DDR5 is the new buzz in the market, and Intel is already pushing DDR5 memory with their new Alder Lake-S processors. But, do you need to go with the hype? Or, should you just wait until the technology becomes much more refined and the prices fall before buying them? Let’s answer the question.
Why is DDR5 a Big Deal?
DDR5 came out a while ago, and it is a big deal for a lot of reasons. First, it is the next generation of memory modules. They come with a lot of improvements over the last generation, like much better performance, and more features.
Is the Difference Between DDR4 and DDR5 memory Noticeable?
Whenever any new generation comes out, it is nowhere as refined as the previous generation which had enough time in the cooker. DDR5 technology is no exception to that. DDR4 came out in 2014, and it has enjoyed almost over 7 years of refinement. The DDR4 sticks that you can buy today are where the technology peaks. We have crazy high frequencies like 3600MHz kits at crazy low latencies like CL16. And the best part is that they are very affordable. You can get 32GB of RAM in a quad-channel at around 120$ to 130$. And, they will come with sweet RGB that will give you a hundred more frames in games (pun intended).
DDR5 will hardly give one or two more frames in games if you consider that to be a performance test. Synthetic benchmarks scores like AIDA64, Linpack Xtreme, Memtest64 are going to be significantly higher because of the crazy high transfer speeds these things are capable of.
What Makes DDR5 a Bad Idea Now?
DDR5 will not be a bad idea a year or two down the line. But, every PC enthusiast and nerd will not recommend it today. The only reason is terrible pricing. DDR5 pricing is way off of what they are worth, and DDR5 motherboards also cost a fortune. Plus, AMD has still not come up with its DDR5 processors and platform. This seriously limits competition and reduces the choices you have while choosing your motherboard and processor.
Thus, it is best if you hang on to your DDR4 memory kits for some time. 32GB DDR5 memory will cost you over 300$, and the cheapest decent DDR5 motherboards also cost over 200$. This coupled with the cheapest DDR5 processor available today, the Core i5-12400 will cost you over 700$ just for your processor, motherboard, and RAM sticks. This is not value for money at all.
Considering all of the above down points of buying DDR5, it is quite clear what you should do unless you have no budget constraints or are looking to get hold of the latest technology possible, no matter what.
DDR5 Tested: A Practical Experience
We tested some DDR5 memory to find out what the condition was in real life. The kits we tested are Kingston’s Fury Beast sticks, two sticks, 16GB each, clocked at 5200MHz CL40.
These kits are some of the most entry-level DDR5 sticks you can buy today. They have two XMP profiles. Profile 1 supports 5200MHz at CL40, while Profile 2 supports 4800MHz at CL38. These timings are pretty loose, and we will easily see much tighter timings in sticks that are going to come out a few years down the line.
The higher frequency profile gave us more performance, and thus we can confirm that the slight timing benefit isn’t helping in real-world performance.
The OC potential of these sticks was quite respectable, but it was nowhere close to what we have seen with DDR4 sticks of the same caliber. The sticks made to a maximum of 5600MHz at a very loose timing of CL 42-42-42-82-124-2 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC-tCR). This is a respectable offset, provided these are 4800MHz kits. But, it only made it to 400MHz higher than the XMP rating.
The sticks failed a 5866MHz CL42 and that ended up corrupting Windows. So, I didn’t push the kit any further. Also, the kits failed the Linpack Xtreme stress test even at 5333MHz. AIDA64 isn’t as accurate as Linpack as it completely ignores tRCD and tRAS timings. So, ideally, if you want to daily drive these memory sticks, you cannot overclock them.
I hope you have been able to make out why you should DDR5 today unless you have no budget constraints. In the next case, you can choose to be an early adopter. But, as was said by Linus from Linus Tech Tips, “being an early adopter suck.”