DDR4 apparently has a little further to go before becoming obsolete. Obsolescence can only occur when DDR5 is faster than DDR4, and well, that’s just not the case (yet). Crucial just launched the Ballistix Max 5100, which is the fastest memory kit available on the market, and it’s a DDR4 kit.
The only available configuration that the Crucial’s Ballistix Max 5100 comes in is a 16GB kit (two 8GB modules), and it’s only being produced in limited quantities. No one knows, so far, just how many of these memory modules Crucial will be producing, but apparently it’s only a limited number of them.
The Ballistix Max 5100 is a DDR4-5100 memory kit, so that means it’s rated for 5,100 MT/s (Million Transfers per Second). DDR4, like the other DDR standards before it, transfers 64-bits of data in each cycle. That means that in single-channel mode, each 8GB Ballistix Max 5100 module is capable of transferring 326,400 bits of data each second. There are 8 bits in each byte, so that means the Ballistix Max 5100 can transfer data at a rate of 40,800MB (39.8 GB) every second. This is a dual-channel kit, so that means in interleaving mode, the two module’s speeds will be combined for a total of almost 80GB/sec worth of memory bandwidth.
This same kit was used to set a memory frequency record last month. The Ballistix Max 5100 was overclocked and found to be stable at 6,666.6MHz. That’s 104.2 GB/sec of memory bandwidth. Overclocker ‘Bianbo’ was able to do so using an AMD Ryzen PC with an Asus RoG Strix B550-I Gaming motherboard.
Crucial’s Ballistix Max 5100 memory modules use sets of custom-tuned Micron memory dies. Micron, the owner of the ‘Crucial’ brand said that it’s the only memory manufacturer that has done custom tuning at the die level.
This kit is available now, but it won’t come cheap. Crucial has it listed on their website for $900.
