DDR5 vs. DDR4 Gaming Performance

[Susie1818]

Then you'd be absolutely wrong. The typical setting is "auto" on all the brands. It determines the best gear based on memory speed. ASRock does it this way, and so do the other major brands. Also, there is no gear 1 on Raptor lake. It's 2 and 4. They have different "gear ratios" from previous generations.

You didn't get the idea. What I wrote meant that if you select "auto" in the BIOS, it runs Gear 2 mode for DDR4-4000 by default. It is so regardless of brands. You have to manually force Gear 1 mode in the BIOS. The author of this article used DDR4-4000 for the test, so the Gear mode setting matters.

If you have Gear 2 and 4 in the BIOS settings, it means your motherboard is for DDR5, not DDR4.

 

[Susie1818]

I'm not sure what the actual limit is for G1D4 but I think it's 4000MHz for 13th gen i7.

It really depends on luck. Igor's lab did some binning quality test with about 200 i9-13900KS chips and got a result that some could reach DDR4-4400 while some could only reach DDR4-3900 (all Gear 1).

 

[Benzo Fullzo]

This article is word for word a copy of the Hardware Unboxed YouTube video on the same topic:

 

[human7]

640k of RAM ought to be enough for anybody.

 

[ddferrari]

This article is word for word a copy of the Hardware Unboxed YouTube video on the same topic:

Yeah... um, that's because Hardware Unboxed is Techspot's video channel.
The author of this article: Steve Walton
The guy in the video: Steve Walton

 

[ddferrari]

640k of RAM ought to be enough for anybody.

Exactly - along with a 512MB HDD. No home user will ever need more!

 

[Biostud]

For casual gaming DDR4 is very sufficient..

Obviously, but since the price is pretty much the same, why would you miss out on extra performance?

 

[Biostud]

DDR5 looks more like a marketing gimmick imo. Or could be that it's still in early stages. The performance we're seeing now is not worth it imo.

There's no reason not to go DDR5 if you're building new.

 

[LetTheWookieWin]

There's no reason not to go DDR5 if you're building new.

There is if you’re looking at value. My new build (MSI Z790 Tomahawk / 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3600) was $100 cheaper than a DDR5 MSI Z790 Tomahawk MB with 64 GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6400. $100 for a 4-7% average performance uplift is poor value IMO. I think unless you have a specific workload that shows substantial gains, you’re better of putting that $100 towards a better GPU or CPU.

 

[bondflavor]

This is backwards, it takes about 15-20fps to create the illusion of motion to our eyes. Our eyes do not have a frame rate. As we get older, the amount of frames we can perceive drops. Depending on age, the amount of frames we can perceive is between 40 and 90. As a general rule, the frame rate of a display should be twice our perceivable frame rate. At 37 years old I don't get any benefit from anything higher than 100-120 fps so I'm going to make the assumption that I can perceive about 50fps. I had a teenager sit down in front of my PC and he immediately noticed my "low refresh rate" 120hz display but you can put a 120 and 240 next to each other and I can't tell the difference.

With a 75 Hz monitor, I can easily see my mouse cursor skipping when I move it quickly around in a circle. I've never used a higher refresh rate monitor than that, but I'm wondering if there's a point where I simply wouldn't be able to see the skipping anymore. How high of a refresh rate would that need to be? I'm guessing it would need to be over 500 Hz before I wouldn't be able to perceive any skipping anymore.

Of course, in regular gameplay noticeable differences will probably be minimal at much lower frame rates than that, but in the specific case of mouse movement I'm pretty confident I would be able to perceive the frames, so to speak, at very high refresh rates.

 

[bviktor]

A single exclamation is not sufficient for that sentence. Everything is upside down right now in regards to pricing, with many last gen components costing more than current gen. You probably weren't even expecting that when you started planning this article. If DDR4 were to cost 20-30% less than DDR5 then we'd be talking about a more difficult decision.

Economies of scale.

 

[ddferrari]

My 5-year cycle of building an all new rig is probably over. I feel like the last one - with 32GB of DDR4 3200Mhz ram, three Nvme drives, and an eight core chip are going to serve me well for a long time as a gamer and surfer. No video editing or whatnot over here.

I'll keep my gorgeous, monster sized case and rock solid Seasonic PSU for the foreseeable future. This rig has everything I need now. Upgrades (other than GPUs) are becoming diminishing returns.

Got MOST of the new tech, minus the small improvements - in my book...

 

[Biostud]

There is if you’re looking at value. My new build (MSI Z790 Tomahawk / 64GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3600) was $100 cheaper than a DDR5 MSI Z790 Tomahawk MB with 64 GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6400. $100 for a 4-7% average performance uplift is poor value IMO. I think unless you have a specific workload that shows substantial gains, you’re better of putting that $100 towards a better GPU or CPU.

What was the total cost of your build?

 

[LetTheWookieWin]

What was the total cost of your build?

I believe it was around $900, as I reused my PSU and my GPU. That included a 12700K, (Black Friday deal), MB, RAM, liquid cooler, a new case, and a 2TB 990 pro.

I know why you’re asking, and while I think that looking at the percentage of the total build cost is one way to view this, I prefer to evaluate value on a component-by-component basis (I think you spend money more efficiently that way, but that’s my opinion).

With my particular build, I don’t think it matters which way you view it. Going with DDR5 would have represented more than 10% of the total build cost for a 4-7% average uplift. If you look this from the component viewpoint, it’s 72% more for the same 4-7% uplift (factoring in added MB and RAM costs from my prior post). Either way, I was glad to save $100 outright.

 

[Biostud]

I believe it was around $900, as I reused my PSU and my GPU. That included a 12700K, (Black Friday deal), MB, RAM, liquid cooler, a new case, and a 2TB 990 pro.

I know why you’re asking, and while I think that looking at the percentage of the total build cost is one way to view this, I prefer to evaluate value on a component-by-component basis (I think you spend money more efficiently that way, but that’s my opinion).

With my particular build, I don’t think it matters which way you view it. Going with DDR5 would have represented more than 10% of the total build cost for a 4-7% average uplift. If you look this from the component viewpoint, it’s 72% more for the same 4-7% uplift (factoring in added MB and RAM costs from my prior post). Either way, I was glad to save $100 outright.

Excatly, and the good thing about building yourself you can buy what you want, as we are likely to prioritize differently.

 

[veLa]

If all you care about is FPS and price go DDR4. The human eye cannot percieve anything beyond about 60 fps.

You'll find that the human eye cannot perceive anything beyond about 24 fps.

I'm a Broadcast IT Engineer for a TV station and I want you to know that you're both wrong.

 

[Skjorn]

I'm a Broadcast IT Engineer for a TV station and I want you to know that you're both wrong.

They know they made that **** up lol

 

[Biostud]

I'm a Broadcast IT Engineer for a TV station and I want you to know that you're both wrong.

Hopefully they are joking, if not they should go and try to do a fast 360 spin @ 24fps, 60 fps and 120 fps and see if they notice a difference. And beside the difference in smoothness there is also response time to consider.

 

[SilverCider]

Sorry, I can spot the difference between 24 and 30 fps. 30 fps is the limit.

Typing this from behind a 144 Hz display

 

[Skjorn]

Sorry, I can spot the difference between 24 and 30 fps. 30 fps is the limit.

Typing this from behind a 144 Hz display

Lol love it

 

[guillejp]

Yeah... um, that's because Hardware Unboxed is Techspot's video channel.
The author of this article: Steve Walton
The guy in the video: Steve Walton

Wait, what??? Really???

 

[harm9963]

Have 8GB 3600 CL14 Tuned X 4 [Patriot Viper 4000CL16 / or 3600CL14 either one is available in BIOS , 5950X with ASUS DARK HERO DOCS on, similar benchmark , even at 4400CL18 , so 3600CL14 is easy to tuned .