DDR4 Remains a Popular Memory Standard: TechPowerUp Poll

[btarunr]

Back in July, we polled our readers to find out what PC main memory type they are using, with the choices consisting of DDR5, DDR4, and DDR3. Nearly two months into the poll and close to 36,000 responses later, an interesting picture is emerging. DDR4 memory emerged a clear winner, with a simple majority of our readers—58.2% of them—responding that they're using it. The latest DDR5 memory type is a distant second, with close to one-third of the respondents or 32.5% picking it. The old DDR3 memory type attracted an impressive 9.3% of the vote.

There could be many reasons why DDR4 remains the king—the AMD AM4 platform remains current, as AMD continues to release processors for this platform. Intel's LGA1700 platform supports DDR4, and there's a fairly wide selection of DDR4 motherboards for this platform, letting enthusiasts save on memory costs by carrying over their old memory or opting for cheaper memory. DDR5 at 32% isn't too discouraging, considering that the standard has been around just 3 years now, compared to the 9 years of DDR4.



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[user556]

The biggest reason being not having purchased a new PC of late. Still sporting something decent from the prior generations.

Personally, I was mildly considering a Ryzen 9700X until the reviews bombed it. I'll probably hold out another year or two with my existing DDR4 setup.

 

[Prima.Vera]

I'm still rocking a Core 2 Quad 9650 machine with DDR2 that works flawlessly.

 

[Ruru]

I'm pretty sure that most of the DDR4 users are us AM4 users.

 

[The N]

It is quite disappointed to see how DDR5 is not being optimal when XMP is enabled. Probably, CPU is not accepting the OC speeds.

 

[Zareek]

I voted DDR4 because I figured the majority of the machines in my home use DDR4. Yes @Ruru, one those is AM4. I replaced my other AM4 (X370 w/1800x) system with a mini PC earlier this year.

 

[nienorgt]

I wish if you would have separated DDR4 and DDR4 (on Intel systems that supports DDR5) to know how much people decided to stay on DDR4 instead of going with DDR5.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

DDR5 master race

 

[Gucky]

I own a 5800X3D.
The successor 7800X3D is not thaaat much faster with about 25%. Since I also have to purchace a board and RAM to upgrade, it makes it even less desireable.
I really hoped for a 9800X3D that is again 25% faster compared the to previous gen, but it seems like it won't be like that.
This means Zen6 will be my next CPU, if the 9800X3D also fails to deliver.

As for GPUs, they deliver a big performance uplift gen after gen. Big enough to actually upgrade every gen.
Yes GPUs are more expensive, if you can generally sell your current GPU for about 60-70% of its original value after 2 years, if you didn't buy an very expensive version of that model (like a +300-500$ Asus Strix).

 

[phints]

My 4 year old build is still on DDR4 of course (5800X / 32GB DDR4 3600). I sold the 1080 and got a 4070 along with a clean install for Windows 11 last year. Everything running awesome, very little reason to do a full new build yet.

DDR5 will happen, maybe if 9800X3D or 265K compel me to upgrade.

 

[Solid State Brain]

I'm waiting for DDR6 or DDR5 with 256bit or wider bus on consumer motherboards to upgrade.

 

[Macro Device]

I would've upgraded to DDR5 if my DDR4 rig was a hello from 2015 with i7-6700 onboard but 12400F requires no upgrades (WRT my MO) in the foreseeable so I'm about to skip DDR5 altogether.

 

[mtosev]

I have a 4 year old system now. Bought an i9-10900X and 3600mhz ddr4 ram in the summer of 2020.

 

[bonehead123]

They can have my DDR4-3600 when they can pry it from my cold, dead hands

Seriously though, when I see SIGNIFICANT, real world improvements (not just in some synthetic benchmarks) in every aspect of the memory performance, as well as the mobo's & other parts that can take full advantage of said improvements, then & ONLY then will I commit to upgrading, be it to DDR 5, 6 or whatever....

At this point in time, I do NOT see that happening, and it does NOT appear to be forthcoming any time soon

 

[maxfly]

My now lone backup rig is DDR4 (z390)and my main rig was a z790 D4 until just a few days ago. Upgraded to a z790 D5 and DDR5 in anticipation of an upgrade later this year but we shall see.

 

[FranciscoCL]

5800X3D + 32 GB DDR4@3800C16 + 3080Ti here.

I play at 4K, "old" games run fine on my system and with recent games I'm GPU limited, so the logical upgrade is a new GPU. I'm waiting for a RTX 5080.

 

[BSim500]

For me it's far less about DDR5's cost and more that I've just stopped chasing "Generational Upgrades" purely for the sake of it and now only upgrade when I actually need to / when existing rig feels slow. And after losing a lot of interest in AAA games, for the vast majority of older / Indie games I play so far I just haven't needed to move beyond 10th gen.

 

[yfn_ratchet]

It might be interesting to gather data on DDR5 users and what DDR standard their previous rig used. I'm betting a lot of people on DDR3 systems jumped over DDR4 completely, while DDR4 is still 'fast enough' to power any consumer and even prosumer task for those who have it. The performance delta just isn't there like gen-over-gen on NVMe or flagship GPUs, so why spend money completely redoing the foundation, right?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I wonder what the results would be like a year later, next July.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Still using DDR4 in my z690-a asus, it's running fine at 4000C16, and my rig is so stable, have'nt had no reason to change yet. Seems AM5 hasn't done it, maybe intel might tempt me to 1851

 

[EatingDirt]

I own a 5800X3D.
The successor 7800X3D is not thaaat much faster with about 25%. Since I also have to purchace a board and RAM to upgrade, it makes it even less desireable.
I really hoped for a 9800X3D that is again 25% faster compared the to previous gen, but it seems like it won't be like that.
This means Zen6 will be my next CPU, if the 9800X3D also fails to deliver.

As for GPUs, they deliver a big performance uplift gen after gen. Big enough to actually upgrade every gen.
Yes GPUs are more expensive, if you can generally sell your current GPU for about 60-70% of its original value after 2 years, if you didn't buy an very expensive version of that model (like a +300-500$ Asus Strix).

I don't agree that GPU's are good enough to upgrade every gen, but yes, they are typically a higher and more impactful increase than CPU's in 90% of games. I'll personally only upgrade a GPU when I can get 2x the performance for roughly the same price as the GPU I'm upgrading from. That usually means about every other generation.

As a 5800X3D user myself, I'll probably be skipping over AM5 and Intel's next gen because I don't foresee a game within the next few years where I'm going to suffer from sub-60 FPS by the 5800X3D or DDR4.

 

[Ruru]

I voted DDR4 because I figured the majority of the machines in my home use DDR4. Yes @Ruru, one those is AM4. I replaced my other AM4 (X370 w/1800x) system with a mini PC earlier this year.

I'll be replacing my Z170 setup with B450 or something later as I have a spare 2600X lying around. Maybe it has crappier IPC than 6700K, but two extra cores is always a thing.

 

[docnorth]

I wonder what the results would be like a year later, next July.

Vice versa.

I'll be replacing my Z170 setup with B450 or something later as I have a spare 2600X lying around. Maybe it has crappier IPC than 6700K, but two extra cores is always a thing.

I’m afraid you will quickly return to 6700K. Even at stock and with same RAM frequencies the 6700K should be slower but close to 2600X for heavy applications, faster for gaming, snappier for everyday‘s use and more efficient (aah, there was a time where Intel CPUs were more efficient). Of course you might see significant gains in specific applications and then I will be wrong…

 

[[crs]]

I do want to upgrade from the 5800X3D but I really cannot justify it. I mainly play at 1440p and looking at most of the benchmarks there isn't a big enough improvement overall to make the jump.

Unless GPU's improve so much in the next couple of years and show the limitations of older CPU's @1440p and higher I may be stuck on the 5800X3D for the entire lifespan of AM5

 

[Minus Infinity]

I voted DDR4 because I literally can't use DDR5. When I update I'll only be only able to use DDR5.