MEMORY MAKER

The tail end of 2021 saw DDR5 make its debut. Sadly, component shortages left DDR5 as little more than a footnote in the market for all but the ultra-enthusiasts. At least you could buy DDR4 supporting Z690 boards, which probably saved Intel from a rather embarrassing launch. DDR5 availability is improving though it will remain low in volume compared to DDR4 in 2022. 2021 saw DDR4 memory reach its final state of maturity. The pricing of 2x8GB DDR4-3200 memory kits dropped to their lowest ever levels, and were mostly oblivious to semiconductor supply shortages. So much so that slower kits are hardly any cheaper. Even DDR4-3600 doesn’t carry much of a price premium and 3600MHz low latency memory is regarded as an excellent sweet spot for all Intel and AMD DDR4 systems. We also saw the release of some very fast kits up to and even over DDR4-5000. These kits are aimed at overclockers, and their huge expense and tiny, if not non-existent performance gains makes them irrelevant for most users. Nevertheless, such speeds are an impressive illustration of just how far DDR4 progressed in the years since its launch in 2014.