DDR5 RAM is coming. So if you've been thinking about building a new PC anytime soon, you're going
to have to make a decision. Should you wait and hold out for DDR5 or just go with DDR4? And you
will have to decide because they are not backwards compatible. So in this video, I'm going to try and
give you all the information you possibly need about making the decision, including what's the
differences between DDR5 and DDR4, of course, and when you can expect DDR5 to come out. So
let's get into all the major differences between DDR5 and DDR4. The first difference is memory
bandwidth. This is basically how fast data can be retrieved from or put on to the memory stick. It's
kind of a big deal. Now with the maximum standard specifications, DDR4 has a maximum bandwidth of up
to 3.2 gigabits per second, per pin. With DDR5, though, the maximum spec has up to 6.4 gigabits
per second per pin, although at first it'll probably be around 4.8 gigabits per second.
So it's still a 50% increase, much better. But eventually as RAM improves, it'll get up to 6.4,
double this bandwidth. Now I mentioned the bandwidth per-pin. DDR4 and DDR5 have the same
number of data pins, so that's not going to make a difference here. However, the frequency of the
memory is going to make a major difference, that's the reason for the difference in memory bandwidth
between the two. The standard DDR4 spec has a frequency range of between 1600 megahertz and
3,200 megahertz, whereas the DDR5 spec is double that, between 3,200 megahertz and 6,400 megahertz.
But the eventual maximum number will probably be even higher than that. I mean, even with DDR4, the
maximum spec is just up to 3,200 megahertz. But you may see if you go on Newegg or something like
that, you can see RAM up to about 5,000 megahertz right now, that's probably down to overclocking.
So technically 3.2 gigahertz is the max standard spec for DDR4,
but of course it is higher. So we'll probably see much higher than the 6.4 per pin on DDR5. In fact,
I've seen talk of about up to 8,400 megahertz for DDR5. But the main takeaway from all this
is DDR5 will be capable of higher frequencies, and therefore higher memory bandwidth overall.
All right, the next difference between DDR4 and DDR5 is the power management structure.
So with DDR4, all the power management of the RAM slot is going to be done on
the motherboard itself. Whereas on DDR5, it's going to have an actual chip called a PMIC,
"power management integrated circuit", on the chip itself. Each individual chip
will be able to manage its own individual power. So theoretically, this should mean
that the RAM is going to be more power efficient, because for example, I guess if a individual RAM
DIMM module requires more power at a certain moment, it will be able to get that power without
having to increase the power to all the RAM at once, at least that is my understanding of it.
And also I'm not 100% sure how this will affect overclocking RAM. You can do that right now
through your BIOS on your motherboard. Not sure if you'll won't be able to do that
or you will, we'll have to see. The next major difference between the two generations
is the channel architecture. Now you may know that you can get dual channel RAM,
quad channel RAM with different slots in the motherboard. This basically just makes it so
the CPU can go out and access different pieces of data within each channel,
whereas if there's just one channel, the CPU can basically only get one piece of data at a
time. It's kind of like having multiple cores in the CPU. You can do multiple stuff at once,
as opposed to just one at a time. Now each DDR4 module has just one channel per stick,
and it's made up of 72 bits total, that's 64 data bits, and then 8 bits for error correcting.
With DDR5, however, each RAM modular stick has two channels. Each of those channels is a 40 bit bus,
meaning it's going to have 32 bits of data pins and then 8 for error correcting pins. So
effectively it's the same amount of data pins between DDR4 and DDR5 on each stick. It's 64
for both. However, with DDR5, you're going to have two channels instead of just one. Now,
like I said, DDR4 already does support multiple channels. However, with DDR5, you can have two
channels on each individual stick, which means if there's two different pieces of data, one in each
channel that the CPU wants to access in different parts, it can do both of those without having to
wait for one or the other. So each individual RAM stick should be a lot more efficient,
and I assume this means we're going to be able to get a lot more potential channels in DDR5.
Alright now the next big difference between DDR5 and 4 is the so-called burst length. This
one is going to be a little bit technical, but I will try and explain it as best I can,
as simply as I can, because it is pretty important. So DDR4 has a burst length of 8,
whereas DDR5 has a burst length of 16. What does that mean? This did take a little bit
of research on my part. I'm not a super expert on this obviously. I could be a little bit off
in some parts, but this is my understanding. Hopefully it should be helpful. So if you were
to zoom all the way into the stick of RAM, you would see that the data is stored in arrays,
which are just groups of rows and columns with each combination of the two having a
bit. When a certain piece of data in the form of a bit needs to be retrieved from the RAM,
the RAM will first activate a row, which basically prepares it to be read.
After a certain row is activated or opened, then one bit from each row can be read from all the
arrays simultaneously. And then all of that data gets put into the output buffer to be sent to the
CPU or whatever. However, this process of opening and activating a row is actually relatively slow.
So if you've ever looked at RAM timings, the T_RCD is actually how long it takes to open a
row. You've seen that number before. And if there's a different row already open,
it's going to take even longer because that row must be closed first, and that amount of time
is the T_RP. So instead of doing this every single time you have to read one single bit,
what the RAM can do is, because that row is already activated for a short amount of time,
it can actually go ahead and read multiple columns within that row back to back.
So if there's more data in that row that needs to be read, it's going to be way faster, way more
efficient. And the maximum number of bits the RAM can read from a row while it's open before needing
to reopen it is called the "burst length", because it takes a burst of data at once instead of just
getting each bit one at a time. So basically, while DDR5 is going to likely have very similar
timings and latency numbers as DDR4, because it's going to have a longer burst length in this case,
it means that in more situations, it will be able to read more data without having to have those
delays happen as frequently, meaning that overall it's just going to be able to access faster speed.
All right. Now the final, big difference between DDR4 and 5 is the maximum capacity. This is a
pretty fun one, because DDR5 has up to four times the maximum density of data as DDR4. Specifically,
DDR4 has up to 16 gigabits of data per die, which is each individual little memory chip.
However, RAM manufacturers can actually put multiple of these dies on each side of the
RAM stick. So this is called stacking. Typically they can put about eight of
these on each side and then they can do it on both sides. This is called "dual rank".
When you multiply all these together, you get a grand total of 256 gigabits, which is
32 gigabytes as the maximum amount of RAM you're going to be able to fit on one stick of RAM for
DDR4. And that is probably consistent with what you'd see if you tried to go out and buy
a big stick of RAM. However, with DDR5, you can have up to 64 gigabits of data per die. So again,
when you multiply all that out, 64 gigabits times eight on each side, times two sides,
and then you convert to gigabytes, you get 128 gigabytes maximum per stick.
However, keep in mind, it's going to take time for the manufacturing process
to build up to that maximum density. So at first, when DDR5 first comes out,
you're probably going to still see a maximum individual stick at about 32 gigabytes and then
it'll grow over time. All right. So now that you know the differences between the two generations,
you might be wondering, "well, when can I actually get this? I'm sold, I want to get it right now."
Well, hold on there. Before we jump into making that decision, though,
I do want to thank the sponsor of this video, Private Internet Access. Private Internet Access
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be sure to check that link right in the description. And so having said all that,
let's continue. Right now you already do see DDR5. It exists. But right now you can basically only
see it in high-end smartphones. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S20. Samsung makes their own RAM,
and so they can integrate it into their phones really easily. They're making the chips too.
Now RAM that's for actual computers and servers, that's probably not going to be expected to roll
out until around 2021. But just because RAM manufacturers start making DDR5 RAM
doesn't mean you're going to actually necessarily be able to use it in your PC.
And that's because we need to wait for AMD and Intel to actually make CPU's, and chipsets and
motherboards that actually will support DDR5. With AMD, some leaked internal memos reportedly
suggests that they are planning to support DDR5 and USB 4.0 in 2022. And that's apparently when
their next-gen Zen 4 micro architecture is released, and that is kind of a long ways off,
because as of making this video, their Zen 3 architecture just came out. With Intel,
some reported leaks showed that it's likely that their 12th generation Alder Lake code name CPU's
will support DDR5. But again, this could take a while, because even their 11th gen Rocket Lake
CPU's are not even out yet. So it's possible that the Alder Lake will be around the second half of
2021. So looking at all this, it seems like the earliest you could possibly get a DDR5 computer
is around the end of 2021. And that's only if Alder Lake from Intel comes out by then. But
if they don't and it's a little bit later, it'll probably come around the same time as AMD in 2022.
So it's now decision time. If you've been thinking about getting a new PC, should you wait for DDR5
or not? Well, there's a few things you need to consider. First of all, when DDR5 first comes out,
the difference between DDR4 and DDR5 is not going to be as big. That's because RAM manufacturers
get better at producing better RAM over time. I mean, DDR4 right now is way better than it
used to be when it first came out. Yes, DDR5 will still be significantly better than DDR4,
but the price will be much more expensive at first with a smaller difference then down the line
where DDR5 becomes more affordable and actually improves. The next thing you need to consider
is how often you intend to upgrade to a new PC. If you're like me, then I prefer to just go all out,
get the best specs, get everything, and then keep it for a very long time.
My computer right now is about five years old, which for a computer is pretty darn old. But over
time I do upgrade a little bit of the components inside, like the GPU, I'll upgrade some of the
RAM when better stuff comes out and that sort of thing. So I would probably personally prefer to
get something that's more future-proof that I can upgrade for longer. And if I built a DDR4
computer, well, DDR4 is probably getting close to as good as it's going to get at this point.
Not much going to be able to be upgraded down the line. Whereas DDR5, it's going to improve. The
third big thing you need to consider is how badly you want or need to upgrade your computer right
now. If you have been planning and really want to build a computer right at this moment, you're
probably fine doing just that. DDR5 is at least a year out from the making of this video, and it's
going to be even longer before it really comes down in price and reaches its full potential.
On the other hand, if you're someone who has been thinking,
"eh, I kind of want to upgrade my computer eventually, maybe sometime in the next year",
in my opinion, it would be better for you to just wait. You can use all that extra time to
potentially budget and save up a bunch more money, and then buy a bigger and better one anyway when
you are ready to get it. For me personally, I am probably just going to wait for DDR5.
I did say that my computer is getting pretty old. It does struggle sometimes. However,
I would much more value just having a computer that I can upgrade for a very, very long time
and continue using for that long. But that's also because I do use my computer for very heavy tasks
as a workstation, like video editing. So I tend to buy the, again, the highest end components,
the most powerful stuff. It's pretty expensive. I don't want to be doing that very often.
For most people though, the difference between DDR4 and DDR5 is not even going to necessarily
be very noticeable. Even if you're a gamer, most of the time the bottleneck is going to
be in the CPU and the GPU. The RAM is probably not going to be the bottleneck
on your computer, so it's not going to really make a difference. It's probably better for you to just
get a good GPU, good CPU and decent RAM. And if you can get cheaper DDR4 RAM that's really good,
then that'll give you more money to put on other components. So with all that information,
hopefully now you can make a better decision on whether you want to wait for a new computer
or get one now if you've been thinking about it. Again, I want to thank Private Internet
Access for sponsoring this video. Be sure to go to privateinternetaccess.com/thiojoe,
link's also in the description, so you can get that heavily discounted deal.
If you guys want to keep watching, the next video I'd recommend is one where
I went over a bunch of different tips that you should be doing for computer maintenance
every single month to keep your computer running much longer, so you can keep it much longer,
like I do. So I'll put that link right here. You can just click on that.
So thanks so much for watching, guys, and I'll see you in the next video.