Intel 700 PCH: Leak directly from the provider
It's not every day that you would get a leak directly from the manufacturer, so the information on the 700 PCH, which will be deployed at Raptor Lake, is quite useful.
Intel, most likely unintentionally, revealed specifics regarding the 700 series PCHs, which will only be available with the next generation of processors in the autumn. The datasheet shows relatively minor changes, which were probably to be expected. Following this information level, the Z790, H770, and B760 will be available. As a result, the H610 will not receive an update. It's unclear whether this is true in general or just at the start.
The number of PCI Express lanes in format 4.0 will be increased from 12 to 20 in the Z790. In exchange, the standard 3.0 lanes will be reduced from 16 to 8. Furthermore, (extended) USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 capability is provided, delivering 20 Gb/s. The H770 also gets extra PCI Express lanes in format 4.0, but it moves from 12 to 16 lanes, while 3.0 is reduced from 12 to 8; while the B760 is improved from 6 to 10 lanes PCI Express 4.0, while 3.0 is reduced from 8 to 4 lanes.
The lanes are, as always, the maximum number of lanes that the mainboard manufacturer can plan. The specifics of how they achieve this vary by product. Overall, not much appears to have changed. You may read about our contribution to the Alder Lake program here. Based on the leaked datasheets, no more changes are planned.
Raptor Lake appears to be calmer with a more complete conversion to Socket 1700. According to the rumor mill, the CPU is more of an evolution than a revolution. The release date is set for the fourth quarter of 2022, while some have speculated that a presentation in September is possible.
DDR5 not popular with Raptor Lake and 700 series motherboards?
Raptor Lake, like Alder Lake, should enable DDR4 memory in theory to ease the transition. However, Intel does not want to see this with the 700 mainboards, according to a report. When the platform is released, which is likely to be around the end of the year, the organization will support DDR5-5600 and urge partners to create and sell DDR5 mainboards if viable.
The aim is that DDR4 combos with Alder Lake and Raptor Lake cover the 600 series motherboards; because the LGA 1700 socket is still present, Raptor Lake should be compatible with older boards. Why one may ask… It is speculated that this is due to the UEFI Code, which is supposed to be considerably different for DDR4 and DDR5, complicating integration.
