The next generation of gaming PC RAM isn't quite ready to go yet, but that hasn't stopped memory manufacturers from prepping their first DDR5 kits. Today marks the announcement of PNY's DDR5 desktop memory, which will run at 4,800MT/s right out of the gate.
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That's bang-on the JEDEC standard for DDR5 in terms of speed, and right up there with the fastest DDR4 kits on the market today. Technically DDR5 can far outstrip DDR4 memory in terms of speed, but it'll be a little while before we see it surpass older high-end kits by a considerable degree.
On the plus side, PNY expects DDR5 to offer higher overclocking headroom on the whole than DDR4. It doesn't say for sure whether this kit specifically will be the best for that, though, so we may have to wait and see how it performs in situ.
Beyond speeds, this PNY kit also runs at a low 1.1V, in line with the JEDEC spec, and features on-die ECC support.
ECC stands for Error Correcting Code and it effectively helps mitigate data corruption in operation. It's long been the standard for server-side memory, but it's only just making its way to client-side rigs.
All of this is planned to release in the final three months of 2021, which should be just in time for the first DDR5 compatible systems born of Intel's Alder Lake chips. Intel's upcoming CPU will actually support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, so there is hope if you wish to keep hold of your high-end DDR4 kit.
