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Now that both Intel and AMD support DDR5 memory on their latest platforms, it’s entering a renaissance period. Like DDR4 before it, initial offerings were low-speed and expensive. As the technology matures, we’re starting to see higher-speed kits and prices that are beginning to become rational. Another new phenomenon in the memory world is non-binary kits with capacities of 24GB and 48GB. G.Skill is capitalizing on both trends with its latest overclocked Trident Z5 DDR5 memory kits, capable of speeds up to DDR5-8200. That makes them some of the fastest memory available right now, but these capacities and speeds are not supported by all motherboards.
G.Skill has announced two new overclocked DDR5 memory kits. They’re made for Intel systems as they have XMP 3.0 for one-click overclocking but lack AMD EXPO support. The faster of the two is a 48GB (24GBx2) DDR5-8200 CL40-52-52 configuration. The second kit has higher capacity but slower speeds with two 48GB DDR5-6800 CL34-46-46 sticks. Both kits require a motherboard with an updated BIOS that allows these non-binary capacities, and you’ll also need to make sure your motherboard can run high-speed memory.
This screenshot shows the DDR5-8200 sticks successfully running Memtest for over four hours.
Credit: G.Skill
Typically only high-end motherboards can use RAM at such high clocks. For instance, G.Skill provided screenshots of both kits running on Intel Z90 platforms. The faster of the two, the DDR5-8200 kit, runs on an Asus ROG Maximus Apex motherboard (above), which costs about $700. That board is rated out of the box for DDR5-8000+ memory, which is very rare and only reserved for flagship overclocking motherboards. The high-capacity DDR5-6800 96GB kit is shown on an Asus ROG Maximus Hero, a $600 motherboard. However, even mainstream boards typically support DDR5-7000+ memory, including B670 motherboards. That said, stability beyond DDR5-7000 is not guaranteed, generally speaking.
The more significant issue regarding support is the new non-binary capacities. Unlike previous configurations, which only allowed for doubling capacity, such as going from 16GB to 32GB to 64GB, this new standard allows for half-capacities of 24GB and 48GB. Motherboard manufacturers are now updating their BIOSes to allow them, so check with your vendor before pulling the trigger. Asus just announced updates for its 600 and 700 series motherboards, and MSI and Gigabyte announced similar support for their boards. Also note these new capacities are DDR5 only, so it provides another reason for DDR4 hangers-on to get off the fence and upgrade.
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