The South Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix has officially announced the specifications for DDR5 memory. The upcoming memory standard will therefore be more than twice as fast as current DDR4 RAM and at the same time be packed four times as densely.
The specifications of DDR5 at a glance:
- Frequency: 3,200 to 8,400 Mbps (MHz effective)
- Capacity (one die): 8GB, 16GB, 24GB, 32GB, 64GB
- 1.1 volts, EEC
Frequency: Current DDR4 memory reaches a maximum of 3,200 Mbps or effectively 3,200 MHz (1,600 MHz actually) according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) standard. Anything beyond that is achieved through overclocking – for example, through XMP profiles from Intel, which are set at the factory.
DDR5 already starts at 3,200 MHz (according to JEDEC) and can effectively even with operated up to 8,400 MHz will. Similar to DDR4 and previous DDR standards, it can be assumed that the highest clock rates will only be available in the years after the original release.
Capacity: DDR4-RAM is available with a maximum of 16GB memory capacity (this applies to bars with a die, double 32GB is also possible). DDR5 quadruples this value: Capacities up to 64GB are possible on one.
More specifications from DDR5
Compared to DDR4, DDR5 SK Hynix is said to be 20 percent more energy efficient. This is achieved by reducing the voltage from 1.2V to 1.1V.
Another interesting point is that Implementation of ECC technology (Error-correcting code memory), which prevents errors when reading from RAM. EEC memory has been around for a long time, but it is significantly more expensive than conventional RAM modules for player PCs.
It is therefore mainly used in servers that generally also benefit significantly more from error correction.
When will DDR5 be available?
SK Hynix plans to start mass production later this year. It is not yet known whether the new memory modules will still be available in 2020.
