Core i5-12600K With Old And New DDR, More Data Points

Is XMP 3.0 Worth The Asking Price?

With the coming of the Z690 chipset support for DDR5 is now a thing for early adopters, but is it worth the investment?  Timings are loose right now, which is only to be expected with brand new technology; the frequencies are very attractive and timings will tighten up over time.  Does that mean it makes sense to go with a DDR5 board right now, so you will be able to swap out your DIMMs once the next generation comes out instead of having to replace a DDR4 board?

The performance results lean towards sticking with DDR4 in previous reviews and The FPS Review’s findings are similar.  The performance delta between DDR4-3600 and DDR5-5200 is marginal at best, while the price is anything but.  You won’t see any real performance gains with the new memory specification but you will be able to ride the DDR5 train as it revs up.  Then again, if XMP 3.0 is replaced with a new version that is more than a BIOS flash to add, you might just find yourself in the market for a new motherboard after all.

The FPS also dives into what differentiates DDR5 from DDR4 on the first page, as it is more than just a matter of timings and frequencies.