I'm in the process of putting together a budget PC and have already decided on my graphics card, which is an RX 6700 XT 12GB. Right now, I'm considering either an i5 14600K or a Ryzen 5 7500F for the CPU, but I haven't finalized my choices for the motherboard or CPU yet.
I'm focusing on RAM first, and I'm aiming for 32GB. In my local market, DDR5 at around 4800MHz CL40 costs between $180-$200, while DDR4 in the 3000-3600MHz range goes for $100-$140. DDR5 6000MHz tends to be priced around $250-$300.
I'm wondering whether it's worth it to spend the extra $80 for DDR5 or if DDR4 would be sufficient for pairing with a used AM4 CPU or the Ryzen 5 7500F. Also, just to clarify, I'm not looking for a future-proof setup; I'm mainly concerned with current gaming performance.
1 Answer
If you can snag a decent DDR5 kit for that price, I'd go for it. A 32GB kit here can range from $250-$500 depending on brand and speed. Just so you know, CL36 is only about 1-3% slower than CL30 for gaming, which isn't a huge deal either way!
Got it! Thanks for clarifying. Do you think spending that extra $80 on DDR5 4800MHz makes sense compared to the cheaper DDR4 options?