Steve Smith talks about ongoing death of DIMM and SO-DIMM DDR3 RAM as a standard as new technology embraces the newer DDR4 Standard and how it applies to purchasing a new computer.
Episode #7-07 released on October 15, 2016
We have seen this over and over again, first with SD RAM, then DDR, DDR2, and now we are seeing it again with DDR3. It will eventually occur with DDR4, as well. The grand majority of people will want to purchase computers for the long run, and that are more or less future proof. And, this is where we are sitting. On a balance moving left and right, not quite balanced, but I am here to help you out, at least make a future proof decision.
Let us start by INTEL. Both the current and enthusiast platforms for INTEL, that being the Z170 and the X99-3, support natively DDR4. A while ago I suggested the consumer platform because of the cost to benefit ratio for most, and I still do. But, since the Z97 is no longer the standard, as it has been replaced by the Z170, that would be my current choice for anyone interested in an INTEL based upgrade, which does support DDR4.
For AMD, for a long time AMD has rested on its current FX line of processors which were attached to mainboards that supported DDR3 RAM, but only PCI Express 2.0. And, yes, while even I know we can't saturate all of the bandwidth, yet. The upcoming ZEN architecture promises to support DDR4, PCI EXPRESS 3.0 from launch, and in the future may support PCI Express 4.0.
Now, if you are still not convinced on why you should move to DDR4 platform, I have more arguments to make you see the DDR4 light. DDR4 is currently nearly the same price as DDR3. The Price of DDR4 will more than likely go down while memory availability per DIMM will go up. DDR3 once production is halted, will start becoming harder to replace, and more expensive due to rarity. DDR4 is more power efficient than DDR3. DDR4 is faster than DDR3 offering higher speeds.
While, DDR3 is not yet dead, it is dying, it will be harder to replace, and its death has been foretold years ago when X99-3 was released. This makes future proofing a computer as easy as picking a mainboard that supports DDR4, for now.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net