Internal AMD roadmap shows DDR5 and native USB 4.0 support arriving in 2022

[midian182]

Forward-looking: Eagerly awaiting the day when DDR5 RAM goes mainstream? According to what is reportedly a leaked internal company roadmap, AMD will be introducing support for the next-generation memory in 2022.

Gamers Nexus writes that it received an AMD roadmap from an insider that it previously verified. It shows that DDR5 support will arrive in 2022 alongside AMD’s latest CPUs and APUs, with the former likely to be based on Zen 4, while the latter is listed as Zen3+ parts. Additionally, AMD is introducing a low-power version of DDR5 for its laptops in the same year.

Another AMD roadmap from last month showed the company's Zen 4 EPYC Genoa processors available by the end of 2022. These use the 5nm process node, which will likely also be used for the Zen 4-based consumer CPUs when they arrive, presumably in the same year.

The latest roadmap also shows that the 2022 platform will introduce native USB 4.0 support and retain PCIe 4.0, so don’t expect to see PCIe 5.0 for quite a few years yet. While all that sounds promising, it's worth remembering that internal roadmaps can change drastically and are sometimes just used as estimates.

DDR5 is already used in Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series, and it’ll likely appear in plenty more handsets in the future.

SK Hynix recently published a post outlining the advantages of DDR5 over its predecessor, such as reduced power consumption, more reliability, and faster speeds. It can reach 8400 MT/s, giving it a per-channel theoretical bandwidth of 67.2 GB/s, outpacing DDR4’s rated maximum of 25.6 GB/s. A typical dual-channel configuration will offer 134 GB/s, Quad-channel 267 GB/s, and octa-channel 538 GB/s.

	DDR5	DDR4
Frequency*	3200 → 8400	1600 → 3200
Density	2 Gb → 16 Gb	8 Gb → 64 Gb
Operating Voltage	1.1 V	1.2 V
Peak-to-Peak Voltage	1.8 V	2.5 V
Burst Length	16	8
Bank Groups	8	4
Banks (Total)	32	16
Prefetch Length	16n	8n

SK Hynix added that it is starting mass-production of its DDR5 memory chip this year, joining Micron, which announced at CES that it had begun sampling DDR5 registered RDIMMs with industry partners, and Samsung, which will start mass-production of DDR5 modules in 2021.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/85011-internal-amd-roadmap-shows-ddr5-native-usb-40.html

 

[Pastuch]

Hmmm was going to upgrade to Zen 3 from zen 2 but now I’m thinking Zen 4 with ddr 5 and new motherboard instead

 

[QuantumPhysics]

"reduced power consumption, more reliability, and faster speeds."

What more could I possibly want?

It may be a few years before I consider buying a new computer since I already have a good one and the bar hasn't been raised lately - with new release games seemingly demanding less and less.

I do look forward to DDR5 and an RTX 4080Ti.

 

[pingpongmury]

The info for the density for each specification in the table are flipped. Just a heads-up!
https://news.skhynix.com/why-ddr5-is-the-industrys-powerful-next-gen-memory/

EDIT:
The same is true here: https://www.techspot.com/news/84700-sk-hynix-getting-ready-make-ddr5-8400-memory.html

 

[Puiu]

Hmmm was going to upgrade to Zen 3 from zen 2 but now I’m thinking Zen 4 with ddr 5 and new motherboard instead

You will be waiting for at least 2 years for that upgrade. I would just go with Zen3 and then wait for Zen5 which should fix most issues a new platform+socket has.

 

[theruck]

And 1st generation DDR DRAM on the article picture... come on!

 

[Irata]

That would be early 2022, right ?

 

[ShagnWagn]

I have a 6700K with a 980 GTX (that I bought right before the 1080's came out ) while gaming at 1080p. I guess I will be waiting until DDR5 is mainstream before the next upgrade. Never thought it would be 7 years between gaming rig upgrades! Hopefully hardware prices are reasonable and video cards are worth their performance unlike today. Then I will make the jump to 4K!

 

[Danny101]

I generally regard memory as a linchpin signal for platform upgrade. The last one, DDR4 dropped in 2014 and that would be 8 years on that platform. It's difficult to say when to jump in: in the beginning or wait until the tail-in mid-generational EOL of the platform. What say you?

 

[yeeeeman]

Intel already has lpddr5 planned for tigerlake this summer. ddr5 with sapphire rapids, server part in 2021. As for desktop parts, probably MTL in 2022 will get ddr5.

 

[jpuroila]

I generally regard memory as a linchpin signal for platform upgrade. The last one, DDR4 dropped in 2014 and that would be 8 years on that platform. It's difficult to say when to jump in: in the beginning or wait until the tail-in mid-generational EOL of the platform. What say you?

I would say avoid jumping in right away. First gen memory controllers(and the memory itself) typically aren't that great.

 

[neeyik]

I would say avoid jumping in right away. First gen memory controllers(and the memory itself) typically aren't that great.

The controllers are part of the CPU so that aspect is out of the hands of the memory manufacturers, but you're right about the modules themselves - first releases are always released with conservative timings, until the fabrication process and yields have improved.

And 1st generation DDR DRAM on the article picture... come on!

Happy now?

 

[CBTex]

Wasn't previously it was thought that DDR 5 was going to show up in 2021? With Zen 4?

I think this means we will see Zen 3 in 2020 and Zen 3+ in 2021. It's been confirmed that Zen 3 will use existing AM4 socket and be compatible with existing x570 motherboards. If there is a Zen 3+, it will be interesting to see if it is compatible with x570 as well. Changing from DDR 4 to DDR 5 is going to require a new socket. Doesn't seem like AMD would release a new socket for just Zen3+.

The AM4 has had a terrific life span.

 

[ShagnWagn]

I generally regard memory as a linchpin signal for platform upgrade. The last one, DDR4 dropped in 2014 and that would be 8 years on that platform. It's difficult to say when to jump in: in the beginning or wait until the tail-in mid-generational EOL of the platform. What say you?

From the numerous reports and articles I've read, along with personal experience, overclocking memory has a negligible effect on performance. Going to an entirely new platform would have a dramatic effect (well, except prior to current gen, lol), it is from components outside of memory. Can you provide articles with data to the contrary? I have heard that overclocking memory against AMD chips might help a bit more than on intel?

 

[Danny101]

From the numerous reports and articles I've read, along with personal experience, overclocking memory has a negligible effect on performance. Going to an entirely new platform would have a dramatic effect (well, except prior to current gen, lol), it is from components outside of memory. Can you provide articles with data to the contrary? I have heard that overclocking memory against AMD chips might help a bit more than on intel?

Just something I try to key in on as a marker. If the CPU is the engine, then the memory would be the drivetrain. The CPU get many upgrades during the life of the platform, but the memory not so much. I've tried over clocking on a few occasions and it's only ever made a negligible difference for me. Can't escape the obvious for too long...the equipment is underpowered for the software I'm trying to run.

 

[Bp968]

"reduced power consumption, more reliability, and faster speeds."

What more could I possibly want?

It may be a few years before I consider buying a new computer since I already have a good one and the bar hasn't been raised lately - with new release games seemingly demanding less and less.

I do look forward to DDR5 and an RTX 4080Ti.

Expect that bar to jump significantly with the release of the new consoles.

Also it depends on where you place the bar. Are you playing at 2k-4k resolution at 120fps or greater? Than a faster GPU absolutely would help. Same with VR gaming. I run a 1080ti and while it still handles everything fine at 2K and 90+ FPS for most games thats without RT in games and its borderline with modern VR titles. The next step up is a 2080ti at 1200$+ which is just silly, so AMDs RDNA2 and Ampere better push 2080ti performance down closer to 500-600$ or we will be doomed to another cycle of very little gain.

 

[jpuroila]

The controllers are part of the CPU so that aspect is out of the hands of the memory manufacturers, but you're right about the modules themselves - first releases are always released with conservative timings, until the fabrication process and yields have improved.

Right, but both are part of the equation you should consider when upgrading. If you jump into the newest platform right when DDR5 becomes the standard, you're not going to get the most out of the new standard.

 

[Bp968]

Right, but both are part of the equation you should consider when upgrading. If you jump into the newest platform right when DDR5 becomes the standard, you're not going to get the most out of the new standard.

True. I've always tried to find a comfortable price/perfomance standard for myself. Its why it feels weird to own a 1080ti. I only own it due to weird bits of timing around the price of bitcoin and the price of video cards (I got the card when they were "cheap" and bitcoins were expensive and mined its value in 2 months on a second PC).

Normally I would only have bought a 70 class card (970, 1070, etc). 300-350 was usually my max for a video card. Of course the disadvantage of that is 400-500 is *still* my max so turing was a bust, and we will see with Ampere, but its likely the 4xxx series will be when I upgrade. Mainly because the 3070 class card might match my 1080ti but I'd need a 3080 or 3080ti for a real upgrade, so 600-1000$ most likely. But the 4070 will be a real upgrade for my card.

Look, I'm complaining I don't need to upgrade my video card for 2-3 generations. That's some serious privilege there.. lol

 

[Bamda]

I have a 6700K with a 980 GTX (that I bought right before the 1080's came out ) while gaming at 1080p. I guess I will be waiting until DDR5 is mainstream before the next upgrade. Never thought it would be 7 years between gaming rig upgrades! Hopefully hardware prices are reasonable and video cards are worth their performance unlike today. Then I will make the jump to 4K!

I am rocking a 2600k with a 1080 Ti and I can play anything I want. Though I will say that Multitasking is taking more of a hit when I have a LOT open.

 

[KodiakShadows]

You will be waiting for at least 2 years for that upgrade. I would just go with Zen3 and then wait for Zen5 which should fix most issues a new platform+socket has.

Exactly, I am going to jump from an AMD FX 8320 to a Ryzen 9, prices will fall and wait for Zen 5 when everything is more mature