Standard DDR5 memory speeds 'will surpass those of overclocked DDR4' when it arrives in 2021
The first consumer DDR5 memory kits will arrive in 2021, presumably just in time for Intel Alder Lake and AMD's Zen 4.
This year will come to a close without any consumer platforms supporting DDR5 memory modules, but next year will likely see at least two of them—Intel's Alder Lake and AMD's Zen 4 architectures. In preparation, Team Group says it has developed consumer-grade DDR5 memory, and claims it is the first to enter the validation phase with key motherboard partners.
They include all the big names, those being ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI. Team Group says it has been working the research and development divisions of each company to validate its DDR5 memory to ensure it works as it should, and tweak the parameters as necessary.
"The successful completion of the validation phase will confirm that the frequencies of standard DDR5 products surpass those of overclocked DDR4 products, and will represent another big step forward in the evolution of computer memory," Team Group says.
Team Group is referring to factory overclocked modules, because if it took into consideration extreme overclocking results obtained with liquid nitrogen cooling, it would have to surpass 7GHz, as an overclocker recently obtained with a kit of Crucial Ballistix DDR4 RAM. That's not in the cards.
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Extreme overclocks aside, DDR5 RAM will bring faster memory speeds in general to PCs, picking up where higher end DDR4 memory kits leave off. More specifically, Team Group is getting the DDR5 party started with a single 16GB DDR5 memory module that runs at 4,800MHz at 1.1V. In a previous release, Team Group suggest it could go as high as 5,200MHz.
"It is expected that consumers will not need to enter BIOS to enable the overclocking function as the DDR5 generation begins. After installing DDR5 memory, consumers can directly boot up their computers and experience the high performance without the overclocking step of DDR4," Team Group says.
Earlier this month, Team Group said its first consumer DDR5 memory product is expected to be available in the third quarter of next year. The company also noted it was coordinating the launch with Intel and AMD, which suggests that both will have DDR5 platforms ready around the same time.