Latest news with #DDR4
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Chinese memory maker expected to abandon DDR4 manufacturing at the behest of Beijing
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Top Chinese DRAM manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) will reportedly phase out DDR4 memory for servers and PCs by the middle of next year. According to Digitimes, the company is making this sudden shift to accommodate the directives of the Chinese Communist Party, especially as Beijing is pushing the country to take the global lead in AI and cloud infrastructure. In line with this, CXMT is also believed to be prioritizing work on HBM technology, targeting validation of its HBM3 chips by late this year. This announcement caught many in the industry off guard, especially as the company had just begun mass production of DDR4 memory in late 2024. This ramp-up in capacity, paired with aggressive pricing, has caused leading memory manufacturers Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix to end production of DDR3 and DDR4 chips by late 2025. But as the Chinese government focuses on AI to compete against the U.S.'s technological supremacy, Beijing is likely directing its local tech giants to give their support. Because of this, industry analysts anticipate CXMT issuing an end-of-life notice for its DDR4 as early as the third quarter of this year. Despite that, DD4 supply has seemingly dried up, with some 8 GB chips jumping in price by 150% because of the lack of supply. The overall market is heading towards DDR5 production to accommodate the demand for newer devices, but a few DDR4 manufacturing lines will remain. DigiTimes Asia says that CXMT will keep making it for GigaDevice to satisfy demand for consumer memory, while Samsung and SK hynix will keep on producing them using 1z-nm nodes. That means they do not require EUV tools, which are better utilized to produce newer chips. Despite CXMT's success in DDR4 memory, its DDR5 chips reportedly still face some issues. It's been reported that some of its latest samples have failed some tests, with the memory chips becoming unstable when they hit 60 degrees Celsius and up, some 25 degrees lower than the up to 85 degrees Celsius that Samsung chips can operate in. There's also doubt whether CXMT's DDR5 memory would perform as expected in sub-zero temperatures. This likely would not be an issue with most users, though. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
WIRED
16-03-2025
- WIRED
The Best RAM for Your PC
There are currently two standards on the market, and there probably will continue to be for a while as DDR4 phases out. Chances are, if you're upgrading an older system, you'll need DDR4 RAM, and if you're building a new system, you'll be looking for DDR5. Check your motherboard model to make sure, because they aren't compatible with each other. You can also check out an in-depth explainer on the differences between DDR4 and DDR5 if you're curious. Capacity Once you know whether you need DDR4 or DDR5, the next major decision is how much memory you want. Unless you really plan on just browsing the web and watching the occasional video, I recommend starting at 32GB. Most memory is sold in kits, so if you want 32GB you'll typically buy a pair of 16GB sticks, often shown in listings as 2x16GB, and install them according to your motherboard's instructions for dual channel memory. Some gamers may benefit from 64GB of memory, but anything more would be for special use cases. Speed The other number you're likely to see prominently displayed on memory is clock speed, measured in MHz. DDR5 starts at 3,200MHz, but it seems like most DIY memory falls in the 6,000-6,400MHz range. Some enthusiast RAM goes all the way up to 8,000MHz, but I don't think the average user will benefit from that much speed. Notably, if you want to fully utilize your RAM's stated speed, you'll need to make sure XMP, or AMD's EXPO, are enabled in your BIOS. Check your motherboard manual for more information on enabling the feature and setting your MHz properly. Latency Performance has another measurable function in the form of CL, or CAS Latency. While the clock speed measures how fast the RAM can move data, the CL denotes how quickly it can access that data, with a lower number meaning faster access. While clock speeds got a huge bump with DDR5, the CL numbers might look high to folks who have experience with DDR4. Just know that the higher clock speeds make up for this difference, so now we're looking at 28-30 for the first number instead of the 12-16 we had before. Fit and Compatibility There are a few considerations you also may want to keep in mind when purchasing memory for your system. Most modules are roughly the same size, but if you have a large CPU cooler you may want to make sure any shrouds on the memory aren't too tall. Most DIY motherboards don't have capacity limits for memory that should concern your average PC user, or even gamer, but if you're upgrading an older system, you'll want to check the manual and motherboard model to confirm how much storage it can handle. Know that there are typically two sizes of memory module. You'll usually find DIMMs in desktop computers, and SO-DIMMs in laptops, but some very small desktop computers may opt for laptop memory.
