DDR5 RAM is the next generation of system memory, and it’s just around the corner. It promises greater bandwidth, increased capacity, and lower power demands than existing DDR4, helping to make the most of not only modern CPUs but onboard graphics, too. If you want to take advantage of the fastest memory kits ever made, here’s everything you need to know about DDR5.
Pricing and availability
The first DDR5 RAM chips were made in 2018, though it wasn’t until 2020 that the standard was officially released, and actual commercial kits didn’t become widely available until the summer of 2021. TeamGroup released the first kit of twin 16GB sticks at DDR5-4800 speeds, with a price tag of $311. That’s more expensive than most 32GB DDR4 kits, but not by much, and actually cheaper than the few DDR4 kits that can reach those speeds at that capacity.
It’s not yet known whether that kind of price will be typical of DDR5, as the kits sold out almost immediately. Typically, new-generation memory starts more expensive than the last, especially at higher capacities or frequencies, and then slowly prices equalize before the new, more populace generation of memory becomes the more affordable option.
For now, DDR5 will remain a mere curiosity, however, as there are no options for mainstream processors and motherboards that can support it. The first platform that will be able to is Intel’s upcoming Alder Lake CPUs, which are slated for release at some point in the second half of 2021. Some Alder Lake CPUs have reportedly gone on sale in China, however, so the launch may be closer to the summer than winter.
Performance
DDR5 memory will bring with it a number of performance improvements, most notably a much greater frequency potential. Like DDR4 before it, the first kits won’t offer bandwidth drastically higher than that of the best last-generation kits, but they will be able to do it without enabling XMP and will have official motherboard support at those higher frequencies.
Although DDR4 kits have been shown to be capable of running in excess of 5Gbps, the official specification maxes out at 3.2Gbps. In comparison, DDR5 debuted at 4.8Gbps, but will be able to reach 6.4Gbps. Memory manufacturers will likely push the data rate far beyond that in due course, potentially reaching over 8Gbps.
As is expected from higher bandwidth memory, timings for DDR5 will be looser than was typically used on DDR4. The first TeamGroup Elite DDR5 modules had timings as loose as 40-40-40-77. In comparison, a competitive DDR4 G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-4800 kit has timings of just 20-30-30-50. That advantage may give DDR4 a performance edge in some settings compared to early DDR5 memory modules, but performance will improve considerably over the life of the technology.
The new channel architecture of DDR5 may play a part in improving its performance, too, by enhancing memory access efficiency. With DDR5, each DIMM will have two channels rather than one. Although the overall width of these channels will remain the same — 64 bits — the use of two smaller channels should improve efficiency, which could, in turn, improve performance, as well as signal integrity.
We’ll need to wait for third-party reviews of these modules on ready-for-release motherboards and processors, but early leaks suggest it holds a significant performance advantage over DDR4 at similar frequencies. In one early benchmark, a 32GB DDR5 kit was over a third faster than a comparably specced DDR4 kit (with much tighter timings) in most tests and up to 112% faster in one particular benchmark.
Capacity and power
One of the most obvious and immediate advantages of DDR5 is its support for greater-capacity memory chips. Where DDR4 dies were capped at 16GB, DDR5 has the ability to reach 64GB per chip, potentially offering individual stick capacities as high as 256GB. For mainstream PCs, this won’t hold a huge advantage at the top end, but it will be a big boost for HEDT systems and enterprise servers, where much larger single CPU memory arrays will be possible, further increasing the amount of data those monstrously powerful multi-core CPUs (and multi-CPU arrays) can access simultaneously.
One area where this will benefit mainstream PC owners is the upgradeability of their systems. Running a system on a single stick of 16GB or 32GB of memory makes it much easier to upgrade in the future with another stick. That’s particularly useful for small mini-ITX systems, which may only have two DIMM slots, too.
Low-power systems will also benefit from DDR5, as it’s rated to run at just 1.1v. That’s 0.1v less than DDR4, which can run higher when pushed using XMP or manual overclocking. DDR5 will likely offer performance advantages when running at higher voltages, too, but the potential may also be there to undervolt it and reduce its power demands further while still maintaining higher speeds than most DDR4 kits. That could be great news for laptops looking to boost battery life on new-generation hardware.
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