The rumour was first reported by tech site Tom’s Hardware, which goes on to write that AMD’s AM5 platform will be limited to DDR5 memory support, specifically to its X670 and B650 AM5 platforms. In addition, the site reportedly confirmed that X670 motherboards could feature a dual-chiplet design, but not the lower-grade 600 series AM5 motherboards. Adding to that, a leaked ComputerBase document posted on Twitter seems to verify the possibility of DDR5 exclusivity with AM5, with DDR4 memory never one within the 254-page document, while the newer memory standard was mentioned a total of 76 times.
Socket AM5 guide, in the 254-page document you can find the text “DDR5” 76 times, “DDR4” never. Some hoped that AMD would support DDR4 on AM5. https://t.co/kO5zfGhnix pic.twitter.com/MQPBr9ocgU — CapFrameX (@CapFrameX) April 25, 2022 While the news does come as a bit of a shock to some industry players – and provided that the rumours are true – AMD’s choice of not making its upcoming AM5 platform backwards compatible with DDR4 memory really isn’t that unusual. More to the point, the transition from an older memory standard to a later standard is the price one pays for innovation; when Intel launched its 6th generation Skylake lineup, that also marked the shift from DDR3 to DDR4. That being said, we would be remiss if we did not point out that Intel is also the only chipmaker whose current 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU lineup and platform does have 600 series motherboards that are built to support either DDR4 or DDR5 memory kits, but never both. On that note, another reason why industry players have are seeing this as a missed opportunity by AMD for its AM5 platform is due to the cost of DDR5 memory. In contrast, the new memory standard and its kits are considerably, if not significantly, more expensive than DDR4, with little to no gains in performance over several applications. Yes, pricing for memory and graphics cards have improved over the past several months, but again, the cost for DDR5 kits still exceeds the pricing for DDR4 by a very long mile. For that matter, it is believed that DDR5’s pricing may not reach price parity until at least next year. Again, this is still just a rumour with nothing have been officially verified or announced by AMD or its manufacturing partners. To that end, the usual sodium consumption levels are advised. (Source: Tom’s Hardware, Videocardz)
