The upcoming 13th gen Intel core CPUs known as ‘Raptor Lake’ were based on the same architecture as ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs as they have the same desktop LGA1700 socket. This lead to speculation that ASRock’s next-gen Z790 and H770 motherboards will also support DDR4. This has been confirmed according to a leak that includes DDR4 variants of some motherboards in the Z790 and H770 lineup.
The list shows 4 DDR4 supporting variants out of the 12 models confirmed to be in active development. Hopefully, this means that there might be more upcoming models supporting DDR4. This gives Intel an advantage over AMD as the new AM5 offers support only for DDR5. AMD will be hoping that the drop in DDR5 prices continue even after its adoption for the Ryzen 7000 series processors and give them an equal ground to Intel.
ASRock is working on its flagship Z790 and mid-range H770 series. This includes models from Phantom Gaming Lightning/Riptide, Steel Legend, Pro, and also Taichi series. The confirmed models with DDR4 support are Z790-C, Z790 PG Lightning, Z790M PG Lighting (micro-ATX), and the H770 PG Lighting.
This will give Raptor Lake customers the option to choose DDR5 or DDR4 — the latter of which is still much cheaper. With even Biostar confirming that they are working on their next-gen motherboard series, one might wonder if both of them will release their chipset at the same time.
Intel’s ‘Raptor Lake’ CPUs rumored to launch in Q3 or Q4 this year are an upgrade over its 12th gen ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs. These are upgraded Intel 7 processors with increased Efficient core count to 16. This means Raptor Lake CPUs will have twice the number of Gracemont (small) cores compared to Alder Lake. Furthermore, even overclocking improvements are listed as a feature for these CPUs.
With ‘Raptor Lake’ supporting DDR4, it is almost guaranteed that it will provide backwards support for the 700 and 600 series chipsets. This might give them an advantage over AMD whose AM5 only supports DDR5 and hence upgrades and new system builds might be considerably cheaper using Raptor Lake. If rumours are true, both Intel’s launch will be right on time to compete with AMDs new CPUs.
Intel Mainstream CPU Roadmap (RUMORED)
You can find the full Intel Roadmap below.
| Alder Lake | Raptor Lake | Meteor Lake | Arrow Lake | |
| Desktop Launch Date | Q4 2021 | Q4 2022 | Q4 2023 | 2H 2024 |
| CPU Node | Intel 7 | Intel 7 | Intel 4 | Intel 20A |
| Big Core µArch | Golden Cove | Raptor Cove | Redwood Cove | Lion Cove |
| Small Core µArch | Gracemont | Gracemont | Crestmont | Skymont |
| Graphics µArch | Xe-LP | Xe-LP | Xe-HPG | Xe-HPG |
| Max CPU Core Count | 16 (8C+8c) | 24 (8C+16c) | TBC | 40 (8C+32c) |
| Max GPU Core Count | 96 EU | 96 EU | 192 EU | 320 EU |
| Desktop Socket | LGA-1700 | LGA-1700 | LGA-1851 | LGA-1851 |
| Memory Support | DDR4/DDR5-4800 | DDR4/DDR5-5600 | DDR5 | TBC |
| PCIe Gen | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 5.0 | TBC |
| Intel Core Series | 12th Gen Core | 13th Gen Core | 14th Gen Core | 15th Gen Core |
About ASRock
ASRock Inc. is a Taiwanese manufacturer of motherboards, industrial PCs and home theatre PCs. Led by Ted Hsu, it was founded in 2002 and is currently owned by Taiwanese electronics company Pegatron.ASRock was originally spun off from Asus in 2002 in order to compete with companies like Foxconn for the commodity OEM market. In 2010 it became part of Pegatron. ASRock currently produces consumer, server, workstation and HTPC motherboards.
Source: Videocardz
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