Intel 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh will use LGA1700: How will this affect AM5 and Ryzen 8000?

Intel's 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh lineup will use the same LGA1700 socket as this company's 12th gen Alder Lake and 13th gen Raptor Lake offerings. This socket was introduced back in 2021 when Alder Lake debuted. With a new generation, its support will exceed three years, making this one different from what Team Blue has done over the last couple of years.

Team Blue generally supports their motherboard sockets for two years, which has been a point of criticism for a while now, especially because AMD supported the AM4 socket for five years. Most Intel users would have to upgrade both their CPUs and motherboards if they planned to opt for a newer chip.

However, Intel seems to be taking a detour and supporting its platform for three years this time. It is still behind what AMD plans, but this is a significant step forward.

Do note that this might be an anomaly since Intel has big plans for its upcoming Meteor Lake lineup and might be launching Raptor Lake Refresh just to give itself more time.

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Can LGA1700 and Raptor Lake Refresh beat Ryzen 8000?

One of the biggest concerns with the Intel socket's extended lifespan is whether it can impact Ryzen 8000's sales. While AM5 motherboards have gotten cheaper, they are still more expensive than Intel's H610. Since Intel's upcoming 14th gen chips will also be supported on these affordable motherboards — which will likely get even cheaper in the coming few months — AMD might become a costlier alternative.

Team Red is taking notes and they are launching a ton of new CPUs in the Ryzen 5000 lineup. AM4 motherboards can be cheaper than Intel offerings, which might help Team Red combat Intel's movements. However, both Alder Lake and Raptor Lake chips offer better IPC (Instructions Per Clock) than Ryzen 5000. This can, again, send AMD on the backfoot.

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Intel motherboard prices will be slashed soon

Multiple Intel board partners have started confirming that the new CPU lineup won't use fresh chipsets. They will instead employ slightly enhanced versions of the B760 and Z790 boards while continuing the support for the same LGA1700 socket. Gigabyte recently confirmed it will launch a new Z790 "X" series for the upcoming CPU lineup. ASRock confirmed its new boards back at Computex.

All of this means that 700 and 600-series motherboards will be further discounted.

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DDR4 and DDR5 memory support

While it is still unclear whether the upcoming 14th gen Raptor Lake Refresh will continue support for DDR4 memory, these new LGA1700-based chips will likely bring support for the older standard. AMD nuked all possibilities of DDR4 support from the Ryzen 7000 series. This is another point that will help Team Blue score slightly more points.

However, this is only applicable to the budget market. Additionally, DDR5 prices plummeted in the first half of 2023, and the cost differences between this one and DDR4 aren't exorbitant anymore. In addition, with time, the latter will slowly become costlier than DDR5, making it a worse choice over the latest memory modules.

Overall, the CPU wars are at their peak at the moment. Both AMD and Intel are pushing hard to win over gamers' hearts. Like a wise man once said: at the end of the day, the customer wins.