We’re slowly entering the age of DDR5 memory which is expected to start with the launch of AMD’s Zen 4 and Intel’s Alder Lake-S CPUs later this year. As per JEDEC specifications, the standard range for DDR5 memory will be 3200-4800 MT/s, with estimates stating that many high-end modules will be able to push 8400 MT/s. Similar to DDR4, the first couple of years, we’re bound to see slower implementations ranging between 4000-5000MT/s
However, like 4000MT/s is the enthusiast territory for DRR4, DDR5 will see many vendors touching the 10000MT/s mark, with 8400MT/s being the norm. One memory maker, Netac has started the research and development of its DDR5 modules and is aiming for the 10GHz mark.
Chinese memory and flash product maker, Netac, has claimed that they will be offering gaming-grade DDR5 memory with speeds beyond 10,000 MHz. The company OEM announced that like several other memory manufacturers, they too have received their first patch of DDR5 DRAM.
ITHome got the word from Netac that they have received their first batch of DDR5 DRAM from Micron. With this initial batch, Netac can officially enter the development stage of DDR5 DRAM-based memory products.
According to ITHome, Netac who entered the PC memory business just recently has already confirmed they are planning to invest in the research and development of DDR5 memory which can ready at 10,000 MHz. At launch, DDR5 memory is expected to offer at least 4800 MHz (this is actually the default memory speed supported by the upcoming Intel Alder Lake series), but specifications already list frequencies as high as 8400 MHz. A 10GHz speed would obviously require a lot of overclocking and a proper platform.
According to the official, Netac entered the memory industry in 2018 and has already launched new gaming and localized memory products. It is expected to launch DDR4 gaming RGB light bars in June this year. Combining the past development of memory performance, R&D journey, and the pursuit of player speed, Netac plans to invest in research and development of DDR5 memory products that can reach more than 10000MHz .
— ITHome
The DDR5 DRAM that the company received has the IFA45 Z9ZSB product code which is ES ICs based on information from Micron’s website. Each DRAM has a 2Gx8 capacity and is rated to operate at CL40 timings. The DDR5 DRAM chips are based on the 1znm node and measure at 11x9mm or 99mm2.
Netac currently offers a few DDR4 memory products but they are claiming to offer gaming-grade DDR5 memory with speeds beyond 10,000 MHz. It will be interesting to see Netac achieve this as DDR5’s native speeds will 4800 MHz and to go to 10,000 MHz means to offer twice the speeds. It’s not impossible since DDR4 memory started at 2133 MHz and we have seen several manufacturers offering kits that are rated at up to DDR4-5333 MHz that can further be pushed beyond DDR4-6000 MHz with some overclocking expertise.
T-Force had previously stated that DDR5 memory has far greater room for voltage adjustment when it comes to overclocking support. This is primarily due to the upgraded power management ICs (PMIC) that allows for voltages over 2.6V. It is also detailed that existing DDR4 memory modules handled their voltage conversion through the motherboard but that changes with the new DRAM standard. The components that are required for the voltage conversion are now moved over to the memory DIMM itself, reducing voltage wear and noise generation while simultaneously offering increased room for overclocking.
Samsung too has entered the DDR5 space, with memory modules hitting 512GB per module as we posted in a previous article.
Aside from Netac, there are other manufacturers who have their version of DDR5 in the pipeline like Jiahe Jinwei, TEAMGROUP, ADATA, ASGARD, GALAX, etc, and with companies like G.Skill, PNY and XPG following them in the next year or two.
With the mass production of DDR5 now underway by many manufacturers, we can expect DDR5 memory to be ready for consumer platforms such as Intel’s Alder Lake 12th Gen CPUs and the respective Z690 motherboard platform by the second half of this year.
We could soon see manufacturers ceasing the production of current DDR4 modules by the end of 2022.
It’s unclear when we’ll be seeing 10GHz modules considering that it’ll take a while for the new standard to become mainstream, but we can expect it by late 2023 or early 2024.
Both AMD and Intel are currently developing their DDR5 capable platforms. AMD has not confirmed when should we expect the AM5 socket based series, which should also support Zen4 CPU and possibly PCIe Gen5 standard. When it comes to Intel, there have been substantial leaks that already confirmed support for both the DDR5 and PCIe Gen5. This platform should launch by the end of this year, and that is when we expect the first DDR5 memory to become avavailbe.
