DDR5 SDRAM

Double Data Rate 5 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR5 SDRAM) is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory. Compared to its predecessor DDR4 SDRAM, DDR5 was planned to reduce power consumption, while doubling bandwidth. The standard, originally targeted for 2018, was released on July 14, 2020.

A new feature called Decision Feedback Equalization (DFE) enables input/output (I/O) speed scalability for higher bandwidth and performance improvement. DDR5 has about the same latency (around 14 ns) as DDR4 and DDR3. DDR5 octuples the maximum DIMM capacity from 64 GB to 512 GB. DDR5 also has higher frequencies than DDR4, up to 8GT/s which translates into 64 GB/s (8000 MT/s * 64-bit width / 8 bits/byte = 64 GB/s) of bandwidth per DIMM.

Rambus announced a working DDR5 dual in-line memory module (DIMM) in September 2017. On November 15, 2018, SK Hynix announced completion of its first DDR5 RAM chip; running at 5.2 GT/s at 1.1 V. In February 2019, SK Hynix announced a 6.4 GT/s chip, the highest speed specified by the preliminary DDR5 standard. The first production DDR5 DRAM chip was officially launched by SK Hynix on October 6, 2020.

The separate JEDEC standard Low Power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5), intended for laptops and smartphones, was released in February 2019.

Compared to DDR4, DDR5 further reduces memory voltage to 1.1 V, thus reducing power consumption. DDR5 modules incorporate on-board voltage regulators in order to reach higher speeds.

There is a general expectation that most use-cases that currently use DDR4 will eventually migrate to DDR5.