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Alongside Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake CPU launch (rumoured to be within the next few weeks) users will also see the arrival of a new 600-series motherboard series and DDR5 memory modules. That’s right, after years of waiting, users might actually be able to get their hands on some DDR5 RAM. However, with memory manufacturers reporting large premiums on DDR5 kits, you might want to hang fire before diving in.
DDR5 memory modules will see a 60% price increase over DDR4 – at least
While many of the rumours surrounding the next-Gen memory platform have been positive, pricing doesn’t seem to be one of them. DDR5 is set to out-perform last-Gen’s DDR4, offering up almost double the performance of its predecessor while running at much lower voltages.
Despite this sounding great, users are likely to see a 60% price increase when purchasing DDR5 memory modules. Additionally, with the current shortage in chips, we’ll likely see that number increase even further over the coming months.
Many enthusiasts feel this is one of the main reasons why motherboard manufacturers are releasing DDR4 & DDR5 variants – allowing users to hand-select which one they’d like to utilize.
MSI’s Sara Lin had this to say on the matter:
“Historically, newer memory technology has always commanded close to a 30-40% premium over the previous generation. However, this time, DDR5 includes additional components that have driven the costs up further. As a result, we expect a 50-60% price premium compared to DDR4 at launch.
It typically takes around 2 years to reach price parity with previous generations, and we expect trends to remain similar with DDR5 modules as well.”
More worrying for fans of the DDR5 platform is just how long it’ll take for prices to come back down to earth. MSI say that 2 years is a realistic timeframe for price parity, meaning we’ll likely have to wait for 2023 to get our hands on some reasonably-priced DDR5 memory modules.
DDR5 initial benchmarks released
Alongside a slew of unveilings over the last couple of weeks, we’re now seeing initial benchmarking results hit from the manufacturers themselves. GALAX has published some preliminary benchmarks for their GAMER RGB DDR5 memory kits, showcasing read/write/copy/latency speeds.
According to the source, the benchmarks were recorded using a Z690 motherboard, 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU, and DDR5-4800 RAM (36-36-36-76) DIMMs with 16GB x 2 capacities in gear 2 mode. As you can see from the benchmark above, the DDR5-4800 kit scored 69365/68413/65646 MBps in read/write/copy metrics and offered a 86.3 ns latency. The latency in this example does seem quite high, however, that’s to be expected at this early stage. Binned DIMMs will enter the market in the following months reducing that number over time.
