DDR3 Makes a Comeback As Chip Prices Soar

With the rising prices of DDR4 and DDR5 RAM, some may consider turning to DDR3. The author of the YouTube channel RandomGaminginHD decided to test the capabilities of a PC equipped with such memory. He assembled a system based on a Core i7-4790K, 32 GB DDR3, and a GeForce RTX 2060 Super. It’s possible to install a more powerful video card, but it must be remembered that the processor will limit the GPU’s performance boost.

Overall, playing in Full HD, such a configuration can handle modern games quite well. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, at medium-high settings and naturally without ray tracing, the system outputs 55-70 fps, and this is without DLSS. In Baldur’s Gate 3, one can achieve 60-70 fps, Battlefield 6 shows 70 fps, Counter-Strike 2 delivers nearly 120 fps, and around the same range is seen in Fortnite. The well-optimized Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2 deliver roughly 70 fps each. In all these cases, DLSS was disabled, so it can increase performance a bit without significantly harming image quality.

Interestingly, the demand for DDR3 has seen a noticeable uptick in the secondary market. According to recent observations, sales of DDR3 memory have surged by threefold as consumers look for cost-effective alternatives amidst the price hikes of newer alternatives. Although assembling a new PC with such components is not possible, acquiring parts in the secondary market is very affordable. It is crucial to remember not to choose Intel Core processors without Hyper-Threading for such builds. Where the Core i7-4790K with its four cores and eight threads performs fairly well, a newer Core i5-6600K, despite being newer, will perform worse due to having only four threads.