Is DDR3 RAM future proof?

[Peter Boyle]

I am planning to build my first gaming PC in the next few months but I don't know if I should get ddr4 ram instead of ddr3 ram to try to make my PC more future proof. Would I be OK to use ddr3 for the PC build or would this mean that sometime in the future (in the next 3-4 years) I would have to upgrade half my system to support ddr4? It may also be worth mentioning I plan to do some minor video editing and photoshop on the PC as well as gaming.

[pcshme33]

well what are your specs? Because newer things are only going to use DDR4. So you can't just change in the middle of it. skylake already doesn't use ddr3.

[Nena Trinity]

3-4 years probably not...

[Katsunaka]

They're already talking DDR5 by 2020. 

[Andster29]

DDR4 is practically the same cost as DDR3 is currently. You are better off going DDR4. As soon as Zen comes out, nothing will use DDR3 anymore. 

[007agentHP]

2 minutes ago, EnemySp0tt3d said:

well what are your specs? Because newer things are only going to use DDR4. So you can't just change in the middle of it. skylake already doesn't use ddr3.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#s=30&L=3

all these motherboards would like to object

dont spread lies

 

 

if an i7 2600k from 2012 is sticll kicking, an i7 4790k can kick around for another 2-3 years. youll be fine

[Peter Boyle]

2 minutes ago, EnemySp0tt3d said:

well what are your specs? Because newer things are only going to use DDR4. So you can't just change in the middle of it. skylake already doesn't use ddr3.

My specs were going to depend on weather I was getting a ddr4 based system or ddr3. I was thinking like a i7-4790k for ddr3 and a i7-6700k if I was getting ddr4

[Andster29]

1 minute ago, Katsunaka said:

They're already talking DDR5 by 2020. 

I really don't get that. We spent over 15 years on 3 different generations and in the course of 4 years they want to be 2 generations newer. For cpu performance, there really isn't a huge benefit for DDR4 over DDR3. I really only see server system benefiting from DDR5 by using a crap tone of ram to host VM's all in ram storage. For the consumer it just not seem to make sense to me.  

[minibois]

no it's not, all platforms are stepping away from it, thus making it not future proof. At the moment the latest 'active' sockets that still use it are FM2+, AM3+ and LGA 1151 (Skylake). FM2+ and AM3+ will be replaced soon (for a platform only using DDR4 likely) and on LGA 1151 it's not really advised to go for DDR3 anyways and in a year Kabylake will come out and DDR3 will be over.

[Andster29]

1 minute ago, Minibois said:

no it's not, all platforms are stepping away from it, thus making it not future proof. At the moment the latest 'active' sockets that still use it are FM2+, AM3+ and LGA 1151 (Skylake). FM2+ and AM3+ will be replaced soon (for a platform only using DDR4 likely) and on LGA 1151 it's not really advised to go for DDR3 anyways and in a year Kabylake will come out and DDR3 will be over.

Yah. In a year DDR3 will be like all the ram types before it, history. 

[Andster29]

1 minute ago, Minibois said:

no it's not, all platforms are stepping away from it, thus making it not future proof. At the moment the latest 'active' sockets that still use it are FM2+, AM3+ and LGA 1151 (Skylake). FM2+ and AM3+ will be replaced soon (for a platform only using DDR4 likely) and on LGA 1151 it's not really advised to go for DDR3 anyways and in a year Kabylake will come out and DDR3 will be over.

Yah. In a year DDR3 will be like all the ram types before it, history. 

[minibois]

9 minutes ago, Andster29 said:

Yah. In a year DDR3 will be like all the ram types before it, history. 

I expected it to be history this year already, but Intel decided to still have some motherboards support DDR3(L) so I guess it will take until 2017 to have it really be history.

But like we can see from history, RAM kinda holds its value for a bit, because people still do builds of old(er) stuff so need the old memory.

[iiNNeX]

Technically nothing in the computer industry is future proof.. as it is old the minute you buy it. But to answer your question in short, no.

 

DDR4 is the same price as DDR3 in most retailers and it's much faster (in applications which actually make good use of it). On your daily tasks, you won't notice any difference.

 

Hope this helps.

[Andster29]

2 hours ago, Minibois said:

I expected it to be history this year already, but Intel decided to still have some motherboards support DDR3(L) so I guess it will take until 2017 to have it really be history.

But like we can see from history, RAM kinda holds its value for a bit, because people still do builds of old(er) stuff so need the old memory.

Or people try to stretch an older system that they want to keep running. The school that I work at just bought a bunch of refurbished systems that run ddr3. It will be prevalent, just not in new systems for consumers/enthusiast. 

[hoodyracoon]

ram no, the bigger issue is any system you have running ddr3 in currently is either pcie 2.0 or 3.0 by the time you start caring cards will be coming in pcie 4.0 versions and it wont be backwards compatible, the specs gonna be finalized in 2017 cards likely will come in 2018 and pcie 3.0 will fade out around 2019-2020. your system will be fine buy the time you care the cpu, will be old and you can't use any new cards.