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Hassam Nasir Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
dmitche31958 I would love to see the ability to use my DDR4 memory in the DDR5 slot. I don’t care about a performance hit as I’m sure that upgrades from my old system to a newer one would compensate that. At least it would minimize the costs today for memory as well as future upgrades. Can you imagine not having to buy all new memory each time you want to move to a newer processor layout? Reply
vanadiel007 dmitche31958 said: I would love to see the ability to use my DDR4 memory in the DDR5 slot. I don’t care about a performance hit as I’m sure that upgrades from my old system to a newer one would compensate that. At least it would minimize the costs today for memory as well as future upgrades. Can you imagine not having to buy all new memory each time you want to move to a newer processor layout? You don't have to imagine. AMD has supported the AM4 platform for multiple generations with DDR4, and they have committed to the same multiple year support with their newer AM5 platform and DDR5. Reply
dmitche31958 vanadiel007 said: You don't have to imagine. AMD has supported the AM4 platform for multiple generations with DDR4, and they have committed to the same multiple year support with their newer AM5 platform and DDR5. I think you missed my point. I have an AM4 platform and I want an AM5 upgrade it would be nice to have a kit of some kind that would allow me to use my DDR4 on MOBOs that only support DDR5. I’ve been a longtime AMD user but I don’t upgrade my system enough thst it matters how long a platform is supported by AMD as by the time I want to upgrade memory factors have changed. Reply
bit_user Rather than what they describe in this article, what would make a lot more sense is to get defective DIMMs and just replace the bad chip. Then, hopefully it gets sold as refurb, not new. Reply
bit_user dmitche31958 said: I would love to see the ability to use my DDR4 memory in the DDR5 slot. Can't work. Sorry. The differences between DDR4 and DDR5 are too fundamental and implemented at the DRAM chip level. So, you'll never be able to use existing DDR4 DIMMs with a CPU that requires DDR5. Furthermore, any sort of glue logic to make DDR4 chips look & act like DDR5 would probably add too much cost and possibly also murder performance. Plus, it's not like DDR4 is that much cheaper. If you're willing to make performance compromises, I'd suggest just starting out with a single DIMM and then add a second when you can afford it. Reply
russell_john Anyone who thinks it's as "easy as sourcing your own memory modules and soldering them on empty PCBs" has absolutely no clue how memory is binned and why there are so many speeds and timings. If you want a CL30 timing then all your individual modules have to be CL30 or better. If one is say CL40 and even though the others are CL32 the best you'll get is CL40. Same thing is true for speeds, they all have to be binned for the same speeds which are actually an overclock and not all chips can hit say 6000. Again just like with timings the slowest module sets the highest speed that can be obtained in the end product. Reply
vanadiel007 dmitche31958 said: I think you missed my point. I have an AM4 platform and I want an AM5 upgrade it would be nice to have a kit of some kind that would allow me to use my DDR4 on MOBOs that only support DDR5. I’ve been a longtime AMD user but I don’t upgrade my system enough thst it matters how long a platform is supported by AMD as by the time I want to upgrade memory factors have changed. I don't think I missed it. If you purchase DDR5 now you are good for multiple years of AMD processor upgrades. AM4 platform is still a good platform for today, but AM5 is more future proof. At some point you will have to upgrade, but this is not a good time due to memory pricing. You can still sell your DDR4 for more than what you paid for it new, and upgrade to DDR5 for a half decent price especially if you get a bundle. Reply
Notton I saw this news on another site and I thought to myself: how absurd. DDR5-SODIMM is not all that much cheaper than DDR5-DIMM. A BGA soldering station is not cheap. You need to knowledge on how to use a BGA soldering station, and some skill. Skilled labor isn't cheap. The only possible use I can see with this is pulling integrated DRAM off of manufactured e-waste, like cheap 8GB chromebooks, 8GB laptops (usually 4x2GB chips), phones, and tablets with soldered on DRAM. And then there is the whole aforementioned binning and timings aspect. DRAM OEMs use a highly sophisticated and expensive machine to do that. Even a large PC repair shop won't have that. Reply
usertests dmitche31958 said: I would love to see the ability to use my DDR4 memory in the DDR5 slot. YouTubers have been showing off DDR5 adapters that take DDR4 SODIMM. Results vary. d32KeZBHVdA Reply
USAFRet usertests said: YouTubers have been showing off DDR5 adapters that take DDR4 SODIMM. Results vary. d32KeZBHVdA DDR5 SODIMM adapter to DDR5 slot, maybe, probably. We've seen similar with previous RAM levels. DDR4 -> DDR5? There is no 'results vary'. Either it provably works or it does not. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ddr5/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ddr5/russian-enthusiasts-are-building-their-own-ddr5-ram-amidst-the-worldwide-shortage-as-easy-as-sourcing-your-own-memory-modules-and-soldering-them-on-empty-pcbs#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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