SFF.Network G.SKILL Shows Low-Profile DDR5

(Image Credit: GSKILL)

G.SKILL has announced their upcoming low-profile DDR5 memory in the form of the Ripjaws S5. Coming in at only 33mm in height, the 16GBx2 kits will support up to DDR5-6000 speeds at 36-36-36-75 CL Timings. While the price has not been announced, analysts are expecting the DDR5 memory market to cost up to double that of DDR4's current pricing.



(Image Credit: GSKILL)

The Ripjaws S5 were shown in both black and white, with low profile heatsinks attached to the memory. At 33mm, they will still be too tall for coolers like the Alpenfohn Black Ridge that require VLP (very low profile) memory modules, but should fit nicely under most other coolers such as the Noctua L12s.

 

[Phuncz]

That latency though, even half those specs are equivalent to DDR4-3000 CL18. I hope there's more to DDR5 tech than just trading latency for bandwidth yet again.

 

[Revenant]

That latency though, even half those specs are equivalent to DDR4-3000 CL18. I hope there's more to DDR5 tech than just trading latency for bandwidth yet again.

I still cringe when thinking about anything above Case 2-2-2-5 1T...

 

[Valantar]

That latency though, even half those specs are equivalent to DDR4-3000 CL18. I hope there's more to DDR5 tech than just trading latency for bandwidth yet again.

That's precisely what DDR5 does. The spec is almost entirely determined by the wants/needs of server and datacenter businesses, so bandwidth is where it's at. JEDEC speeds/latencies are always poor, but they are especially so for DDR5, and even the "better than JEDEC" SKUs we have seen are roughly equivalent to DDR4-3200c16 in terms of actual latency (6600c36 is among the best so far, and that's roughly equivalent to3200c17).

There will no doubt be better latency chips to be had in time, but (as with DDR4) bandwidth is the main focus. DDR5 (and LPDDR5) will be amazing for APUs, but there's no reason to move past DDR4 for consumer workloads other than this, at least for the first couple of years.

Still, these G.Skill DIMMS are some of the best looking I have seen in a long, long time. Not that that counts for much, but it is what it is.