Twice the speed, two times the density, and 20 percent less voltage

It’s been six years since DDR3 memory was adopted and it’s just about time to start moving over to DDR4. A  Crucial promo page for the company’s DDR4 memory lists “late 2013” as a release date which means that we should be seeing the new modules by December.

Don’t get too excited yet. It’s probably been a while since you’ve switched from DDR2 to DDR3, but just like previous changes, DDR4 will require new motherboards compatible with its different architecture. The incentive to upgrade is definitely there. Crucial lists a base memory speed of 2133MHz running at only 1.2V. The DDR4 memory will also have a smaller die which means that DDR4 can hold up to 16GB per stick over the 8GB limitation of DDR3. That translates to a 20 percent decrease in voltage, 100 percent increase in speed, and a 300 percent increase in density.

There aren’t any DDR4-compatible motherboards yet, but with Crucial announcing the first DDR4 memory—and other memory manufacturers sure to follow—they shouldn’t be too far off.

Republished from crucial.com. (View original version.)