Intel Raptor Lake CPUs could see a big boost from DDR5 RAM

What you need to know

• Alleged Intel Raptor Lake CPU benchmarks show a major performance increase when the new processors are used with DDR5 memory modules.
• The benchmark results show a 20% increase when a 13th Gen Intel chip is used with DDR5 when compared to the same processor paired with DDR4.
• As with all benchmarks that come out before a piece of hardware is released, these figures need to be approached with healthy skepticism.

Intel's Raptor Lake CPUs are due to roll out later this year. The new processors will undoubtedly deliver better performance than their predecessors, but they may also see a larger bump when used with DDR5. According to recent benchmarks shared by Sweclockers (via PC Gamer), Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs could see up to a 20% performance improvement when used with DDR5 memory instead of DDR4.

As with all benchmarks that come out before hardware is officially released, these scores need to be taken with a grain of salt and within context. Factors other than the memory of a system could have affected the Geekbench 5 scores. There's always a chance that benchmarks like these are inaccurate or fabricated.

If the benchmarks are accurate when Intel's next generation of chips roll out, PC owners will likely race to pick up the best DDR5 RAM modules. According to the benchmarks, a PC with an Intel Core i7 13700K got a multi-core score of 16,452 when using DDR4 and 19,811 with a DDR5 module. Single-core scores were almost identical across the PCs (2090 for DDR4 and 2069 for DDR5).

While DDR5 succeeds DDR4, memory modules for the two generations are not interchangeable. As a result, many PC gamers and creators will be on the hunt for DDR5 hardware over the coming months. DDR5 memory modules will be even more alluring if they promise a 20% performance increase for PCs running on the latest processors from Intel. Our piece comparing DDR4 vs. DDR5 breaks down all of the differences between the generations.

On the AMD side of things, DDR5 memory will also become more valuable later this year. Zen 4 CPUs will not support DDR4, so people will need to migrate over to more modern memory solutions.