Intel Z790 motherboards will soon be available for 13th generation Raptor Lake desktop CPUs and will offer improved DDR5 and DDR4 memory support.
Intel Z790 motherboards to deliver faster DDR5 and DDR4 memory support for 13th generation Raptor Lake CPUs
In a data sheet leaked by Video Cards, likely from MSI, we can see that Z790 motherboards will offer faster DDR5 and DDR4 memory speeds compared to current Z690 motherboards. A total of three motherboards are listed, one supporting DDR5 and one supporting DDR4.
MSI’s Intel Z790 DDR5 motherboard data sheet (Image credits: Videocardz):
According to the datasheet, the DDR5 Z790 motherboard will feature four DIMM slots with support for 128GB capacities with speeds listed as follows:
- 1 DIMM per channel (single order) – up to DDR5-6800 +
- 1 DIMM per channel (single order) – up to DDR5-6400 +
- 2 DIMMs per channel (2-rank) – up to DDR5-6400 +
- 2 DIMMs per channel (2-rank) – up to DDR5-5600+
For Z790 DDR4 motherboards, it seems that the maximum memory speed supported here will reach DDR4-5333+. Here are the speeds listed for the faster Z790 DDR4 configuration:
- 1 DIMM per channel (1 rank) – up to DDR4-5333 +
- 1 DIMM per channel (1 rank) – up to DDR4-4800 +
- 2 DIMMs per channel (2-rank) – up to DDR4-4400+
- 2 DIMMs per channel (2-rank) – up to DDR4-4000+
MSI’s Intel Z790 DDR4 motherboard data sheet (Image credits: Videocardz):
On Z690 motherboards, the fastest memory speeds are listed as follows for DDR5 and DDR4 motherboards in each sector separately.
- MEG (DDR5) – up to DDR5-6666+
- MPG (DDR5) – up to DDR5-6666 +
- MAG (DDR5) – up to DDR5-6400 +
- MPG (DDR4) – up to DDR5-5200 +
- MAG (DDR4) – up to DDR4-5200 +
For comparison, the AMD X670E motherboards listed so far range from DDR5-6600 to DDR5-6000 speeds. We recently reported on two ASRock X670E and X670E Valkyrie motherboards from Biostar whose specifications have been detailed recently. You can read more about that here.
Biostar X670E Valkyrie motherboard:
- Supports Dual Channel DDR5 6000+ (OC) / 5800 (OC) / 5600 (OC) / 5400 (OC) / 5200 (OC) / 5000 (OC) / 4800
- 4 x DDR5 DIMM memory slot, max. Supports memory up to 128 GB
- Each DIMM supports a non-ECC 8/16/32 GB DDR5 module
ASRock X670E Taichi Carrera motherboard
- Dual Channel DDR5 Memory Technology
- 4 DDR5 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR5 ECC / non-ECC, up to 6600+ unbuffered memory (OC)
- the above. System memory capacity: 128 GB
- Supports Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) and Extended Overclocking Profiles (EXPO) memory modules
Intel Z790 motherboards will launch in October alongside the 13th generation Raptor Lake CPU lineup. Motherboards will support PCIe Gen 5.0 and DDR5 memory whatever that won’t have a PCIe Gen 5.0 M.2 slot connected directly to the CPU Gen 5 lanes unless board vendors decide to split separate GPU x16 lanes.
Expected Features of 13th Generation Intel Raptor Lake Desktop CPUs:
- Up to 24 cores and 32 threads
- Brand New Raptor Cove CPU Cores (Top P-Core IPC)
- Based on 10nm ESF ‘Intel 7’ processing node
- Clock speeds up to 6.0 GHz (expected)
- Doubling electronic nuclei on some variables
- Increased cache for both P-Cores and E-Cores
- Supported on current LGA 1700 motherboards
- New Z790, H770 and B760 motherboards
- Up to 28 PCIe slots (PCH Gen 4 + Gen 3)
- Up to 28 PCIe slots (Gen 5 x16 + Gen 4 x12 CPU)
- Dual channel DDR5-5600 memory support
- 20 PCIe Gen 5 Lanes
- Enhanced overclocking features
- 125W PL1 TDP (Master SKUs)
- AI PCIe M.2
- Launching Q4 2022 (October Possible)
Intel’s 13th generation of Raptor Lake desktop CPUs including the flagship Core i9-13900K is expected to be launched in October on the Z790 platform. CPUs will go head-to-head against AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup which also launches in fall 2022.
Comparison of Intel Raptor Lake and AMD Raphael Desktop CPUs ‘Expected’ Comparison
| CPU family | AMD Rafael (RPL-X) | Intel Raptor LLC (RPL-S) |
|---|---|---|
| Operation knot | TSMC 5nm | Intel 7 |
| general engineering | Zen 4 (Chiplet) | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) |
| Flagship SKU | Ryzen 9 7950X | Core i9-13900 K |
| Cores/Threads | up to 16/32 | up to 24/32 |
| Total L3 cache | 64 MB (+ 3D V-Cache) | 36 MB |
| Total L2 cache | 16 MB | 32 MB |
| Total cache | 80 MB | 68 MB |
| Max Klux (1T) | 5.7 GHz | 5.8 GHz |
| Memory support | DDR5 | DDR5 / DDR4 |
| memory channels | 2 channel (2DPC) | 2 channel (2DPC) |
| Memory speeds | DDR5-5600 | DDR5-5600 DDR4 – 3200 |
| Platform support | 600 Series (X670E / X670 / B650 / A620) | 600 Series (Z690/H670/B650/H610) 700- Series (Z790/H770/B760) |
| PCIe Gen 5.0 | Both GPU and M.2 (Extreme chipsets only) | Both GPU and M.2 (700 series only but split) |
| Integrated graphics | AMD RDNA 2 | Intel Iris XE |
| Plug | AM5 (LGA 1718) | LGA 1700/1800 |
| TDP(Max) | 170 watts (TDP) 230 Watts (PPT) | 125 W (PL1) 240 W + (PL2) |
| release | September 2022 | October 2022 |
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