DDR4 vs DDR5 Intel Core i9-12900K Testing

1. DDR5 Has Arrived2. Testing Methodology3. Memory Benchmarks4. Compute and Productivity Tests5. 3DMark Tests6. Gaming Tests7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Compute and Productivity Tests

With 7-Zip compression performance, we see the Corsair DDR5 5200MHz kit put in an absolutely storming result. The far greater frequency provided by DDR5 translates into higher bandwidth and this in turn is a bigger influence in the compression workload than any latency negativities.

Aside from DDR5, the next contenders are either dual-rank or four single-rank DIMMs.

The decompression workload is less influenced by memory bandwidth. As such, the margins of performance between each kit are squeezed. Here, a quick set of dual-rank DDR4 with strong timings is likely to match or surpass the performance of DDR5 5200 modules.

Blender’s Classroom test shows an identical hierarchy to the 7-Zip decompression workload.

The margins are tight, but the ultra-high-spec DDR4 kits are able to match or slightly outperform the 5200MHz Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5.

Differences in Cinebench performance are minor. So much so that we would not really call the difference in performance between the top DDR4 and DDR5 sets anything worth pointing out.

Handbrake clearly likes memory bandwidth and therefore rewards the DDR5 memory with a high score. Here, the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 is tangibly quicker than even the ultra-high-end DDR4 comparisons.

This extra bandwidth delivered by DDR5 could be useful if you do a lot of heavy video conversion work.

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