Chipset Intel C612 ((top)) Jun 2026

The C612 chipset does not have native NVMe boot support. While NVMe drives can be used via PCIe slots connected to the CPU, booting from them requires a specific BIOS update from the motherboard manufacturer. Many early C612 boards cannot boot from NVMe without third-party option ROMs.

The C612 was replaced by the (Lewisburg) with the Xeon Scalable family (Skylake-SP) in 2017. The C620 brought PCIe 3.0 on the PCH, integrated 10GbE, and support for Optane persistent memory. chipset intel c612

Unlike consumer-grade desktops where the "chipset" manages almost all I/O, the Intel C612 utilizes a architecture. In this design, the Xeon E5 v3 processor acts as the primary hub, handling high-speed traffic (PCIe 3.0 from the CPU) directly, while the C612 chipset manages the secondary I/O subsystem. The C612 chipset does not have native NVMe boot support

Storage was the primary focus of the C612 evolution. It offers up to : The C612 was replaced by the (Lewisburg) with