As GinjFo announced, Intel does not intend to bury Raptor Lake anytime soon. In a recent interview, Robert Hallock, vice president and general manager of the Enthusiast segment at Intel, explained that Raptor Lake “is not going away.” This generation remains “a big part” of the company’s customer strategy.
The announcement may come as a surprise, however it is explained quite well. There is a very concrete argument behind all this: memory. Indeed, the 13th and 14th generation Core processors retain an advantage that more recent platforms no longer have, namely support for DDR4 in addition to DDR5. Intel confirms this in its official documentation concerning these 14th generation desktop processors. They support DDR4-3200 and DDR5-5600 depending on the model.
In the current context, this is not a “small†technical detail. For many PC gamers, being able to reuse an existing LGA 1700 motherboard and DDR4 remains a great way to contain the cost of an upgrade. It is precisely in this area that Intel wishes to continue to play although its most recent chips push more towards DDR5. The company even goes so far as to applaud the arrival of hybrid DDR4/DDR5 motherboards on the LGA 1700 socket.
In terms of performance, Raptor Lake remains perfectly relevant for a gaming configuration, especially if the objective is to maintain a DDR4 platform. A Core i7-14700K or even some more accessible references are solid foundations for playing at 1080p or 1440p.
