Intel Raptor Lake CPU specs have emerged, and a next-gen Raptor Lake-S chip will support DDR4 and DDR5 RAM. In addition, the company’s 13th gen processor is set to pack more PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes, but the new information raises some PCIe 5.0 concerns.
Revealed during a presentation in Shenzen, the Intel Raptor Lake-S CPU will retain DDR4 support, meaning you won’t have to upgrade your gaming PC with a new motherboard and gaming RAM. The chip will also embrace DDR5 speeds up to 5,600Mhz, an upgrade over current-gen Alder Lake capabilities.
While the presentation puts some memory woes to rest, it places a question mark over Raptor Lake’s PCIe 5.0 support. The chip appears to be still limited to 16 lanes, which will be split between SSD storage and your shiny new graphics card of choice. Comparatively, next-gen AMD Zen 4 processors supposedly wield 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes – a bandwidth boon that might give them an advantage over Intel’s offering.
Raptor Lake’s DDR4 support may help pile pressure on AMD, as the red team’s Zen 4 CPUs will seemingly drop the standard. That said, team red is reportedly considering releasing new Zen 3 chips before Ryzen 7000’s arrival, a decision that could help plug that particular compatibility gap.
Next-gen Intel Raptor Lake CPUs are expected to arrive later this year, and an engineering sample has already made its way onto the black market. Rumours hint that the chip will break the 5Ghz ceiling while providing a 20% performance increase over Alder Lake.