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Alder Lake DDR4 vs DDR5 motherboard for future proofing

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#21 ·
You know, there might not be good futureproofing right now with DDR5. The ram will likely get better and cheaper and the Z690 chipset might not be good enough later this year, or maybe that m.2 ai will do some desirable things like improved memory management in the background with spare e-cores. Or maybe the power savings on lower clocks might make a significant difference in real world use. Don't know yet.
So if you spend extra on a DDR5 z690 mobo, or modules, you might be making a compromise for halfway as good.
 
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#23 ·
Precisely. If the goal is to stick with DDR4, then Z690 might be futureproof enough. But DDR5? I'd wait, or buy with the intention of upgrading later on.
Everything with DDR5 is just too premature right now, and is weighed down by early adoption tax.
 
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#24 ·
Personally I don't see the point of future-proofing with Z690 DDR5. Not to mention the current price and performance comparison between DDR4 and DDR5. When you consider swapping the CPU, most likely the motherboard won't be compatible anyway (unless you plan to swap as soon as Raptor Lake comes out, which might be a waste of money in some other sense). And when you upgrade, there should be more decent CPU, GPU, DDR5 memory kits and boards. At that time, you need to think which exact part you wanna keep. In this sense, I agree with the argument that Z790 may even be a better choice (not essentially good though).

Not shooting for future proof often allows you to use the budget more efficiently. While lucky example of future-proofing does exist, like being able to use Zen 3 CPU on 300-series boards. But looking back, I guess few people would bet their luck on this. Also, today's X570 and B550 is a firm choice over X370 considering the feature set they offer.
 
#26 ·
The only reason I wouldn't get a DDR5 board right now is the motherboard manufacturers haven't dial in the PCB design yet and newer/faster DDR5 might not run well on early access boards.
 
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Discussion starter · #27 ·
fjulio said:
Personally I don't see the point of future-proofing with Z690 DDR5. Not to mention the current price and performance comparison between DDR4 and DDR5. When you consider swapping the CPU, most likely the motherboard won't be compatible anyway (unless you plan to swap as soon as Raptor Lake comes out, which might be a waste of money in some other sense). And when you upgrade, there should be more decent CPU, GPU, DDR5 memory kits and boards. At that time, you need to think which exact part you wanna keep. In this sense, I agree with the argument that Z790 may even be a better choice (not essentially good though).

Not shooting for future proof often allows you to use the budget more efficiently. While lucky example of future-proofing does exist, like being able to use Zen 3 CPU on 300-series boards. But looking back, I guess few people would bet their luck on this. Also, today's X570 and B550 is a firm choice over X370 considering the feature set they offer.
Click to expand...

Currently I am aware that it is not likely anything beyond Raptor Lake will be release for LGA 1700. Though down the road with Raptor Lake having so many more e cores, it could give a bump in performance if the time comes where games become so much more threaded when prices drop when newer CPUs are released for new motherboards. And is it likely Raptor Lake will need the extra bandwidth of DDR5 to get better performance??

Kind of like how I think new drop in high core Xeons were ut into LGA 2011 after prices came down to keep systems humming that people had who needed high CPU core counts without having to replace whole system to make them age better.
 
#28 ·
LGA1700 will end with Raptor Lake. And then it'll likely be pure DDR5. Similar to Ryzen 7000's move to pure DDR5.
 
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#30 ·
Wolverine2349 said:
I know here technically is no really such thing as future proofing, but I am sure you get the point.

Basically by future proofing, I mean be able to have the best upgrade paths without having to swap the motherboard out and able to upgrade video cards to continue on with great gaming performance and slap in new CPU down the road. Makes it easier as swapping motherboard out is very difficulty with all cabling and such. I can do it but a lot of work and would prefer to keep same motherboard for at least 3 years.

Now in theory, DDR5 is more future proof as such as you could upgrade to better DDR5 down the road, or maybe Raptor Lake will use DDR5 better than Alder Lake??

The problem with DDR5 is it is poor latency for Alder Lake. You cannot run it in Gear 1 for the 1:1 ratio which is very important for gaming even at 1440P especially for 1% and 0.1 lows for smoothness. Where as with DDR4 you can. So I am swayed to stay on DDR4 which I have now with 32GB (2 X 16GB sticks of DDR4 3600MHz with 16-18-18-38 1T timings stable)

Now having said that, will Raptor Lake allow DDR5 to run in Gear 1 cause if so that may be a game changer, though the CAS latency is still so much higher on DDR5.

Or do you think by the time DDR5 is really actually makes a big performance difference, it will only be with some new CPUs in the future that go way beyond LGA 1700 which will require new motherboard anyways. Or could you see a time where DDR5 does make a noticeable difference for gaming and DDR4 gets bottlenecked on LGA 1700 platform CPUs in the next few years??

I know no one can predict the future, but what is your thoughts and if you had to guess especially for the last paragraph.
Click to expand...
Ddr5 will get the real deal in 2023. And consider Intel being Intel, you will need a new motherboard to run 14h gen albeit same or very similar socket. Probably it will turn LGA 1800.

The only had thing is that there is no really high end boards on ddr4
 
#31 ·
ObviousCough said:
You can't future proof with a Z690 board. DDR4 and wait for Z790 to get DDR5 IMO.
Click to expand...
Usually the second Chipset on same socket on Intel is a dead socket I would only really change on z890 when it will effectly force ddr5.

Raptor lake will already up ddr5 base to 5600, not great but a certain improvement. You can expect 890 to hit 6000+ and by 2023 meteor lake certainly ddr5 will be xmp 8000 with ease.
 
#33 ·
therealjustin said:
Do any Z690 boards work with say, 4x8GB of DDR4? I have a 3600 kit that I could use, but not if it won't run. :ROFLMAO:
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They should work but it will depend on your IMC and MB you choose also. I have seen a few people running 3733 to 4000 with 4x8 but that is rare.

3600 should be doablye but you really wont know until you try it.

Look at the MB QVL to get an idea or gskill compatiblity list for the MB you want to get an idea.

www.gskill.com

RAM Configurator - G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd.

Find compatible memory kits for your motherboard. Just select the motherboard from the dropdown list and click on Search for a list of compatible G.SKILL memory kits.
www.gskill.com www.gskill.com
 
#35 ·
JSHamlet234 said:
There are two reasons to get DDR5 right now. One would be that your intended workload will be significantly faster with DDR5. The other is that the motherboard that has the features you need only comes in a DDR5 variant. Other than that you shouldn't concern yourself with future proofing. Future DDR5 will be better than the current crop, and it will work better with future motherboards and CPUs. In other words, by the time you decide to upgrade again, you'll probably end up replacing everything regardless of whether you had gone with DDR4 or DDR5.
Click to expand...
Perfectly said.
 
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