{"id":13860,"date":"2025-01-13T17:05:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13860"},"modified":"2025-01-13T17:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:05:48","slug":"ddr4-vs-ddr5-ram-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13860","title":{"rendered":"DDR4 vs. DDR5 RAM: What's the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Overclocking has improved as well, with Intel updating XMP (eXtreme Memory Profile) to 3.0 for DDR5. Where XMP 2.0 supported just two profiles, the newest version boasts five. Three are set by the memory manufacturer, with two more for you to tweak and edit your own settings. Intel hosts spreadsheets with settings from common manufacturers<\/a> if you\u2019re curious what those profiles look like.<\/p>\n

You may have noticed that, despite overall higher clock speeds, the latency on DDR5 memory is a bit slower than DDR4. That doesn\u2019t tell the whole story though, and as memory manufacturer Corsair explains<\/a>, \u201cDDR4 usually has a CAS latency of 16, while DDR5 will have a CAS latency of at least 32. However, because of its faster clock speeds, the newer standard has better performance overall.\u201d In other words, it takes more cycles to complete a task, but those cycles are much faster than before.<\/p>\n

The Real Nerdy Stuff<\/h2>\n

There are a few other changes to the standard for DDR5 that don\u2019t really impact which sticks you slot in your particular PC.<\/p>\n

DDR5 memory should use less power overall than DDR4, although not in a way that will let you get away with a smaller power supply. Instead, it gives manufacturers and overclockers more voltage headroom to push for even higher speeds. Each stick of DDR5 memory has its own power management chip now too, rather than the motherboard handling power distribution. Again, probably not something that will matter to most people, but it should result in a more consistent experience when using XMP profiles.<\/p>\n

You also get increased bandwidth thanks to a big change to the basic architecture of a memory DIMM. Where each DDR4 module relied on a single 64-bit channel, DDR5 has two 32-bit channels. When combined with the increased speed and efficiency, memory manufacturer Crucial says<\/a> \u201cusers can get up to 2X the system bandwidth compared to DDR4 for next-gen, multi-core CPUs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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