DDR4.org is the only site dedicated to the study of DDR4 memory.
What is DDR4 Memory?
Last Updated On: August 10, 2015
DDR4 memory is the latest generation of high speed computer memory. The primary advantage of DDR4 memory over DDR3 memory is that it operates at a lower voltage but is capable of faster data transfers. This leads to higher performance with both speed and battery life. This works great with solid state drives.
A bunch of technical details about how this all works is fine, but the primary unspoken question here is, “Is it worth it?” While I certainly can’t answer to the financial aspects of that question, I can certainly help you to understand the pros and cons of the DDR4 memory. Finally, I can help you learn a bit more about the primary players in this market and their contributions to the DDR4 memory development and release.
In this article, we are going to talk about a lot of different things but don’t worry – these concepts will be covered in depth in the other articles linked below. Just follow the links to view those articles. This article is more of a survey of these topics, and the linked articles will contain much more detailed information. For this article, we are going to start with a discussion of how computer memory works, then discuss DDR4 vs DDR3 memory, DDR4 motherboards, the DDR4 release, the Haswell-E platform, the X99 chipset, and the contributions of Hynix.
So without further ado, let’s jump into a brief discussion of how memory works.
How does computer memory work?
Before we continue on with a discussion of the specifics of DDR4 memory, we need to go over a few basic details about how memory works in a computer. When you load a program such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, or a game, the instructions that tell the computer what to do are loaded into memory. Since accessing memory is faster than accessing a hard drive, this allows the computer to spend a few minute loading the program and then the program can respond nearly instantly to the commands you give it.
When your memory starts to fill up, the computer starts to take longer to respond as it has to move data from memory to a swap file on the hard drive. For example, if you have 5 copies of Microsoft Word running, and one copy has been idle for the last several minutes, the data for that copy will be written to a special file on the hard drive. When you do switch to that copy, the data is loaded back into memory. This is referred to as swapping, and the file is referred to as the swap file.
Judging from that explanation, most people come to the conclusion that they should get as much memory as their budgets will allow. While that is certainly one approach, a more efficient solution would be to get enough memory to allow you to run your normal workload of programs without having to access the swap file. Once you figure out what that is, I would add 20% in order to future proof your setup for several years.
Remember though, you just can’t count up the megabytes listed under each software’s system requirements. This is because of two reasons. First, those are the minimum amounts needed. Programs will often times use much more memory than what it says on the box. Second, your operations system (Windows, Linux, etc…) will also use up memory when it loads during the boot-up process. The best way to calculate your memory usage is to setup performance monitoring tools to measure your memory usage and average it over a week or a month.
DDR4 vs DDR3
DDR4 memory has a much higher transfer speed, which means that programs load into memory faster and swap back into memory faster. Another advantage that DDR4 memory modules possess is the higher density of storage. A single stick of DDR4 memory can contain up to 16GB of data, while a single stick of DD3 memory is limited to 8GB of data.
512MB - 8GB
Register Parity Check
The DDR3 standard has been in use since 2007. This makes 2014 the seventh year in which DDR3 memory was used. The following table compares the feature set of DDR4 memory with DDR3 memory.
The key features that are of most interest to consumers are in the Performance and Efficiency categories. Under Efficiency, we see that DDR4 uses a lower voltage than DDR3, which means that battery life is increased in mobile devices such as laptops. Available storage and transfer rates are also higher on DDR4 memory which means that more data can be stored on a single module and it can be read and written much faster.
The CRC feature of DDR4 also ensures that data is written properly to memory without corruption. This is important because it means that applications will experience fewer crashes due to memory corruption. If the DDR4 memory controller detects a write error, it will re-write the data to correct the error automatically.
Like with all new technology releases, DDR4 has some drawbacks. First, DDR4 memory has a different physical interface which makes it incompatible with existing DDR3 motherboards. A DDR4 motherboard will be required in order to use DD4 memory. That means that in order to make the switch you will have to upgrade your motherboard and possibly your CPU, which adds extra expense to the project.
A quick search on Amazon.com for ddr4 motherboards indicate that prices range from $250 to over $500 for a motherboard. The Asus Rampage V Extreme motherboard (http://www.amazon.com/RAMPAGE-EXTREME-Extended-Motherboard-2011-V3/dp/B00N1QKUQO/), for example, is $463.99 on Amazon.com and uses the LGA 2011 socket for its CPU. This motherboard requires at least an Intel Core i7 CPU so if your processor is a few years old, you will likely need a new CPU ranging from $320 to $375 on Amazon.com.
Finally, a 16 GB DDR4 memory kit consisting of two 8GB modules runs around $259.99 if you order the Crucial brand kit. This leaves a total expense of $1,098.98 for a bare minimum DDR4 upgrade. Obviously upgrading an older computer is a fairly costly project at this point, and if you do upgrade an older computer you need to be cautious about introducing bottlenecks at the video card or hard drive level. However, as with all things technology, prices should drop as adoption rate increases. Corsair also develops and markets memory DDR3 DDR4 SDRAM, learn more about Corsair by visiting their website.
Building a new PC on the other hand is not a completely unreasonable endeavor at that price. Once you get the motherboard, memory, and CPU, you basically have a complete system. You just need to add a case, power supply, hard drive, and optionally, video card and optical drive. If you are in the market for a new PC, try your hand at building your own DDR4 based system. With the performance of the DDR4 platform, the PC you build today should last for an easy five years or more with minor upgrades needed along the way.
When it comes to memory in your computer, generally speaking, more is better, but you can indeed have too much of a good thing. The primary performance boost from adding more memory comes from eliminating the need to rely on the swap file as much. Since hard drives are slower than memory, this increases the speed of the computer.
If you have ever used a PC with Windows XP or earlier on it from the late 90s, you might have experienced memory swapping. Consider this scenario. You launch a large program like Adobe Photoshop while having Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Word open already. After you double-click the shortcut for Adobe Photoshop, you hear the hard drive make a thrashing or grinding sound for 30-45 seconds. This occurs because the computer needs to swap out a large portion of the 256 MB or 512 MB of memory that was installed to make room for Adobe Photoshop.
Fast forward to today. Computers now come with multiple gigabytes of memory, solid state hard drives, and a Windows feature that tries to predict and preload programs you use the most. Hard drive thrashing is a thing of the past. This means also that the old rule of thumb, install as much memory as you can, isn’t really all that valid anymore.
In fact, today, it is really common to run into a situation of diminishing returns when adding memory. Swapping memory to a solid state drive is still slower than storing all the data in memory, so the best guidelines is to install enough memory in order to avoid swapping data to the hard drive. Additional memory beyond that point simply allows for more things to run and preload at the same time, so the marginal benefit of additional memory decreases.
This YouTube video shows you how to use the resource monitor to determine how much memory you are consuming. The best way to size your computer is run this during your normal usage, and note the maximum memory usage. I would then increase that by 20% to provide extra headroom for application upgrades that increase memory usage.
DDR4 became available with the release of the Haswell-E x99 motherboard specification from Intel. The x99 platform released in August 2014 with the LGA2011-3 socket. Other features of the x99 motherboard include 6 USB 3.0 ports, 10 high speed SATA ports, and of course, DDR4 memory. As with any other technology product, the DDR4 release was met with heavy supporters and skeptics.
As with most technology products, the DDR4 release comes with a hefty premium of around 60% over comparable DDR3 modules. If I were one for bad puns, I’d say that early adopters have DIMM financial future, but I fear I would have to RAM that one down your throats. However, the financial premium isn’t the only premium that early adopters have to pay. Most DDR4 kits that are available at the DDR4 release have a higher latency rating than the DDR3 counterparts. This increased latency rating theoretically translates to lower performance, but until benchmark data is available this could simply be another specification that consumers can safely ignore. Time will tell in that regards.
According to Forbes, this new platform of the Haswell-E, X-99 chipset, and DDR4 memory is such a huge leap that it makes PCs just a year old look and feel like antiques. It’s true, this new platform sports some very impressive features that we will discuss next, but I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that less than one year old hardware is antiquated by this platform. Perhaps if you are the sort of enthusiast that spends thousands of dollars every year constantly upgrading your technology then that statement might be true, but I think that for the majority of computing consumers out there, this new platform is not going to make their current rigs into dinosaurs – unless their current rig is an abacus or a Gateway PC.
The release of the Haswell-E platform is good news for gamers and those with heavy workloads. The platform has support for eight core processors and up to four graphics cards, in addition to the DDR4 memory support. Unfortunately the Haswell-E platform only supports the Core i7 CPU, which means that you will have to upgrade both your motherboard and CPU before being able to use DDR4 memory.
The primary benefit that computer users can expect from the Haswell-E platform is to performance with lower power consumption. Now, the power consumption reduction is not going to make this new platform pay for itself. However, for users with heavy loads such as gamers, video editors, and developers, this platform packs plenty of punch for rendering, compiling, and playing. Finally, the Haswell-E platform processors can be overclocked up to 4.5 GHz which moves data a blinding speed. More cores equals faster speeds. Always check out the latest review on Newegg before jumping into any single processor. The 5960x Haswell has an eight core processor, this is a desktop processor great for multi threaded applications.
The X-99 chipset unlocks the full power of the Haswell-E platform and is available with the Intel Core i7 line of processors. This chipset launched in the third quarter of 2014, so it is still brand new to the market. This chipset supports USB 3.0 and 2.0, and supports up to 14 USB ports. With that number of ports, you should have no problem connecting all of your devices. With 6x USB 3.0 ports and 8x USB 2.0 ports, if you run out of USB ports on this chipset, you have too many devices.
Need storage? No problem. With 10 SATA ports you should have no problem connecting up enough hard drives and optical drives to solve any storage needs in any configuration. With the integrated gigabit networking this chipset makes a great foundation to build a media server or file server on, while making the same computer pull double duty as a gaming platform.
HD Audio, Rapid Storage, and Rpaid Start technologies all round out an already exciting platform for building computers. Some people might say that lack of an integrated graphics chip is a shortcoming in this design, but I say who needs integrated graphics? If you are looking at this motherboard there is a strong chance that you already have your eyes on a sexy video card to round out the performance of this system.
When you talk about companies that helped advance the DDR4 specification, you have to talk about Hynix. Hynix is a memory chip manufacturer, and their chips are used on memory modules from Samsung, G.skill, and others. OEM computers such as those from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer typically have Hynix chips in them as well.
As a company, Hynix focuses on making memory chips and they do so very well. The company was founded in 1983, and started manufacturing the “multifunctional phone lx-2” as a complete product. Fast forward to 2010 and in September of that year, Hynix signed a joint development agreement with HP to create next generation memory products. In 2012, the company changed their name to SK Hynix Inc as a way to honor their South Korean roots. Their crowning achievement, however, was the world’s first 128GB DDR4 memory modules in April of 2014 (read more about that at http://www.computerworld.com/article/2489597/data-center/hynix-reveals-world-s-first-128gb-ddr4-memory-module.html).
Since developing the world’s first 128GB DDR module, SK Hynix has been busy acquiring other companies and divisions. Hynix is positioning themselves to be a long term innovator in the memory market. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them releasing a bunch of new memory modules over the coming months as adoption of the DDR4 memory increases.
Over the next several years, Hynix will no doubt deliver even higher performing modules at lower prices. Hynix has stated that they are committed to leading the marketplace for the next 30 years. I for one will be interested to see how they plan to stay on top for that long and not get knocked off.
Should you upgrade your computer memory?
Finally, we get to the nagging question of whether or not to upgrade a current system to the new memory spec. As we saw earlier, DDR4 memory is only supported on DDR4 motherboards, and those boards only support the Intel Core i7 processor. If you don’t currently have the right Intel Core i7 processor, you will need to replace it, the motherboard and the memory. At this point, you are essentially buying a whole new computer.
If your current workstation is meeting your needs, then upgrading just for the increased performance of DDR4 will not add that much benefit to your current setup. In this case, you might be better off increasing the amount of DDR3 memory you have in your computer, or overclocking your computer.
If you were already planning on a CPU upgrade, then changing out the memory and motherboard will not take all that much more effort. In this case, I would say to go ahead and make the change. If you are on the fence about upgrading, then I say to take the plunge and do it.
The main thing to remember is that unless your computer is currently so starved for memory that it runs like a first generation Windows XP computer, you might not notice a large performance increase from using DDR4 memory over DDR3 memory. This is especially true for casual users who just surf the web, read emails, and post pictures of their cats on Facebook. If this use case fits how you use a computer, I would learn more about benchmarking and use a benchmarking tool to compare performance between the old setup and the new setup. On the other hand, if you are a gamer or power user, then the performance increase should be really clear.
DDR4 – Wrapping it all up
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. You should have a fairly good idea what this new memory is all about and what it can do for you. We’ve considered when to upgrade, how much to upgrade to, and how it all ties together. We’ve also talked about what expectations to have when upgrading so that you are not mislead or disappointed.
To recap, the primary performance boost for DDR4 memory comes with a faster clock speed, higher density modules, and lower power consumption. Finally, the new CRC features protects data in memory against corruption, which results in fewer blue screen errors when using your computer. Make certain you have looked at the best power supply units.
To learn even more about DDR4 memory, DD4 motherboards, and how they compare to their DDR3 counterparts, check out the links in this article and explore the other resources on this website. A single article is never enough to do any topic justice. This website will help you learn all that you want to learn about DDR4 memory at your own pace, and in the order that interests you the most.
Finally, in addition to this website, places like YouTube and Tom’s Hardware are other great resources. A quick search of those sites should turn up plenty of videos and threads discussing the minutiae of this new technology platform. Just remember that some people can become pretty passionate and irrational about their favorite hardware, and take their opinions with a grain of salt. A wise person once told me that intelligence is knowing something to be true, but then verifying it anyway.
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