at update F20, we can see that Gigabyte has listed support for a “2016 CPU coming Q2”. Right now, it seems likely that this will be Broadwell-E.

In the past, all we've had to go off of in regards to Broadwell-E have been rumours and potentially dodgy leaks. However, this information has come straight from a motherboard manufacturer so it seems like it could be pretty concrete.

So aside from the Q2 release date, what else can we expect from Broadwell-E? Well, an earlier specification leak that we reported on seemed to show that Intel has a ten-core Extreme Edition processor in the works for us this year. There is also some talk of Intel adding on another tier with four E-series CPUs this time around hitting the $400, $550, $1000 and $1500 price points. If what we hear about the ten-core extreme edition is true, then that will likely be the top tier processor, with an 8-core sitting at $1000 and two six-core CPUs occupying the two lower price points. However, do keep in mind that a lot of this is unconfirmed at this point.

One last thing worth noting is that Broadwell-E coming out this year could also mean that Skylake-E won't make it out until next year.

KitGuru Says: Quite a few of our readers have been waiting on Intel to release Broadwell-E this year and now it looks like we have a good idea as to when to expect it. Are any of you currently running an enthusiast-grade CPU? Are you planning on upgrading this year? 

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