Gigabyte has confirmed that Intel is planning to introduce new LGA1700 socket processors in early 2027. The brand revealed that it will support these CPUs on its existing motherboards, including those based on the mid-range B760 and budget H610 chipsets.
In a press statement, the company said, it had “announced BIOS support for the Upcoming LGA1700 processors across its entire lineup of Intel B760 and H610 motherboards.” The CPUs in question look likely to be Intel’s rumoured Raptor Lake Next chips. While Gigabyte didn’t mention Raptor Lake Next by name, it said these processors “bring fresh performance to an established platform (LGA1700).” For those unfamiliar, the Raptor Lake architecture has already been refreshed once on desktop in the form of the 14th-gen Raptor Lake Refresh (Core i7-14700K), which makes this the third Raptor Lake desktop series.
These CPUs are expected to offer at least four configurations: a Core 3 with four P-Cores and no E-Cores, a Core 5 with six P-Cores and four E-Cores, and a Core 7 with eight P-Cores and 12 E-Cores. Among these, the Core 5 model looks set to be a hit, bringing Core i7-class specs to the affordable Core 5 range. There’s good news for anyone with some DDR4 RAM who can’t afford current prices for DDR5 as well. “Owners of existing B760 and H610 motherboards, DDR5 and DDR4 models alike, can step up to upcoming processors,” says Gigabyte.
Interestingly enough, Gigabyte didn’t mention Intel’s other LGA1700 chipsets, such as the high-end Z690 and Z790, only listing support for H610 and B760 boards, such as the recently launched B760M Gaming Wi-Fi 6E DDR4 Gen5 and B760M Aorus Ari WiFi6E DDR4.
While there is a big chance Z-class chipset users already own high-end Core i9 processors, and thus won’t benefit from Raptor Lake Next, it’s curious that they’ve been left behind. Perhaps Gigabyte is focusing first on entry-level and mid-range boards first, as they’re the most likely to need an upgrade.
Furthermore, Intel executive Robert Hallock previously told Tom’s Hardware that the company intends to continue offering LGA1700 processors for years to come, citing interest in DDR4-compatible systems as one reason. He also told us in an interview that “Raptor Lake will continue to be abundantly available.”
Lastly, Gigabyte has confirmed the previously rumoured early 2027 release date for these new chips so stay tuned.
