Should I buy DDR4 or DDR5 RAM? That’s the question we’re going to answer here, with a focus on gaming. If you’re considering using Intel’s LGA1700 platform with its powerful 12th, 13th, and 14th gen CPUs, you’ll need to decide whether to use DDR4 or DDR5 memory. We're setting out to answer whether DDR5 is faster in games than DDR4, and if the extra premium is worth it.

If you already own a DDR4 rig, you could also potentially save some money on your PC hardware by transplanting your existing DDR4 sticks into your upgraded Intel PC, but is that a false economy for gaming? To find the best gaming RAM tech, we’ve put typical kits of each type of memory to the test to see if there’s any difference in gaming performance and, if so, to see whether it’s best to save some money and go with DDR4 or spend a little extra and use DDR5.