When it comes to memory, in these troubled times, there is no choice but to adapt in order to build aPC at a lower cost or simply maintain your existing one. To do this, gamers are resorting to sometimes original solutions such as turning to DDR3. Indeed, in China, through X99 motherboards, this technology is enjoying a resurgence of interest due to its affordable prices!
DDR3 X99: the perfect combo for inexpensive configurations?
While we recommended DDR4 in December for its still acceptable price and decent performance, in China it’s a different story. There, users are opting forDDR3 but via an X99 platform. Some motherboards accept this type of memory, sometimes in massive quantities for dual-socket models. We’re talking about 256 GB of memory for around $180.
While the X99 was considered very high-end with processors that, at the time, exceeded four cores at Intel, it is now a low-cost platform. It must be said that in China, there is a plethora of strange motherboards based on this chipset and at a lower cost. As for CPUs, they no longer cost much on the second-hand market, and the same goes for Xeons of this generation. The number of memory channels helps to somewhat offset the memory bandwidth deficit compared to current RAM generations, while six- and eight-core CPUs mean you’re not too far behind in terms of core count. But from an architectural point of view… That’s another story.
Once again, it’s all a question of cost and budget, even if in an ideal world, you can find 32 GB packs for less than €100 in DDR5, but that was six months ago.
