Question Is DDR5 more complex and harder to overclock than DDR4 was?

[80251]

I've read someone who described overclocking DDR4 memory as an arcane art and it has been a nightmare for me on my Intel z390 rig (probably because Asrock wasn't known for having memory overclock friendly z390 'boards). Is DDR5 more forgiving/less complicated to overclock than DDR4? I just hope it's not more complex and difficult.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

many users claiming the lack of ability to OC,
or run mix/matched kits,
or even run 4x module kits at advertised speed & latency.

all of the above seemed to have a higher possibility with DDR4.

 

[thestryker]

It depends on what you're trying to do and how much you're willing to play around with it. DDR5 is extremely hard to tune when using 2DPC or modules with 2 ranks. It also depends on which platform you're using as both AMD and Intel have different limitations. Now CUDIMMs are going to be coming onto the market which should make a lot of the memory tweaking simpler as long as you're looking for something as every day use.

Some examples:
On AMD getting DDR5-6000 CL30 to run is basically as easy as getting a kit that has those specifications and enabling EXPO on pretty much every CPU. Going higher than that is going to be up to CPU bin, but 6400 is the limit before you run into needing to mess with ratios.

On Intel 13th/14th Gen DDR5-7200 CL34 is pretty much the same as DDR5-6000 CL30 is on AMD: just enable XMP and go. Getting beyond that is going to be dependent on CPU bin and motherboard with 1DPC boards generally allowing for 200-400MT higher rates.

Intel has said that with ARL this should shift to DDR5-8000 being stable for most of their CPUs.