AMD introduced a new CPU socket for their processors.
AMD introduced a new CPU socket for their processors.
AMD confirmed backing for AM4 through 2020. It looks like a fresh CPU socket for Ryzen is expected soon, or there might be additional time before that?
Someone might guess that Zen 4 could adopt DDR5, requiring a different socket and board, though details about the transition remain unclear.
It would have been great if only those DDR2/3 AM2/3 LGA775 boards had arrived. Those circuits were intriguing yet ultimately fell short. I don’t recall any hybrid models that could handle 4GB DDR3 dimms. If they existed, I never found one. DDR3 platforms did have some limits on capacity that didn’t hold up well over time. Worse still, certain laptop systems only accepted dual or single DDR3 (rank, not channel). Today it seems less of a problem since most basic tasks fit on a single 8GB stick. Newer models also support more than one type per dimm. Now the issue is that the space needed for decent amounts of DDR4 or DDR5 wouldn’t be a major concern, unlike in the past when we struggled with limited slots. Still, it surprises me that 775 CPUs could fit on DDR1/DDR2 and DDR3 boards that matched the socket. Given that the memory controller sits on the CPU, the potential for DDR5 to run at 10x the speed of DDR2 is daunting, especially considering OEMs often cut corners with BIOS ROM chips.
In general, when DDR4 was released, its speed matched that of DDR3 at that moment. The CPU models from Coffee Lake still supported DDR3 controllers. Similarly, the AMD Athlon II and Phenom II series had both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers built in. This is entirely reasonable.
Skylake and higher models are officially DDR3L compatible, though this mainly influences the voltage used by the DIMM. It remains a DDR3 controller design. DDR3L isn't a temporary fix; it's designed for laptops and power-focused setups. The H310C is a Chinese-only chipset supporting 300-series and DDR3L. I don’t have details on DDR5.