{"video_id":"pRLn1pingDM","title":"The Solution to the RAM Crisis is… DDR4???","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2026-02-03T14:53:29Z","duration_s":644,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":7.279,"text":"While AMD makes basket after basket with high performance, competitively [music]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.16,"end_s":9.04,"text":"priced X3D gaming CPUs, Intel continues","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":7.279,"end_s":14.559,"text":"to dunk on themselves when it comes to desktop processors. Nobody's buying Core","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.24,"end_s":20.08,"text":"Ultra for gaming rigs. But it wasn't too long ago that 12th gen and 13th gen Core","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":17.359,"end_s":25.439,"text":"i5s and i7s were hailed not only for their performance at the time, but for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.0,"end_s":28.72,"text":"memory support. They support both DDR4","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":25.439,"end_s":30.32,"text":"and DDR5. And now that DDR5 RAM pricing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":28.72,"end_s":35.44,"text":"just keeps getting worse and worse. Should you jump on that older DDR4","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.399,"end_s":37.92,"text":"before that gets overly expensive, too?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":35.44,"end_s":44.719,"text":"To find out, [music] we've got two nine identical PCs. Fighting out of the blue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":41.04,"end_s":48.48,"text":"corner, an Intel 12700 K and 16","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.719,"end_s":51.6,"text":"FAST-PACED GIGS OF OLDER DDR4 memory.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.48,"end_s":57.039,"text":"And now out of the red corner, AN AMD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":51.6,"end_s":58.0,"text":"7800 X3D with 16 gigs of DDR5.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.039,"end_s":63.92,"text":">> All right, gentlemen. I want you to protect yourselves at all times. Aim for the best price performance possible. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.6,"end_s":68.159,"text":"listen to this segue from our sponsor, >> Meter. They build enterprise levels from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":66.32,"end_s":71.439,"text":"the ground up. Meter designs and manufactures their own hardware as well.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":70.08,"end_s":74.72,"text":"So, if you're looking for reliable, scalable networking across multi-sight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":73.28,"end_s":78.96,"text":"enterprise environments, check out the link in the video description. Each of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":76.64,"end_s":83.439,"text":"the machines behind me have a 1 TB gen 4 NVMe drive, a 750 W power supply, a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":82.0,"end_s":88.72,"text":"Thermal Write Peerless Assassin for cooling, and an ASRock RX970 XT. The","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":87.28,"end_s":92.24,"text":"motherboards you see here are similar tiers to each other, but are different","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":90.479,"end_s":95.759,"text":"from a recommended parts list that we'll show you later. This is what we had on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.079,"end_s":100.479,"text":"hand, and power limits are unlocked equally across the board. As for our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":97.92,"end_s":104.72,"text":"CPUs, these two chips are both eight cores of gaming goodness. But while","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.96,"end_s":109.28,"text":"Intel went with their efficiency core approach for handling more tasks at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":106.32,"end_s":115.68,"text":"once, AMD's got what games crave, 3D Vcash, I fully expect our DDR5 build to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":112.72,"end_s":120.56,"text":"outperform Team Blue and DDR4. But the Intel rig was almost $260 cheaper to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.64,"end_s":125.04,"text":"build. Does that decrease in price come with a similar decrease in performance?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.64,"end_s":132.959,"text":"We're going to find out. But for anyone wondering, hey, what about AM4? Fighting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":128.64,"end_s":135.44,"text":"out of the other red corner, a Ryzen 7","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":132.959,"end_s":142.0,"text":"5800 XT. It's basically the same setup as Intel,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.239,"end_s":144.0,"text":"but even cheaper at about $1,500. All","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.0,"end_s":149.12,"text":"right, no more of this. But, you know, seriously, at time of filming, you can't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.76,"end_s":150.64,"text":"find a new 5800 or 5700 X3D for a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.12,"end_s":157.2,"text":"reasonable price anymore, if you can find one locally at all. And yet here we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.44,"end_s":159.36,"text":"are still on AM4 with not only a solid","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.2,"end_s":166.0,"text":"CPU, but one that comes with a free freaking cooler for just $220.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":163.44,"end_s":169.519,"text":"We added a third Peerless Assassin just to make sure cooling was consistent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.68,"end_s":173.12,"text":"across all of our machines. But you don't have to do that. Save 30 bucks.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.2,"end_s":178.959,"text":"You might also be saying, \"Hey, Plof, why 12700K instead of a 14700K?\"","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.48,"end_s":182.8,"text":"Look, Intel says they've fixed the microode issues on 13th and 14th gen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.36,"end_s":187.44,"text":"chips. that was cooking them in their sockets. But then Intel's also continued","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.28,"end_s":191.2,"text":"to roll out updates as recently as midl last year. So, I'm not going to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.12,"end_s":195.76,"text":"recommend a Core i7 from either of those generations. Look, if you want to roll","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":192.72,"end_s":197.84,"text":"the dice, go ahead. But 12th gen is also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.76,"end_s":202.959,"text":"significantly cheaper right now. What's actually harder is deciding whether to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.599,"end_s":204.319,"text":"get a 12900K or a 12700K since they were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.959,"end_s":209.84,"text":"almost the same price at time of filming. though the higher clocks and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":206.8,"end_s":212.56,"text":"extra ecores make the 12900K a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":209.84,"end_s":216.879,"text":"harder to cool. For our AM5 system, the 7800X 3D is a bit cheaper than the new","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.959,"end_s":220.72,"text":"hotness for a bit worse performance at 1440p. And I don't expect we'll need the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.28,"end_s":224.879,"text":"improvements to the memory controller that came with the 9000 series chips. If","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.879,"end_s":228.72,"text":"we were gaming at 1080p, I might reconsider. But I figure if you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.72,"end_s":234.319,"text":"spending at least 1,500 bucks on your computer, you're probably buying a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":231.44,"end_s":239.04,"text":"decent 1440p gaming monitor, maybe even 4K. Picking out our dedated WAM was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":237.04,"end_s":242.239,"text":"pretty easy as well. We're gaming. We want decent transfer speeds with low","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.799,"end_s":247.36,"text":"latency and a dual channel configuration. More on that shortly. For","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.56,"end_s":253.92,"text":"our Intel and AM4 DDR4, we got this sweet 2x8 gig 3200 mega transfers per","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.08,"end_s":256.479,"text":"second CL16 kit for 125 bucks. Let that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":253.92,"end_s":260.639,"text":"sink in for a second because uh it went up to 140 just a couple of days later.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.72,"end_s":265.6,"text":"But hey, I found it at 125. So that's the price we're sticking to. It gets","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":262.88,"end_s":271.52,"text":"worse though. For our AM5 machine, our DDR5 kit is a solid 6,000 mega transfers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.72,"end_s":277.84,"text":"per second, CL32. Also 2x8 gigs, and it cost us 100 bucks more at 225. Yikes.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":275.6,"end_s":281.84,"text":"You can get a single 16 gig stick of DDR5 for less than that. We're paying","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":279.6,"end_s":285.6,"text":"about a $30 premium for dual channel because Hardware Unboxed released a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.44,"end_s":289.84,"text":"video recently exploring single versus dual channel DDR5 setups. And while it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":288.0,"end_s":293.919,"text":"didn't matter in every benchmark, the ones that [music] did, it showed a stark","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.0,"end_s":297.44,"text":"performance drop in 1% lows on the single channel configurations. If you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":295.68,"end_s":301.28,"text":"building a new PC and making a tough choice about RAM in this economy, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":299.759,"end_s":306.4,"text":"highly recommend you go check out that video. By the way, our PC part picker","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.44,"end_s":311.199,"text":"list doesn't exactly match the hardware we already have on hand, but we chose","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":309.28,"end_s":314.88,"text":"comparable analogs from our inventory that we happen to have doubles or even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":312.88,"end_s":317.759,"text":"triples of. And if you're still upset about any of the choices I made for this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.479,"end_s":324.52,"text":"comparison, check out the comments below. Maybe leave one or don't. I don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":320.4,"end_s":324.52,"text":"control you. Or do I?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":327.039,"end_s":331.08,"text":"First game, Dota 2.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":331.36,"end_s":335.24,"text":"Resident Evil 4 time","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.52,"end_s":339.16,"text":"Doom Dark Ages","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.68,"end_s":344.8,"text":"Boulders Gate 3 just in the starting area. [music]","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.36,"end_s":349.72,"text":">> He's got higher 1% lows. >> He's got that DDR5. All right, Cyberpunk","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.72,"end_s":349.72,"text":"time.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.919,"end_s":356.479,"text":">> These are pretty much all the same. >> He's got higher 1% lows. You too. Mine","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":353.44,"end_s":357.919,"text":"are still at like 37 3840. One advantage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.479,"end_s":364.56,"text":"that isn't going to be apparent while we're gaming at 1440p. Um, same graphics","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.36,"end_s":366.08,"text":"cards, different CPUs. Our 7800 X 3D","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.56,"end_s":370.639,"text":"finished all of the setup stuff for Metal Gear Solid Delta","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.479,"end_s":372.96,"text":"30 plus seconds a minute before mine. >> I started after you and finished way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":372.56,"end_s":380.0,"text":"before. >> So, while our gaming benchmarks are going to be indicative of performance,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.24,"end_s":384.16,"text":"it's not exactly indicative of, you know, computing performance. Arc Raiders","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.4,"end_s":388.039,"text":"next. We're not in the same lobby. I've got rain, they've got sun.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":388.4,"end_s":393.039,"text":"Next game, playing the Oblivion remaster just at the start of the game in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.6,"end_s":397.52,"text":"dungeon. [music] >> All right, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.84,"end_s":401.039,"text":">> Wow, you got destroyed. >> This is the first time the 5800 XT is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":399.919,"end_s":406.16,"text":"actually kind of showing its like architectural age, I guess. >> 100%. >> I don't know if it's the extra","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":403.84,"end_s":411.199,"text":"processing cores, the ecores on here, or just new architecture on David's kit or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.639,"end_s":415.329,"text":"the DDR5, but this is a clear loss. Expedition 33.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":413.309,"end_s":420.24,"text":">> [music] >> Silent Hill F just at the start.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":417.6,"end_s":424.16,"text":"Everything cranked. I'm getting like 61 62 FPS. 1%s are actually pretty solid at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.12,"end_s":428.56,"text":"like high 50s. >> I'm basically the exact same as you. >> Yeah, I've got the same too.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.8,"end_s":431.36,"text":">> Civ 7. We're all in very different locations. So, you know, that's going to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":429.84,"end_s":435.28,"text":"add some variance. >> My 1% lows are killing me here for sure.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":433.52,"end_s":439.28,"text":">> Yeah. Not the most scientific test we've ever done. Once I took the numbers from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.039,"end_s":443.039,"text":"our haphazard gaming session and charted them out, I was pleasantly surprised to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.199,"end_s":448.96,"text":"see how little of a difference there was on average. Our geom mean across all 10","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":446.16,"end_s":454.319,"text":"games was neck and neck for average FPS. And if we look at 1% lows, our two older","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":451.52,"end_s":460.08,"text":"gen DDR4 chips are within 1 FPS of each other. The 7800 X3D with DDR5 is in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":457.52,"end_s":465.44,"text":"lead, just as we expected, but only by about 9%. Well, we saved almost 15%","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":462.96,"end_s":470.4,"text":"going with Intel and almost 20% going with AM4. Some of our games didn't care","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":467.84,"end_s":475.599,"text":"about our CPU RAM combo at all. Oblivion,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":472.16,"end_s":478.0,"text":"Resident Evil 4, and Silent Hill F are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":475.599,"end_s":482.96,"text":"all so close that I'd call them a tie. And the rest were basically coin tosses","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":479.919,"end_s":484.479,"text":"between our 12700 K and 5800 XT for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":482.96,"end_s":488.479,"text":"second place. But don't forget about that shader compilation we saw earlier.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":486.72,"end_s":491.599,"text":"There are other advantages going with newer architecture other than just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":490.0,"end_s":494.53,"text":"higher frames per second. But it's still a tough choice deciding what route to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":493.28,"end_s":498.8,"text":"take when building your next gaming [music] PC. Once you go to higher resolutions and become more GPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":497.36,"end_s":502.56,"text":"bottlenecked, as long as you've got a somewhat modern 8 core [music] chip,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":500.4,"end_s":506.639,"text":"maybe even six cores, you're probably fine. And depending on what games you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.56,"end_s":511.12,"text":"actually play, it might not matter at all. But what about the upgrade path?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":508.72,"end_s":516.08,"text":"The ever so important upgrade path. The sad truth is, while myself and many of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":514.24,"end_s":520.959,"text":"you enthusiasts watching this video will absolutely tinker with and upgrade your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.479,"end_s":524.56,"text":"computer over time, the vast majority of people don't. They'll buy a pre-built,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":522.959,"end_s":531.76,"text":"maybe put together their own parts, power it on, and maybe upgrade the GPU a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":528.0,"end_s":534.64,"text":"few years later. Maybe. I do think going","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":531.76,"end_s":539.279,"text":"AM5 and DDR5 today and spending a bit more to potentially save on future","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":536.8,"end_s":543.12,"text":"upgrades instead of a full platform swap years later is a valid argument","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.519,"end_s":547.519,"text":"considering the continued support that we've seen on AM4 over the years. Zen's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":545.12,"end_s":552.16,"text":"1, 2, and 3 each saw huge performance gains as the Ryzen family matured. Then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":550.16,"end_s":556.56,"text":"X3D chips were a breath of new life, and now we've got the X-T chips as well. But","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":554.72,"end_s":560.24,"text":"I don't know if AM5 is going to see similar gains. We haven't yet. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":558.48,"end_s":565.04,"text":"unless they unlock some new technology like they did with 3D Vcash, then the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":562.08,"end_s":569.279,"text":"gains are likely to remain incremental. Don't try to predict the future. I know","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":566.959,"end_s":574.0,"text":"I can't. Instead, [music] buy what you can afford today. Maybe don't worry so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":571.44,"end_s":580.56,"text":"much about a few minor FPS differences. And let's all hope that the RAM","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":575.36,"end_s":582.08,"text":"apocalypse blows over sooner than 2028.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.56,"end_s":586.56,"text":"And unfortunately, if you want to buy an older Intel processor, they're going end","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.68,"end_s":590.959,"text":"of life soon. So, the clock is ticking. Until then, just try to enjoy this segue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":589.04,"end_s":594.32,"text":"to our sponsor, Meter. If you're looking for a scalable network option at an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":592.72,"end_s":598.88,"text":"enterprise level, you should check them out. Whether you're in charge of streaming sport events at your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":596.8,"end_s":602.8,"text":"university or your business is opening warehouses across the state, Meter can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":601.12,"end_s":606.959,"text":"help. Everything they do is built from the ground up with their hardware being","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":604.399,"end_s":610.72,"text":"both designed and manufactured in-house. That's everything from firewalls to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":608.64,"end_s":614.56,"text":"access points to switches. It's a full stack networking option with both wired,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":612.64,"end_s":618.079,"text":"wireless, and cellular options for internet. So that's less headache of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":616.079,"end_s":621.6,"text":"juggling multiple ISPs, vendors, and tools. Plus, Meter aims to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":620.16,"end_s":624.72,"text":"transparent and predictable with pricing, so you can always work within","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":623.36,"end_s":628.72,"text":"your team's budget. And again, this is all built to scale with support across","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":626.48,"end_s":631.36,"text":"thousands of locations. Thanks to Meter for sponsoring the video. Go to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":629.839,"end_s":637.44,"text":"meter.com/LTT to book a demo now. That's me.com/LTT","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":635.519,"end_s":640.32,"text":"to book a demo today. Thanks for watching. If you like this video, maybe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":638.88,"end_s":645.04,"text":"check out the one where I recommend a super cheap gaming monitor. At least","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":642.079,"end_s":645.04,"text":"those are coming down to Bryce.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"While AMD makes basket after basket with high performance, competitively [music] priced X3D gaming CPUs, Intel continues to dunk on themselves when it comes to desktop processors. Nobody's buying Core Ultra for gaming rigs. But it wasn't too long ago that 12th gen and 13th gen Core i5s and i7s were hailed not only for their performance at the time, but for memory support. They support both DDR4 and DDR5. And now that DDR5 RAM pricing just keeps getting worse and worse. Should you jump on that older DDR4 before that gets overly expensive, too? To find out, [music] we've got two nine identical PCs. Fighting out of the blue corner, an Intel 12700 K and 16 FAST-PACED GIGS OF OLDER DDR4 memory. And now out of the red corner, AN AMD 7800 X3D with 16 gigs of DDR5. >> All right, gentlemen. I want you to protect yourselves at all times. Aim for the best price performance possible. And listen to this segue from our sponsor, >> Meter. They build enterprise levels from the ground up. Meter designs and manufactures their own hardware as well. So, if you're looking for reliable, scalable networking across multi-sight enterprise environments, check out the link in the video description. Each of the machines behind me have a 1 TB gen 4 NVMe drive, a 750 W power supply, a Thermal Write Peerless Assassin for cooling, and an ASRock RX970 XT. The motherboards you see here are similar tiers to each other, but are different from a recommended parts list that we'll show you later. This is what we had on hand, and power limits are unlocked equally across the board. As for our CPUs, these two chips are both eight cores of gaming goodness. But while Intel went with their efficiency core approach for handling more tasks at once, AMD's got what games crave, 3D Vcash, I fully expect our DDR5 build to outperform Team Blue and DDR4. But the Intel rig was almost $260 cheaper to build. Does that decrease in price come with a similar decrease in performance? We're going to find out. But for anyone wondering, hey, what about AM4? Fighting out of the other red corner, a Ryzen 7 5800 XT. It's basically the same setup as Intel, but even cheaper at about $1,500. All right, no more of this. But, you know, seriously, at time of filming, you can't find a new 5800 or 5700 X3D for a reasonable price anymore, if you can find one locally at all. And yet here we are still on AM4 with not only a solid CPU, but one that comes with a free freaking cooler for just $220. We added a third Peerless Assassin just to make sure cooling was consistent across all of our machines. But you don't have to do that. Save 30 bucks. You might also be saying, \"Hey, Plof, why 12700K instead of a 14700K?\" Look, Intel says they've fixed the microode issues on 13th and 14th gen chips. that was cooking them in their sockets. But then Intel's also continued to roll out updates as recently as midl last year. So, I'm not going to recommend a Core i7 from either of those generations. Look, if you want to roll the dice, go ahead. But 12th gen is also significantly cheaper right now. What's actually harder is deciding whether to get a 12900K or a 12700K since they were almost the same price at time of filming. though the higher clocks and extra ecores make the 12900K a little harder to cool. For our AM5 system, the 7800X 3D is a bit cheaper than the new hotness for a bit worse performance at 1440p. And I don't expect we'll need the improvements to the memory controller that came with the 9000 series chips. If we were gaming at 1080p, I might reconsider. But I figure if you're spending at least 1,500 bucks on your computer, you're probably buying a decent 1440p gaming monitor, maybe even 4K. Picking out our dedated WAM was pretty easy as well. We're gaming. We want decent transfer speeds with low latency and a dual channel configuration. More on that shortly. For our Intel and AM4 DDR4, we got this sweet 2x8 gig 3200 mega transfers per second CL16 kit for 125 bucks. Let that sink in for a second because uh it went up to 140 just a couple of days later. But hey, I found it at 125. So that's the price we're sticking to. It gets worse though. For our AM5 machine, our DDR5 kit is a solid 6,000 mega transfers per second, CL32. Also 2x8 gigs, and it cost us 100 bucks more at 225. Yikes. You can get a single 16 gig stick of DDR5 for less than that. We're paying about a $30 premium for dual channel because Hardware Unboxed released a video recently exploring single versus dual channel DDR5 setups. And while it didn't matter in every benchmark, the ones that [music] did, it showed a stark performance drop in 1% lows on the single channel configurations. If you're building a new PC and making a tough choice about RAM in this economy, I highly recommend you go check out that video. By the way, our PC part picker list doesn't exactly match the hardware we already have on hand, but we chose comparable analogs from our inventory that we happen to have doubles or even triples of. And if you're still upset about any of the choices I made for this comparison, check out the comments below. Maybe leave one or don't. I don't control you. Or do I? First game, Dota 2. Resident Evil 4 time Doom Dark Ages Boulders Gate 3 just in the starting area. [music] >> He's got higher 1% lows. >> He's got that DDR5. All right, Cyberpunk time. >> These are pretty much all the same. >> He's got higher 1% lows. You too. Mine are still at like 37 3840. One advantage that isn't going to be apparent while we're gaming at 1440p. Um, same graphics cards, different CPUs. Our 7800 X 3D finished all of the setup stuff for Metal Gear Solid Delta 30 plus seconds a minute before mine. >> I started after you and finished way before. >> So, while our gaming benchmarks are going to be indicative of performance, it's not exactly indicative of, you know, computing performance. Arc Raiders next. We're not in the same lobby. I've got rain, they've got sun. Next game, playing the Oblivion remaster just at the start of the game in the dungeon. [music] >> All right, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. >> Wow, you got destroyed. >> This is the first time the 5800 XT is actually kind of showing its like architectural age, I guess. >> 100%. >> I don't know if it's the extra processing cores, the ecores on here, or just new architecture on David's kit or the DDR5, but this is a clear loss. Expedition 33. >> [music] >> Silent Hill F just at the start. Everything cranked. I'm getting like 61 62 FPS. 1%s are actually pretty solid at like high 50s. >> I'm basically the exact same as you. >> Yeah, I've got the same too. >> Civ 7. We're all in very different locations. So, you know, that's going to add some variance. >> My 1% lows are killing me here for sure. >> Yeah. Not the most scientific test we've ever done. Once I took the numbers from our haphazard gaming session and charted them out, I was pleasantly surprised to see how little of a difference there was on average. Our geom mean across all 10 games was neck and neck for average FPS. And if we look at 1% lows, our two older gen DDR4 chips are within 1 FPS of each other. The 7800 X3D with DDR5 is in the lead, just as we expected, but only by about 9%. Well, we saved almost 15% going with Intel and almost 20% going with AM4. Some of our games didn't care about our CPU RAM combo at all. Oblivion, Resident Evil 4, and Silent Hill F are all so close that I'd call them a tie. And the rest were basically coin tosses between our 12700 K and 5800 XT for second place. But don't forget about that shader compilation we saw earlier. There are other advantages going with newer architecture other than just higher frames per second. But it's still a tough choice deciding what route to take when building your next gaming [music] PC. Once you go to higher resolutions and become more GPU bottlenecked, as long as you've got a somewhat modern 8 core [music] chip, maybe even six cores, you're probably fine. And depending on what games you actually play, it might not matter at all. But what about the upgrade path? The ever so important upgrade path. The sad truth is, while myself and many of you enthusiasts watching this video will absolutely tinker with and upgrade your computer over time, the vast majority of people don't. They'll buy a pre-built, maybe put together their own parts, power it on, and maybe upgrade the GPU a few years later. Maybe. I do think going AM5 and DDR5 today and spending a bit more to potentially save on future upgrades instead of a full platform swap years later is a valid argument considering the continued support that we've seen on AM4 over the years. Zen's 1, 2, and 3 each saw huge performance gains as the Ryzen family matured. Then X3D chips were a breath of new life, and now we've got the X-T chips as well. But I don't know if AM5 is going to see similar gains. We haven't yet. And unless they unlock some new technology like they did with 3D Vcash, then the gains are likely to remain incremental. Don't try to predict the future. I know I can't. Instead, [music] buy what you can afford today. Maybe don't worry so much about a few minor FPS differences. And let's all hope that the RAM apocalypse blows over sooner than 2028. And unfortunately, if you want to buy an older Intel processor, they're going end of life soon. So, the clock is ticking. Until then, just try to enjoy this segue to our sponsor, Meter. If you're looking for a scalable network option at an enterprise level, you should check them out. Whether you're in charge of streaming sport events at your university or your business is opening warehouses across the state, Meter can help. Everything they do is built from the ground up with their hardware being both designed and manufactured in-house. That's everything from firewalls to access points to switches. It's a full stack networking option with both wired, wireless, and cellular options for internet. So that's less headache of juggling multiple ISPs, vendors, and tools. Plus, Meter aims to be transparent and predictable with pricing, so you can always work within your team's budget. And again, this is all built to scale with support across thousands of locations. Thanks to Meter for sponsoring the video. Go to meter.com/LTT to book a demo now. That's me.com/LTT to book a demo today. Thanks for watching. If you like this video, maybe check out the one where I recommend a super cheap gaming monitor. At least those are coming down to Bryce."}