Confused on the DDR5 on a mobo

[Goot]

I am just starting to notice that the GPU i am buying, and another one I was previously looking at said they were DDR5. While looking at motherboards I also can't seem to find where it says DDR(anything) for the GPUs. I am just confused what the DDR on a GPU means and how to pick an appropriate motherboard

[TheGhzGuy]

Just now, Goot said:

I am just starting to notice that the GPU i am buying, and another one I was previously looking at said they were DDR5. While looking at motherboards I also can't seem to find where it says DDR(anything) for the GPUs. I am just confused what the DDR on a GPU means and how to pick an appropriate motherboard

GDDR5 is for GPU's only. The Motherboard will support the graphics card if it has a PCI-E slot.

[Goot]

Just now, TheGhzGuy said:

GDDR5 is for GPU's only. The Motherboard will support the graphics card if it has a PCI-E slot.

So is the DDR5 just information for the GPU? It really has no impact on picking a motherboard?

[ZetZet]

GPU's have GDDR, it's not related in any way and doesn't matter. Any mobo will work.

[TheGhzGuy]

1 minute ago, Goot said:

So is the DDR5 just information for the GPU? It really has no impact on picking a motherboard?

Correct. 

[Goot]

Just now, TheGhzGuy said:

Correct. 

Okay, thank you! That is what I thought, I saw a box in person and the DDR5 was front and center, and bold. So it caught my eye, and I was just curious  

[TheGhzGuy]

Just now, Goot said:

Okay, thank you! That is what I thought, I saw a box in person and the DDR5 was front and center, and bold. So it caught my eye, and I was just curious  

Alright then, do you need any help with your other components or were you just curious about this question?

[Goot]

Just now, TheGhzGuy said:

Alright then, do you need any help with your other components or were you just curious about this question?

I think i'm good now. Just curious about this, trying to further educate myself. Thank you again!

[TheGhzGuy]

Just now, Goot said:

I think i'm good now. Just curious about this, trying to further educate myself. Thank you again!

No problem! I'm happy to help!

[DevilishBooster]

DDR (GDDR5 is the current gen - 'Graphics' DDR) on a graphics card is different from the DDR memory that is used in a motherboard's DIMM slots. The only thing you need to worry about is if the motherboard has the appropriate slot(s). Any GPU that you are likely to buy and use will have a PCIe interface, and all motherboards these days have at least one PCIe slot.

If you want to get more advanced than that, you can look at the specifications of the PCIe slot(s) on the motherboard: 

Are they PCIe 2.0 or 3.0

Are they 16x, 8x, or 4x (if the motherboard only has one PCIe slot, it is more than likely a 16x slot)

If you are running more than one GPU, what configuration do the slots operate in?

 

Just food for thought

[Guest]

Is there a sticky on this forum for general compatability and terminology for PC building? If not it might be a good idea to write something along those lines.

[harrynowl]

The GDDR5 listed on the GPU is the memory physically present on the GPU itself, as it has its own pool of memory. The technology behind GDDR5 is the same as DDR3 it's just designed in a different way to achieve high throughput.

 

The RAM on a GPU is usually referred to as VRAM and will look like this on most cards (the ICs around the main core). Although newer HBM type cards have it on the GPU itself.

 

The DDR type of the card doesn't need to be the same as the type used by CPU. I can run a GDDR5 R9 390 in a DDR2 based system just fine from a compatibility standpoint for example.