Devil's Canyon and Intel Z97 compatibility is turning into quite the soap opera. We have just received photos from our colleagues at Hermitage Akihabara which confirm that Intel Devil's Canyon will not be supported on 8 Series Chipsets and Z87. Only the Pentium 20th Anniversary Unlocked Processors will work with both chipsets. That is, unless the motherboard manufacturers have something to say about it.

Intel's Devil's Canyon 4th Gen Unlocked Processors will Not Work on 8 Series - Could Motherboard Manufacturers Save the Day?

Now we did a story a few days back about how some motherboard manufacturers are thinking rebellion. It would appear that the recent z97 embargo break might have set an unwanted precedent (atleast for Intel); meaning that no one cares about Intel's commandments anymore. While I am all for anarchy and chaos, this does not bode well for Intel. Before we go ahead, I am sure you will want to see the proof for yourself. Here are the pictures, soon to be displayed at Intel's Computex Booth, courtesy of our Japanese friends:

Now I don't know about you folks, but thats pretty solid evidence against the z87 argument. I think its safe to say that Devil's Canyon, Intel's Unlocked 4th Generation Processors are not going to work with Z87 at launch. The good news is that since there is no architectural difference, and the incompatibility exists at the software level and artificially introduced; so it should be easy for motherboard manufacturers to roll out a new bios that grants 4th Gen, K series compatibility. So yes, it is very much possible for motherboard manufacturers to do that, but the question is, will they? It is crystal clear that Intel does not want the Devil's Canyon processors mixing with 8 Series motherboards, but in the case of a breach, just what exactly is Intel prepared to do? A few days back saw ASUS breaking the Z97 Embargo and nearly everyone following suite, basically screwing Intel's NDA to heck. The repercussions? none. So with this feeling of a soap opera unfolding infront of my eyes, I anxiously await Intel's reveal at Computex this year, who knows maybe it will surprise us.