Items tagged with ddr5
In the early going, there is a single chipset available for Alder Lake—Z690, which happens to be Intel's flagship offering. That's not surprising, as chip makers like to put their best feet forward when launching generational products. However, more mainstream chipsets are on the horizon and a fresh leak purports to show how they compare to Z690. It is generally assumed that Intel will flesh out its Alder Lake chipset family with H670, B660, and H610 offerings. While nothing has been announced yet, it would be odd for Intel to suddenly change up its naming convention, even with Alder Lake introducing a different kind of makeup compared to most past releases (save for Lakefield, to some...
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If you are looking to build a PC around one of Intel's newfangled Alder Lake CPUs, it's Z690 or bust, as far as the motherboard platform goes. The vast majority of Z690 motherboards that are out so far cost north of $200 (some are far north). That's not unexpected given that Z690 is a top-tier chipset, though if you're looking for a more affordable route into Alder Lake territory, hang tight because B660 is likely right around the bend. Evidence of this can be found in a supposed leaked price list of several MSI B660 motherboards. Assuming the price list is actually real, MSI will introduce at least ten B660 motherboards in the not-too-distant future, with MSRPs dipping down as low as $119. The...
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It was always a given that DDR5 memory would command a premium over DDR4 kits at the outset, but $2,399.99 for a 32GB package? That's just plain ridiculous. It's also what a recent kit of Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-5200 recently sold for on eBay as scalpers continue to make bank on tech items that are in hot demand and short supply. A quick check of Newegg's DDR5 listings shows there are only 22 kits, zero of which are in stock. In contrast, there are thousands of DDR4 memory kits, with several 32GB (2x16GB) packages costing around $90, including some DDR4-3200 kits. There's even a 32GB DDR4-4000 memory kit listed for around $110. At present, 32GB DDR5 kits range in price from around...
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In computer security, "cracking" systems is all about gaining access where you aren't supposed to have it. One of the most definitive ways to do this is by "pwning"—or "taking control of"—a system's main memory interface. Normally, doing so requires physical access to the system, but security researchers have demonstrated time and again that it's possible to pilfer or modify secure data in DRAM through variations on the "Rowhammer" exploit. For those who aren't familiar, Rowhammer is the general name for a class of exploits that involves performing particular patterns of accesses to specific physical regions of memory in order to trigger unwanted behavior in nearby cells, including...
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Most records are destined to be broken, and make no mistake, that's going to happen at a breakneck pace in DDR5 land once things really get going. It's already happening, to some extent, with G.Skill leading the way. Earlier this week, for example, G.Skill showboated hitting DDR5-7000 on its Trident Z5 memory, the fastest so far without resorting to exotic cooling. And now it's highlighting a DDR5 world record, obtained while taking a liquid nitrogen bath. Air and liquid nitrogen represent two very different ends of the cooling spectrum. In time, perhaps DDR5-8000 memory kits will become the norm, or at least somewhat common within the enthusiast RAM sector. In the early going, however, it apparently...
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Slowly but surely, memory makers have begun announcing DDR5 memory kits for Intel's Alder Lake platform. Most of them have been relatively modest in speed, at or around DDR5-4800. Meanwhile, G.Skill is doing what it does—focusing on enthusiast kits and seeing how far it can push its own memory products. The best stable result so far without resorting to exotic cooling is DDR5-7000. G.Skill achieved the "extreme speed" result on a 32GB kit of Trident Z5 RGB memory, comprised of a pair of 16GB modules. Equally impressive, it was able to hit DDR5-7000 with relatively tight timings (for the speed), assuming it was using its DDR5-6400 kit that we wrote about a couple weeks ago. That kit qualifies...
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The big news today is Intel's 12th Gen Core Alder Lake launch, which kicked off a bevy of product announcements from various system builders and hardware partners. G.Skill is among them. To avoid getting lost in the noise, G.Skill today came out swinging with a high-end Trident Z5 DDR5-6800 memory kit designed for Alder Lake. For the time being, G.Skill can brag it is offering the "world's fastest DDR5 memory kit," though for how long remains to be seen. Prior to today's Alder Lake launch, memory makers have teased even faster speeds on the horizon, though G.Skill is the first (that we're aware of) for formally debut a DDR5 memory kit with a 6,800 MT/s data rate. "G.Skill is dedicated to develop...
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G.Skill has carved out an enthusiast following for its high-performance memory kits and its efforts within the competitive overclocking community. Not looking to slow things down in the DDR5 era, G.Skill announced several "extreme performance" DDR5 memory kits, culminating in DDR5-6400 with comparatively tight timings (to what we have seen so far). That's relative, of course—part of the trade off with opening up the bandwidth spigot at the DDR5 tap is that the faster transfer rates come at the expense of looser memory timings. Take for example GeIL's recently introduced Polaris RGB Sync memory. At DDR5-4800, timings are set at 40-40-40-77, at 1.1V. The higher you go, the looser things get,...
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Acer will waste no time injecting Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs into its desktop line, starting with its newly unveiled Predator Orion 7000 series PC. Built for high-end gaming, the latest addition to the Predator PC line pairs unlocked and overclockable Alder Lake processors with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card, to tackle high frame rates with the image quality settings cranked to the max. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is the somewhat muted aesthetic compared to past Predator desktops. Previous designs have not just been bold, but outlandish and even gaudy, to be quite frank. The Predator Orion 7000, meanwhile, still maintains an overall aggressive profile that...
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Samsung says it has begun mass producing what it claims is the industry's smallest DRAM based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, on a 14-nanometer process. It had already begun shipping the first EUV DRAM earlier this year (back in March), and what it's kicking into high gear now represents an increase in the number of EUV layers. More specifically, Samsung says it increased the number of EUV layers to five, for what it says is the finest and most advanced DRAM process out there for emerging DDR5 memory solutions. And it arrives just as Intel is set to usher in the era of DDR5 in the consumer landscape, with the introduction of Alder Lake and its accompany Z690 platform. "Today, Samsung...
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The first retail listing for a DDR5 memory kit with RGB lighting has popped up, and in doing so, we have an idea of where preliminary pricing will land. That's the good news. The bad news? It looks like DDR5 memory is not going to be cheap. That is to be expected to some extent when new technology emerges, and on the bright side, this is just a single listing. This new listing is for a 32GB (2x16GB) kit of GeIL Polaris RGB Sync DDR5-4800 memory, with a bright red or gray aluminum heastink and a strip of RGB lighting across the contoured top. The asking price is $349.99. That is definitely on the expensive side compared to DDR4 memory, no doubt to account for the faster transfer rate (4,800 MT/s)...
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Next-generation DDR5 memory is not even out in earnest yet for consumers, but that has not stopped Adata from pursuing overclocking records...with its own RAM, of course. Adata has taken one of its 16GB DDR5 memory kits that is rated to run at 4,800 MT/s, and overclocked it to 8,118 MT/s. Not too shabby, eh? The kudos really belong to Adata's XPG division. Same company, but you can think of XPG being to Adata as Republic of Gamers (ROG) is to ASUS, if that makes sense. That being the case, the press release praises "XGP's know-how and expertise in pushing memory modules to their full potential" with this "record-breaking milestone." That is indeed and boisterous overclock beyond the stock specification....
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Back in May, Samsung unveiled a high-tech gadget for data centers called the CXL Memory Expander, essentially a memory expansion device that utilizes the newer Compute Express Link interconnect standard. As with most hardware, however, the clever device is only as good as the software. To address that fact, Samsung has now introduced what it says is the industry's first open-source software solution that is specifically designed to support the CXL memory platform. The upshot of Samsung's CXL memory expander is it allows clients to scale memory capacities and bandwidth in data centers to terabyte levels, going well beyond what was previously possible. CXL itself is an open, industry-supported...
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When Joe Gamer is building a PC, he probably doesn't even look at qualified parts lists, like memory QVLs. Products made to a given standard typically "just work," at least to a good-enough degree for general use, and don't need to be individually validated. Things are different in the business world, though. There, it's best to stick with the qualified hardware, and indeed, some support agreements even require that you do so. That's why it's notable that Intel has qualified Kingston's DDR5 memory for its upcoming Alder Lake client platform. Kingston isn't the first vendor to be qualified, of course; that honor went to the first-party DRAM manufacturers—in this case, Samsung, Micron, and...
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The big event where we expect Intel to announce its 12th generation Alder Lake processor family is just three weeks away. Lenovo has already spilled the beans on its Legion 9000K gaming desktop PC in the lead-up to the launch, while pricing from numerous ASUS motherboards has leaked. The latest company to jump on the Alder Lake bandwagon is Corsair, which tweeted out an image of its upcoming Vengeance DDR5 memory modules (pictured above). Baseline speeds for the next-generation memory speeds come in at DDR5-4800, while Corsair previously indicated that it is working to ramp to DDR5-6800 speeds in the near future. This would nearly double maximum bandwidth -- compared to DDR4-3200 -- to 51 GB/sec,...
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Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake processors are right around the corner, with an official announcement coming as soon as October 27th. However, in the lead-up to the launch, most of the leaks and news have surrounded the Alder Lake-S desktop family rather than the related laptop-centric processors. Thankfully, today we have some information to deliver on the laptop front courtesy of SanMax. Hermitage Akihabara posted images of sample SanMax DDR5 memory modules on display at PC Shop Arc. The 252-pin SO-DIMMs are rated for DDR5-4800 speeds (CL40) and operate at 1.1 volts. SanMax is using Micron memory for these modules, with these samples coming in at a 32GB capacity. The 32GB capacity...
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In preparation for the arrival of Intel's upcoming Alder Lake CPUs and Z690 platform, TeamGroup is highlighting a couple of new DDR5 memory products, the T-Force Vulcan and T-Force Delta RGB. They are part of a larger online launch event, in which TeamGroup is unveiling a spate of products, including internal and external SSDs, and even a liquid-cooled SSD. Of course, SSDs have been around for quite some time, but DDR5 memory has been out of the realm of consumer platforms up until this point. That changes this year with Alder Lake. Intel's 12th Gen Core processors and accompanying platforms offer up support for the next-gen memory standard, as well as DDR4 memory. You won't be able to use both...
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You can safely assume that motherboard makers will not be caught flat-footed when Intel's 12th Gen Core desktop processors based on Alder Lake arrive. There's plenty of work that goes on behind the scenes between CPU and motherboard players. Especially so with Alder Lake, I imagine, given all the new technologies. So I tend to believe a recent list of ASUS Z690 motherboards at the Eurasian Economic Commission website is probably accurate. Not only does it provide a list of more than a dozen Z690 motherboards from ASUS, but it also seemingly distinguishes between which models will offer up support for next-gen DDR5 memory, and which ones will stick with current DDR4 modules. Because remember,...
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Some potentially exciting platform upgrades are on the horizon, two of them coming by way of Alder Lake and its accompanying Z690 series chipset. Namely, support for the PCI Express 5.0 bus, which doubles the bandwidth compared to PCI Express 4.0, and DDR5 memory. Will either matter? We can only wait and see, but as we do, a leaked benchmark gives us a high level look at a DDR5 memory kit that hitched its trailer to an Alder Lake CPU. This is arguably the most interesting technology of the two new bits (PCIe 5.0 and DDR5). We'll take the fatter bus, of course, but graphics cards are not really running into performance bottlenecks on PCIe 4.0. Maybe that will change when RDNA 3 (AMD) and Ada Lovelace...
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For all of the leaks and rumors related to Intel's upcoming Alder Lake launch, actual CPU product photos have been very few and far between. So it is notable that the an Alder Lake CPU has smiled for the camera, giving us a mostly clear view of the bottom (it's not a high resolution image, but it is at least mostly devoid of blurriness). In addition, a supposed Z690 chipset diagram has manifested as well. For the most part, leaked Alder Lake benchmarks have hinted that Intel's hybrid architecture is the real deal, and will be a meaningful upgrade over its current generation CPUs. Obviously we will not know for sure until we have had a chance to put the chips through their paces ourselves, on...
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Intel has added "enhanced Alder Lake support" to its extreme tuning utility (Intel XTU for short), ahead of actually launching its 12th Generation Core desktop processors. Make no mistake, Alder Lake is coming soon, and Intel is getting its ducks in a row. Same can be said about its hardware partners, with a bevy of 600-series motherboards on tap. We are all waiting to see what kind of performance Alder Lake will actually deliver. Early leaks have been a mixed bag, though mostly encouraging. What makes this launch so much more interesting than past ones, including Rocket Lake, is the a major architectural shift to a heterogeneous solution. As outlined during the Intel Architecture Day 2021...
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Do you think maybe the tech industry is hyper-focused on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies? It certainly is, and to some extent AI is practically everywhere these days, from servers and high-performance computing, to autonomous vehicles and everyday consumer devices, and everything in, around, and between. So it's not really shocking that Samsung is touting its latest advancements in processing-in-memory (PIM) technology at the Hot Chips 33 conference. Some of what Samsung is discussing has to do with past announcements. For example, back in February Samsung introduced the industry's first high bandwidth memory PIM, Aqualbolt-XL, with AI processing built into its HBM2 Aquabolt to bolster...
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