The current memory crisis has a lot to answer for, but it could be helping Intel to turn a new pro-consumer leaf, as the brand's VP and General Manager of its Enthusiast Business has told Tom's Hardware that he wants to support the Raptor Lake platform for years into the future. The LGA 1700 motherboard socket is still home to some of the best CPUs for gaming, despite its controversies, but if Intel is planning AMD-style socket longevity, it could see a bit of a redemption arc coming.
Intel's VP, Robert Hallock, told Tom's Hardware, "Going forward, 10nm products like Raptor Lake; that is a core part of the portfolio that I want to offer to people for years to come."
Specifically, it's Raptor Lake's serendipitous launch timing that means it's available on both DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards, which makes Hallock keen to support it. He said:
"LGA 1700 is still a good socket. Lots of people [are] still interested in DDR4, so [we’ll] keep offering, and you'll see [pricing] smooth out over time. It'll come back to normal. That's the plan."
If I had to pick a favorite Raptor Lake CPU, it's hard to beat the Core i5-13600K, which sat atop our best CPU buyers' guide for years thanks to incredible 4K performance and great value for money. Its price, as Hallock alluded to, is rough right now to the point where you can get the newer Core Ultra Plus equivalent for cheaper, but if you're investing in Raptor Lake, this is one I'd recommend.
The VP is referring to the fact that, thanks to AI-induced RAM shortages and massive inflation in the current generation of memory, a lot of veteran PC builders are reluctant to move to a newer standard. That's especially true of PC gamers who have chosen an AMD, DDR4 gen processor for their machines, since AM4 as a platform has been supported since 2016 with new products for them to upgrade to.
Meanwhile, Intel's socket support has been in stints of two or three generations before the next one comes along, forcing folks to get a new motherboard and CPU, and making the previous one obsolete.
I personally never thought we'd see Raptor Lake gain renewed support after the volatility issues the 13th and 14th generation products faced. When the Core Ultra Arrow Lake range arrived, I fully thought that was Intel sweeping the LGA 1700 socket under the rug to move on from its controversies.
Thankfully, while the Raptor Lake chips and their socket are DDR5-tilted, they're also DDR4 compatible because the 12th generation products that launched alongside the platform arrived just before DDR5 boards were available. That means there's a niche category of motherboard that supports these DDR5 chips, but stays true to the DDR4 memory interface.
This has allowed a lot of prebuilt gaming PC makers to offer more up-to-date components within PCs without charging inflated DDR5 prices. These still wouldn't be my go-to recommendation at the moment, since you will be locked to DDR4 performance and speeds only, but at least you can get a 50 Series or RX 90 series GPU, up-to-date SSDs, and (now potentially refreshed) CPUs without those massive RAM expenses.
If Intel offers new CPUs to the Raptor Lake platform, that would be a massive boon for anyone who's invested in one of these gaming PCs. As of previous rumors throughout 2026, it seems like a refresh called "Raptor Lake Next" is slated for the first few months of 2027.
Beyond Raptor Lake, I think this attitude is an excellent sign of things to come for other Intel platforms, like the newer Arrow Lake (LGA 1851) socket. I recently reviewed the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, and I absolutely love its performance and value, but I did mention this exact issue in its review. If Intel is finished with making products for this socket, it's not the long-term investment a lot of PC gamers should invest in. That might not be Intel's outlook after all.
Want to read up on more PC components? Take a look at the best RAM for gaming, the best graphics cards, and the best SSDs for gaming.
