Introduction
Many computer and laptop users confuse that the DDR5 RAM is support in DDR4 motherboard slots and they do not find a proper answer. Users do not know what reasons make DDR5 incompatible with DDR4 slots.
DDR5 is the latest generation of RAM and this is the faster RAM till now and many people want to install DDR5 RAM in DDR4 sockets but first, you need to check your RAM Type and after ensuring the RAM type you need to read below reasons why DDR5 incompatible with DDR4 motherboard.
1. Physical Size
Every RAM generation is a different physical structure and with time the size of RAM becomes small and RAM performance increases. DDR4 and DDR5 are different notch positions which makes DDR5 RAM incompatible with the DDR4 slot. DDR5 Key Notch is left side and this is a reason that DDR5 is not install in the DDR4 motherboard.
2. Voltage Requirement
There is a different operating voltage of DDR4 and DDR5 slots because new generations of RAM are power efficient and come with a low voltage that’s why DDR5 RAM sticks are incompatible with DDR4 slots.
DDR5 requires 1.1V and DDR4 requires 1.2V and if you want to insert DDR5 RAM in a DDR4 slot then your RAM will damage due to high voltage because the DDR4 motherboard supply 1.2V.
3. Power
Now DDR5 RAM manages RAM voltage of their own and they are not dependent on motherboard power because voltage regulations circuit move in RAM stick from the motherboard and this is the reason that DDR5 incompatible with DDR4 slots.
4. Memory Bandwidth
DDR5 RAM performance is much faster than DDR4 because its base frequency is double than DDR4 generation and if you insert DDR5 RAM in your DDR4 slot then your processor not handle it because current processors is not designed according to this high frequency.
DDR5 RAM base frequency is from 3200Mhz to 6400Mhz and DDR4 RAM base frequency is from 1600Mhz to 3200Mhz.
The maximum memory capacity of DDR5 is also double than DDR4. DDR4 RAM support maximum memory capacity of 64GB per stick and DDR5 support 128GB maximum memory capacity per stick.
Conclusion
The final answer is that DDR5 is not compatible with the DDR4 motherboard because the current DIMM and voltage circuit in a motherboard is not designed as DDR5 generation requirement and it damage your DDR5 RAM.
FAQs
Is DDR5 faster than DDR4?
Yes DDR5 RAM is faster than DDR4 because new generations of RAM come with high base frequency and high memory capacity. DDR5 base frequency and maximum memory support are double than DDR4 which I already discuss in the Memory Bandwidth section.
Is DDR5 good for gaming?
DDR5 is a good option for gamers because its base frequency increase and according to benchmarks DDR5 is better than DDR4 RAM for gaming. The gaming performance more enhances and increases with DDR5 RAM.
What are the advantages of DDR5 RAM?
There are many new features introduced in DDR5 RAM including power management which saves your system power and increase performance, another new feature is increased memory Bandwidth which is good for overall computer speed gamers, video editors and 3D rendering.
