I'm thinking of building a new pc but i'm not sure if it's worth waiting for DDR4 to come out as i'm guessing that after 1 or 2 years, DDR4 will become normal. If that happens will it make my DDR3 memory no longer enough for it to play games or to use photoshop because if that's the case I will only get 2 years out of this new PC. Thanks in advance for any replies you make.
Should I wait for DDR4?
- Thread starter fifa500
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- Mar 16, 2013
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If you wait for the latest and greatest, you will be waiting forever. Build a new PC today with DDR3, and it will last exactly as long as one day after it fails to perform well with whatever new game or software you want.
And no one is forcing you to upgrade to the latest version of <whatever>.
And no one is forcing you to upgrade to the latest version of <whatever>.
snowctrl
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- Sep 10, 2013
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Wow there are so many ways of answering this question... Firstly, I think DDR4 is still more than a year away? My typical advice to someone wanting to buy or build a PC is decide as much as possible what u want to use it for, then spec for that.
With a custom build, if u buy a good case, drives and PSU, they can travel with you through successive system upgrades anyway, so... Waiting for DDR4 is not something I would b considering...
With a custom build, if u buy a good case, drives and PSU, they can travel with you through successive system upgrades anyway, so... Waiting for DDR4 is not something I would b considering...
Spectre694
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- Feb 28, 2014
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I wouldn't. It'll be expensive and it'll most likely be a couple of years before it trickles down to mainstream after it comes out anyway. Besides all your stuff that worked just fine with DDR3 won't all the sudden stop working because DDR4 is out. Most apps don't even fully use DDR3 as it is now.
- May 18, 2007
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DDR3 is not going to magically become inadequate overnight just because DDR4 came out. For most applications, there is only a 5-10% difference between DDR3-1066 and DDR3-2133 so it is unlikely even DDR4-3200 in 2-3 years will make enough of a difference to make or break performance except maybe for IGPs.
The only reason I might worry about DDR3 right now is retail prices raising considerably once DRAM manufacturers transition the bulk of their production lines from DDR3 to DDR4.
The only reason I might worry about DDR3 right now is retail prices raising considerably once DRAM manufacturers transition the bulk of their production lines from DDR3 to DDR4.
ksham
Splendid
- Mar 29, 2013
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System memory does not affect gaming much at all. More RAM or faster RAM will affect applications like video editing, and maybe some photoshop, but it has very little effect in gaming. The CPU, graphics card, and VRAM are the primary workhorse when it comes to gaming.
That said, if you run AMD APUs, then faster RAM WILL affect gameplay a lot more.
In either case, I would not wait for DDR4. I don't know when it will be out. Also, it will require new motherboards to accommodate it because it will not fit into DDR3 slots.
jitpublisher
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- May 16, 2006
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RAM is not a bottleneck now, so there is really no driving force to hurry DDR4 to the desktop as a new memory standard, though I am sure it is coming one day, it would be the very last thing I would worry about if building a new gaming machine right now.
- May 18, 2007
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Developers do not care about what sort of memory you have in your PC. All that matters (significantly) RAM-wise is having enough so the game does not need to continuously rely on the swapfile. Modern and future games will work in PCs with DDR1 memory as long as they have enough of it and also have a good enough GPU/CPU.
Architecture-wise, developers have no way of developing games "for DDR4" since the memory type is completely transparent to the OS and applications.
Ok. Thanks to everyone who answered. I'll guess I'll just build my PC right now. The reason I asked is because I didn't want to build a powerful PC for it to become bottle necked by the ram. I can't pick more than 1 solution so I won't pick any at the moment because you were all helpful. I'll do it in a couple of hours when I'm free.
- May 18, 2007
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Before any application can ever make meaningful use of the bandwidth from 2600+MT/s DDR4, you would need CPUs with about twice as much raw processing power as those currently available. By the time such a CPU comes into existence, you will need a new motherboard and CPU anyway.
If you are really concerned about memory bandwidth (although few people will actually have to worry about that in the foreseeable future) and do not mind throwing a fair amount of extra cache away for the extra peace of mind, you could go with LGA2011 now with DDR3 or wait a few months longer for Haswell-E which uses DDR4.
mr91
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- Jan 25, 2013
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If you don't mind spending extra money the X99 platform with a 8 core Haswell E will last longer for games and be significantly faster for video and photo editing.
One of the benefits of DDR4 is that it will use less voltage and probably produce less heat than a DDR3 at the same speeds.
Nobody really knows what is going to happen in two years maybe online games will require more cores and DDR 4 for optimal peformance.
Only time will tell however if you need a computer for gaming and photo shop and don't want to spend a fortune on a new pc, a z97 with a 4970k with DDR 3 is a good way to go...
DDR 4 isn't available yet for regular consumers so we will need to wait until benchmarks come out before we come to a final conclusion.
- May 18, 2007
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No need for benchmarks: we already know from past transitions that the first waves of DDR4 products will be slightly slower than high-end DDR3 so people will need to wait for the second or third wave of DDR4 products for performance to rise beyond DDR3's reach and DDR3/DDR4 to reach price parity before the mass-transition to DDR4 can switch into high gear.
Manufacturers that have released specs for their DDR4 dies/chips quote latencies that are ~1ns slower (2-3 cycles extra) than high-end DDR3 at 2400MT/s. This is probably due in large part to the extra logic required to manage the extra banks.
mr91
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