If you have recently tried to build a PC or improve yours a little, you have surely seen how RAM prices have skyrocketed. DDR5 seems like something literally only for a few, let alone building a whole new computer.
But here comes the good news, since DDR3, that memory that most considered old and obsolete, is experiencing a comeback in style, almost 20 years later, among gamers and other users who do not want to go bankrupt.
While it is true that a few years ago, thinking about playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 with DDR3 it was a joke, today, thanks to hardware combinations, they can move current games at a rate of frames more than decent.
YouTubers like RandomGaminginHD have tested configurations such as a 2014 Intel Core i7-4790K with an RTX 2060 Super and 32 GB of DDR3, and the results are quite good.
Of course, not everything is rosy and you will surely have to adjust graphics in very heavy games, and in loaded scenes the frames they go down a little. But most of the titles, from Battlefield 6 until Red Dead Redemption 2they run around 60 fps, which is more than enough.
That is why many are already advising that, if you have a PC with DDR3 stored and eating dust, it is time to give it a new chance.
With a decent processor from that era and an average graphics card, you can build a fairly good computer and play most of today’s games. You can even overclockear your processor a little and adjust the graphics to improve the entire experience.
Many people are building their own homemade memory from loose parts
Considering all this mess, yThere are users who are taking laptop memory, much cheaper, and adapting it for use in desktop computers.
Although it may seem crazy, the truth is that it is working for many and the forums and networks are filling up with success stories.
To give you an idea, RAM for laptops, the famous SO-DIMM, costs significantly less than desktop RAM. What they have decided is to join two small modules, mount them on a board and create their own perfectly useful 32 GB memory.
One of the most commented cases is that of a mud known as VIK-on. With two 16 GB modules, an adapted motherboard, some soldering and a little software, he managed to create his own DDR5 module. It wasn’t free, but it was much cheaper than buying a new one in the store.
On the other hand, there are well-known channels that have tested adapters that allow using laptop RAM on desktop PCs. While it is true that it works, everyone agrees that it is a situation to get by. It is not something that everyone can do or that will be useful for many years..
Others directly, as mentioned before, have decided to return to DDR4 instead of DDR5, reuse old modules or simply leave the improvement of the PC for later. The problem is when they are in the middle of the process.
The problem with all this is the perfect storm that has been created around RAM: less supply due to AI, more demand and prices that do not stop rising. For the final consumer the result is disastrous.