Let's start with the system performance. We all know that game updates can toss surprising results. And based on Crucial's claims, their DDR5 4800 RAM is considered as an excellent option for gaming.
Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-4800MHz
It's not that much of an overclocking kit but if you don't mind upping the voltage a bit, we've had it happily purring along at 5200MHz in testing, which adds a bit extra to its already excellent value. It's a perfect set and forget kit.
For Intel's 12th generation “Alder Lake” processors, DDR4 will run at speeds up to 3200 Megatransfers per second (MT/s), and DDR5 will run up to 4800 MT/s. This means DDR5 transfers data at up to 38.4 gigabytes per second (GB/s), while DDR4 tops out at 25.6 GB/s.
Under memory-intensive workloads, DDR5 can deliver up to 2x the bandwidth, per an internal simulation of dual ranked x8 modules in client platforms. DDR5 4,800MT/s speeds are comparable to extreme-performance DDR4 memory speeds and 1.5x faster than maximum standard DDR4 speeds of 3200MT/s.
For an Intel DDR5 system, a good kit around the 5200MHz range will be fine, while for a high-end system, you'll want something a little faster at 6000MHz or even 6400MHz if you really want to get every last drop of performance.
The 4800MHz launch speed is comparable to DDR4 memory speeds under extreme performance and is two times faster than 3200MHz. Since it's optimised for multitasking, your computer will be more responsive.
As we noted after our Intel testing, 4000MHz or higher RAM only really makes sense for high-end systems, like a Ryzen 9 3950X or Core i9 10900K with an RTX 2080 Ti, where you're already essentially at the limits of consumer PC gaming. For all that is holy, don't forget to set your RAM to its XMP speeds in the BIOS.
“DDR5” identifies a memory module's generation (e.g., DDR3, DDR4, etc.) and “4800” denotes its clock speed measured in megahertz (MHz). So, in this case, the Crucial sticks are all DDR5 memory modules with 4800 MHz clock speeds.
When it comes to speed, you want to look for DDR4 RAM that runs around 3,600MHz/3,200MHz for modern CPUs. This should give your CPU enough bandwidth cushion to handle gaming and work-related tasks.
This is a very typical result. DDR4 comes out roughly 4fps ahead of DDR5. The only spec here where the DDR5 came out ahead was the “CPU Simulation” where DDR5 got 410.8fps and DDR4 got 401.8 fps on the minimums. The average differed by 3fps, which at 400fps for either, means less than a one percent difference.
The 4800MHz launch speed is comparable to DDR4 memory speeds under extreme performance and is two times faster than 3200MHz. Since it's optimised for multitasking, your computer will be more responsive.
DDR4 4000 MHz CL 18 RAM has a higher frequency than the 3200 MHz CL 16 RAM, which means that it can potentially transfer data at a faster rate. However, the higher frequency may also result in higher power consumption and potentially lower reliability.
16GB is the recommended amount of RAM for playing most games and will provide a noticeable increase in performance from 8GB. You will also be able to run applications in the background without affecting gameplay.
when going DDR5 there is a more perceptible difference between 4800 MHz and 7200 MHz, roughly 3~4% in best-case scenarios, but the price difference will be significant.
There isn't any real difference between the base DDR5-4800 kits you'll find and DDR5-5200. A 2x16GB kit of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-4800 is $150 and the DDR5-5200 is only $2 more. Big deal. There are some DDR5-5600 kits between $160 and $200, but most kits go toward RGB lighting instead of speed as prices climb.
Is DDR5 overkill for gaming? For most gamers, DDR5 may be overkill as the current performance gains may not be noticeable in games. DDR4 RAM is still capable of providing a satisfactory gaming experience.
For gaming, there are advantages to running RAM with high-rated speeds. Although it won't have as profound an effect as upgrading the processor or graphics card, faster RAM can improve game performance and frame rates.
To a certain extent, RAM does affect FPS or even improves FPS, which is more true for laptops with integrated graphics or AMD CPU. Frankly speaking, more RAM will undoubtedly help to improve FPS or game performance, but it will not be so much compared to graphics cards and CPUs.
Most games recommend 16GB of memory for speedy, high-performance play. Having this much RAM in your computer will allow you to change what games you play, and to avoid issues with lag and stuttering. At an absolute minimum 8GB is usually a good starting point for most games.
DDR5 will start at a range of 4,800 MHz to 5,600 MHz and be designated as DDR5-4800 SDRAM. That's an improvement of 1.8 times over DDR4. DDR 5 will also increase in speed over time, providing significantly faster raw performance than DDR4. Already, clock speeds of 6,400 MHz are in the works.
XPG Lancer DDR5 RGB 6000MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL40-40-40 UDIMM 288-Pins Desktop SDRAM Memory RAM Kit with Black Heatsink (AX5U6000C4016G-DCLARBK)
As we noted after our Intel testing, 4000MHz or higher RAM only really makes sense for high-end systems, like a Ryzen 9 3950X or Core i9 10900K with an RTX 2080 Ti, where you're already essentially at the limits of consumer PC gaming. For all that is holy, don't forget to set your RAM to its XMP speeds in the BIOS.
The difference between 3600 and 4000 Mhz would not be noticeable in games - in most games you would not notice any performance difference at all. Go with the Corsair sticks and don't worry about it, they'll work fine.
The short answer is yes, 4000MHz RAM is almost perfect for the Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. This is because AMD has optimized these new processors to work extremely well with RAM kits of these speeds making it a 'sweet spot'.
If you try to install and use a RAM module that operates beyond the speeds that the CPU and the motherboard can support, it will lead to unstable system performance and/or boot issues. Mismatched memory will do this as well. In taking the DDR4-3200 as an example, mismatched memory could halve that speed to 1800MHz!