Originally launched in 2020, DDR5 RAM was a bit more of an enthusiast pick for PCs at first due to its higher cost than DDR4 and the fact it can only work with certain high-end motherboards. DDR5 offers better performance, of course, but DDR4 had already been around for six years and saw the value to match it. Now, it seems like DDR5 has finally started to come down in price enough to make it an easy recommendation over the former.
You can get 32 GB of Corsair’s Vengeance memory for $90 at Newegg, which is $25 less than its retail price. That’s for two 16 GB sticks, too, which means maxing out both available channels on your motherboard. Though it is specifically compatible with Intel gear as an XMP kit, it also works on non-Intel motherboards and is compatible with Corsair’s iCue software, which means you can get better control when it comes to monitoring or overclocking your setup.
If you don’t particularly care about overclocking, this is just a great bit of RAM anyway, thanks to that speed and extra memory bandwidth. At a speed of 6000 MT/s, it can transfer much quicker DDR4 RAM.
This particular kit is rated to a CAS latency of 40, which is not great but not bad, either. It’s pretty much bang-on in the middle of the pack, and you shouldn’t notice that latency in any way while using your PC.
Your motherboard and CPU need to be compatible to actually use DDR5. It has a different pin layout to fit on board so you can’t simply swap out DDR4 for an upgrade.
However, if you’ve been making do with just 16GB of RAM or want to start putting together a new build, this deal is a great way to get your RAM sorted, and it’ll look particularly nice through some tempered glass. Since new CPU platforms from Intel and AMD both use DDR5 nowadays, it’s good to see the price premium come crashing down and RAM prices stay low.
