Intel is placing itself at the forefront of the industry with the release of its brand-new 13th Gen processor. Raptor Lake is promising more speed, more power, and overall improvements in gaming experiences. These many changes come with better compatibility, and peak performance can’t happen without great RAM compatibility, making DDR5 an important centerpiece in the realm of Intel’s new components.
In the hunt for better performance, Intel has increased its DDR5 support to 5600, compared with the previous 4800 for its Alder Lake predecessor. Now that these new RAM memory prices have stabilized somewhat, this boost looks like a smart decision from Intel.
In addition to this change, the chipmaker also decided to keep DDR4 support up to 3200. This is important, given that AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series has ditched its DDR4 support.
Is DDR5 worth it for gaming?
RAM technology tends to gradually be upgraded over time. It’s not every day that consumers see huge technological leaps in such components. And although this case isn’t different, the new RAM technology outperforms DDR4 thanks to superior bandwidth and energy efficiency.
DDR5 RAM shows major increases in gaming performance. This is mainly due to the improved architecture, as the new RAM has double the channels available for efficiency improvements. Along with these changes, the new RAM technology is capable of supporting more memory than ever before. DDR4 could only support up to 32GB, while DDR5 can go up to a whopping 512GB of RAM.
All of these changes in memory technology are not just gaming-focused. The upgrades in RAM capabilities show a wide range of effects in varied workloads. You’ll be able to see an incredible upgrade in other high-demanding tasks such as 3D rendering, machine learning, and more.
Is DDR5 future-proof?
DDR4 has been around since 2014. It’s been eight years and we’re still seeing new tech supporting it, such as Intel’s Raptor Lake processors.
DDR5 is the expected improvement in RAM architecture and, eventually, all motherboards will only support DDR5. The way that this new RAM technology has been built, with an improved number of available channels, makes it very clear that DDR5 is future-proof. In the next several years, as RAM continues to be upgraded, having a rig ready for this new form is a smart decision.
