DDR5 vs. DDR4 Gaming (Alder Lake)

[Vandey]

Thinking of picking up the 12700K... has anyone seen reviews on DDR4 vs DDR5 memory? I can't seem to find any directly relating evidence that DDR5 for gaming is better than DDR4... I'm talking like DDR4 4800MHz (not 3200 MHz). I can't find any DDR5 and rather not wait for memory... Is there much of a benefit going DDR5 for gaming or not?  I've seen one video compare DDR4 to DDR5 both running 4800MHz and DDR4 actually gave a few higher FPS (probably within margin of error).

[DarkSmith2]

currently there is no benefit with ddr5 for gaming. It will take a while for ddr5 to catch up to ddr4.
DDR5 4800 is roughly equivalent performance to DDR4 3200.

[IkeaGnome]

Especially with how hard it is to get, no point yet.

 

[Vandey]

1 minute ago, DarkSmith2 said:

currently there is no benefit with ddr5 for gaming. It will take a while for ddr5 to catch up to ddr4.
DDR5 4800 is roughly equivalent performance to DDR4 3200.

Is that software related performance? So with updates it'll get better?

[Pixelfie]

DDR4 often performs better. It may change in the future when games get optimized for DDR5, but we don't know that yet.

 

Hardware Unboxed included both DDR4 and DDR5 testing in their video. https://youtu.be/WWsMYHHC6j4

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, Vandey said:

Is that software related performance? So with updates it'll get better?

Hardware. The initial generation of DDR4 was basically on par with DDR3, and it took a while to go to full performance. Same thing is happening again with 1st gen  DDR5.

[DarkSmith2]

1 minute ago, Vandey said:

Is that software related performance? So with updates it'll get better?

No its pure latency based performance. Bandwidth it not high enough for the cas latencies required to run them.

Also note DDR5 can currently only be used in atleast gear2 mode, which means with half the memory controller clocks. (1:2 ratio) 
while ddr4 can be used in gear1 with ddr4 4000-4266. (1:1 ratio)

[Vandey]

So is it even beneficial to run DDR4 4800? Or is there a point of diminishing returns on faster DDR4? Is the sweet spot around 4000-4200 MHz? I know a lot is based on the CL number.

[DarkSmith2]

Just now, Vandey said:

So is it even beneficial to run DDR4 4800? Or is there a point of diminishing returns on faster DDR4? Is the sweet spot around 4000-4200 MHz? I know a lot is based on the CL number.

with alderlake you want ddr4 4000 with lowest CL you can get and run it in gear1 mode. 

[Derigueur]

2 hours ago, DarkSmith2 said:

with alderlake you want ddr4 4000 with lowest CL you can get and run it in gear1 mode. 

How did you determine this?