Is it worth getting 16 GB DDR4 in around year for gaming ?

MindfulPlayer · 29 Apr 2016 at 08:13

My main question is, is it worth really getting DDR4 Ram for gaming ? I possibly be building a new PC in around year or so and just wondering if DDR4 is a total waste of money or is it worth it ?

bledd · 29 Apr 2016 at 09:40

Do it. 8GB is becoming the minimum.

MindfulPlayer · 29 Apr 2016 at 10:44

bledd. said:
Do it. 8GB is becoming the minimum.

What I meant was, if DDR4 is worth buying over DDR3 and how does it look like in performance wise ?

Cooper · 29 Apr 2016 at 11:22

MindfulPlayer said:
What I meant was, if DDR4 is worth buying over DDR3 and how does it look like in performance wise ?

Not really, the odd game will make use of DDR4 when running at 3000Mhz, which seems to be the sweet spot speed wise.

Digital Foundry ran a test and showed Witcher 3 getting a few extra frames per second when running DDR4 in CPU bound areas of the game.

But AFAIK that was the only game that benefited to any significant degree.

I suppose it will all depend on how each game has been coded, but DDR4 will not improve things by default if that's what your asking.

Borealis · 29 Apr 2016 at 11:28

DDR4 is definitely faster and you will probably see a speed increase in benchmarks.

Personally, I can't really tell the difference in RAM performance between my i5 system with DDR3 2133MHz and my 5820K with DDR4 3000MHz.

Doogles · 29 Apr 2016 at 19:29

I say minimum now is 16GB because when gaming I've gone over 8GB a few times and that is without much running in the background, with new games releasing everyday it isn't going to be long until 8GB is the new 4GB.

MindfulPlayer · 30 Apr 2016 at 08:23

Cooper said:
Not really, the odd game will make use of DDR4 when running at 3000Mhz, which seems to be the sweet spot speed wise.

Digital Foundry ran a test and showed Witcher 3 getting a few extra frames per second when running DDR4 in CPU bound areas of the game.

But AFAIK that was the only game that benefited to any significant degree.

I suppose it will all depend on how each game has been coded, but DDR4 will not improve things by default if that's what your asking.

So basically DDR4 Ram is not needed trend YET, the same as it goes with 4K Resolution ?

welshdragon · 30 Apr 2016 at 12:01

Doogles said:
I say minimum now is 16GB because when gaming I've gone over 8GB a few times and that is without much running in the background, with new games releasing everyday it isn't going to be long until 8GB is the new 4GB.

Agreed. At current prices a 16gb kit to me is the ideal spot.

Kurgen · 30 Apr 2016 at 17:05

MindfulPlayer said:
So basically DDR4 Ram is not needed trend YET, the same as it goes with 4K Resolution ?

if your buying a new system, then you should be getting DDR4. only a few skylake motherboards accept DDR3 and even then you have to be careful of the type.

16gb would be the best option and at around £50 its not much on the overall cost

P4Clock · 30 Apr 2016 at 18:22

ddr4 is better, however nothing is really using it yet(Gaming/day to day use).

SSD's are getting faster, GPU's are moving into HBM, CPU's as always are getting faster.
Its only a matter of time till DDR4 is a MUST.
If your looking for a new system because you old one is not upto its job that go down the ddr4 rough. if you current system is still upto its job then stay as you are, dont just change because of ddr4 change because you have to

abui1806 · 2 May 2016 at 19:53

I am in the same situation. Problem is my ITX board can take only 2 sticks maximum. Oh well 2x8GB is a must as if I went for 2x4gb I would have no room for further upgrade.

AiiR · 2 May 2016 at 22:36

I've recently just upgraded to 16GB of memory, only cost about 50 quid. Some games will use 4GB upwards on their own, so with memory so cheap these days there's no reason not to get a full 16GB on new builds.