[lproven]

Nobody responsible or competent is scrapping DDR5 computers yet.

You can't use other speed standards of RAM in a computer designed for a faster (or slower) standard.

If it needs DDR5 it can't use DDR, DDR2, DDR3, or DDR4. I don't think I've ever seen any x86 machine that could use older slower standards.

You could use EDO in some FPRAM machines, and FPDRAM in EDO machines at a 15% speed penalty. You can use slightly faster DRAM in a machine that wants slower: later in their lives, I maxed out the RAM in some PowerMac G3 machines that wanted 66MHz DRAM using cheaper, already obsolete, 100MHz DRAM, or 133MHz DRAM in ones that only wanted 100MHz. But only within that standard.

It's an idea that has some merit. I still use old Thinkpads that need DDR3 as what would have been prohibitively expensive when they were new is now cheap -- I have maxed-out 16GB X220 and T420 machines, and a near-full W520 with 24GB.

But not DDR4, and you can't max out old DDR2 machines as big DDR2 DIMMs always were expensive and still are.

[extraduder_ire]

Intel has released CPUs that support multiple memory standards, but it's up to motherboard manufacturers to wire them up correctly and it's one or the other not both.

Boards with both slots on them have started to be released due to this current ram squeeze. e.g. ASRock's H610M COMBO board[0] has 4 DDR5 and 2 DDR4 slots

[0]: https://asrock.com/MB/Intel/H610M%20COMBO/index.vn.asp#Overv...

[Grombobulous]

As someone who typically buys AMD chips, these combo boards have always been so cool to me. Intel boards are often so much better than AMD.

I got around the high RAM prices by purchasing a micro center bundle deal to upgrade from my 5600X3D to a 9850X3D.

The total price was $699 for the processor, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and motherboard.

I’m not even sure how they do it. They’re basically discounting the CPU by $200 and the board and RAM by $50 each.

One theory I have is that inventory has piled up at retailers like Micro Center as consumer sales have dropped off a cliff. Perhaps consumer demand has been hurt so much that micro center’s cost basis for the RAM is still pretty low; it’s old inventory.

RAM prices have gone up but micro centers can’t magically sell their consumer ram to data centers. They are stuck selling it to consumers. So maybe they’re only willing to discount the price below market rate if you buy more stuff from them and buy in-store only. If they sold it for the old price they’d see customers coming in just to flip the memory on eBay.

I know the consumer RAM and motherboard brands are hurting and it’s only the companies producing the underlying chips that are benefiting.