W00t! DDR5 memory for Alder Lake Review is here

[W1zzard]

and we're going 32 GB this time

 

[bug]

32GB is not necessarily a boon, you're not testing memory intensive stuff and larger DIMMs come with a little higher latency. It's not a bad thing either, very few end-users run bleeding edge latency anyway.

 

[W1zzard]

32GB is not necessarily a boon, you're not testing memory intensive stuff and larger DIMMs come with a little higher latency. It's not a bad thing either, very few end-users run bleeding edge latency anyway.

I felt like it's a good time now to make the switch from 16 to 32

 

[qubit]

I've had 16GB in my rig since 2011, so 32GB after a decade is reasonable.

 

[Vayra86]

I felt like it's a good time now to make the switch from 16 to 32

Yeah, timing seems logical. DDR3 = mainstream 8, DDR4 = mainstream 16, DDR5 = mainstream 32.

Its a good thing the review bench system is ahead of the curve just a little bit.

 

[cst1992]

I've had 16 in 2016 and upgraded to 32 last year. Seemed like a waste apart from running RAMDisks.

Then again, I wanted to populate all slots in my motherboard with DDR3 DIMMs before they disappeared completely.

Yeah, timing seems logical. DDR3 = mainstream 8, DDR4 = mainstream 16, DDR5 = mainstream 32.

Maybe, or maybe not. Reviewers are still recommending 16GB is enough for gaming.
We're doubling the capacity each iteration, so maybe 16 will last a bit longer, 32 longer still.

 

[Vayra86]

I've had 16 in 2016 and upgraded to 32 last year. Seemed like a waste apart from running RAMDisks.

Then again, I wanted to populate all slots in my motherboard with DDR3 DIMMs before they disappeared completely.


Maybe, or maybe not. Reviewers are still recommending 16GB is enough for gaming.
We're doubling the capacity each iteration, so maybe 16 will last a bit longer, 32 longer still.

Yes, but the primary use case for the newest and hottest CPUs, especially with a focus on increased thread count, is not specifically gaming.

Its any high performance task, and gaming is really not one of them for a CPU. Its GPU intensive, and if the CPU/RAM is sufficient, more won't get you anywhere faster. New APIs have lifted the burden on single thread, too.

What's more, the general trend is MSDT CPU range is moving into HEDT territory since the release of Zen. The primary bottleneck for high performance on a CPU is in fact the throughput and capacity of RAM; HEDT traditionally offers quad channel, which MSDT will never get, so DDR5 is the stepping stone for MSDT to actually make use of more RAM and leverage the extra threads better.

*MSDT: Mainstream Desktop

 

[cst1992]

Its GPU intensive, and if the CPU/RAM is sufficient, more (RAM) won't get you anywhere faster.

True.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
This should be fun

 

[outpt]

I felt like it's a good time now to make the switch from 16 to 32

welcome to the modern times!

 

[Valantar]

Yes, but the primary use case for the newest and hottest CPUs, especially with a focus on increased thread count, is not specifically gaming.

Its any high performance task, and gaming is really not one of them for a CPU. Its GPU intensive, and if the CPU/RAM is sufficient, more won't get you anywhere faster. New APIs have lifted the burden on single thread, too.

What's more, the general trend is MSDT CPU range is moving into HEDT territory since the release of Zen. The primary bottleneck for high performance on a CPU is in fact the throughput and capacity of RAM; HEDT traditionally offers quad channel, which MSDT will never get, so DDR5 is the stepping stone for MSDT to actually make use of more RAM and leverage the extra threads better.

*MSDT: Mainstream Desktop

I think upgrading to 32GB makes sense; not because it's necessary for gaming, but because it's becoming more common and is arguably more future proof, plus many daily productivity uses can exceed 16GB unless you're a stringent single tasker. After upgrading to 32GB I regularly see my system exceed 16GB in games, but that is with 2-3 launchers in the background, a browser with 20+ tabs, and likely discord, Spotify, and some other background apps. With that being said, it doesn't move much past 16GB outside of memory heavy uses like Lightroom - I've frequently seen that hit the mid-20s, if not higher. Panorama stitching from 10+ 24MP Raw files from my DSLR can eat whatever RAM is free and then some.

 

[Ruru]

Love that they still have the same sticker since DDR3 days

 

[Bomby569]

Even for gaming in certain cases 16Gb is not enough, i upgraded to 32gb because of anno 1800.

 

[R0H1T]

plus many daily productivity uses can exceed 16GB unless you're a stringent single tasker.

Do you still have 100s of tabs open in Chrome

 

[Valantar]

Do you still have 100s of tabs open in Chrome

Nope. I use Firefox, and typically have three windows open, of which one is frequently used with the two others being things I check periodically, totalling somewhere between 20 and 30 tabs. But also often a few Word documents, Outlook, Teams, a PDF or three, plus all the aforementioned background apps. I don't typically exceed 16GB, but it certainly isn't unheard of.

 

[Dristun]

I find 32GB useful. Warzone + a few dozen tabs in Firefox + telegram, itunes, discord and whatever other stuff I have running in the background does not fit in 16 for example. One thing I wish for is something beefier than R5-3600 because there are now games where it becomes the barrier to leaving everything open instead of ram.
Another case is having loads of sample libraries loaded in a DAW with something else running - very easy to overshoot 16 gigs.

 

[Ruru]

I find 32GB useful. Warzone + a few dozen tabs in Firefox + telegram, itunes, discord and whatever other stuff I have running in the background does not fit in 16 for example. One thing I wish for is something beefier than R5-3600 because there are now games where it becomes the barrier to leaving everything open instead of ram.
Another case is having loads of sample libraries loaded in a DAW with something else running - very easy to overshoot 16 gigs.

I just upgraded just to futureproof. I had 16GB for a long time and it was enough, but I'll probably stick with AM4 for few years so why not. 32GB is hella fine.

 

[bug]

I felt like it's a good time now to make the switch from 16 to 32

Well yeah. I wasn't trying to suggest you should stay on 4GB just to get the best latency
I went 32GB a few years ago (found a good price), but a few years down the road 32GB will be pretty much the norm.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

That's exciting! I can almost hear the enthusiasm through the post.

 

[Wirko]

The box and labels don't have "ECC" written on them, so is this non-ECC memory?

 

[Shou Miko]

The box and labels don't have "ECC" written on them, so is this non-ECC memory?

DDR5 should have some built in ECC as default, Linus from LinusTechTips talked about the same kit.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Even for gaming in certain cases 16Gb is not enough, i upgraded to 32gb because of anno 1800.

Yup, I had hitching in some games with 16gb, traced it back to RAM. It's not a game changer exactly but it got rid of some occasional slowdowns. Only thing is more ram = less likely to be able to OC it.

 

[bug]

Even for gaming in certain cases 16Gb is not enough, i upgraded to 32gb because of anno 1800.

Yeah, especially since 16Gb = 2GB. You can barely boot Windows with that.

 

[Valantar]

The box and labels don't have "ECC" written on them, so is this non-ECC memory?

DDR5 should have some built in ECC as default, Linus from LinusTechTips talked about the same kit.

As someone else very helpfully taught me here on the forum (sorry, I can't remember who it was, might have been @TheLostSwede?), DDR5 on-die ECC is at best partial ECC, and does not provide the same type of data integrity protection as regular DRAM ECC. On-die ECC means there is ECC for data as long as it is stored on the DRAM chip itself, but there is no ECC for in-flight data, where it is more vulnerable to interference and bit flips. It's still better than nothing, but it's not that big of a deal. Anything that warrants ECC (where data integrity is really important) still needs full ECC DIMMs.

 

[TheLostSwede]

DDR5 should have some built in ECC as default, Linus from LinusTechTips talked about the same kit.

Please watch this video. It's not the kind of ECC most people are thinking of when ECC is mentioned.