AMD will accept Intel's dominance until "Zen" is released

Oct 6, 2015 08:01 GMT  ·  By

In a surprising move, AMD starts to sell Radeon DDR4 memory modules that are not compatible with existing AMD platforms but can work flawlessly with Intel Corp.’s Z170 chipsets and derivatives. AMD's "Zen " platform, however, will start integrating the DRAM modules as well in 2016.

The new AMD Radeon R7 DDR4 memory modules come in dual-channel 8 GB memory kits rated to run at 2133MHz or 2400MHz with CL15 timings, which are pretty decent for your casual DDR4 DIMM kits meant for Z170 systems.

According to PC Games Hardware, it's unknown if the modules will feature Intel's XMP (extreme memory profiles) technology, but they will most likely feature AMD's own memory profiles. If it won't support XMP, which is most likely, then the DDR4 DIMMs would be of little help to new Z170 chipset owners since they won't be able to enable XMP for that extra performance boost.

It's clear by now that not only the Skylake platform supports DDR4 DIMMs but also the Haswell-E, and the vast majority of future DDR4 supporting platforms as well, will be Skylake-based. Intel has announced a vast portfolio of Skylake-based CPUs, ranging from the desktop, locked "T" models to the low-power "Y" and "H" ones, all working with DDR4.

The new DIMMs are available in just a few stores in Germany

AMD has launched new DDR4 Radeon memory modules to ensure complete cross-chipset compatibility between Skylake users and future “Bristol Ridge” and “Summit Ridge” processors with “Excavator” and “Zen” cores that will also support DDR4 using the upcoming AM4 form factor, that will apparently arrive before the Zen chips hit the market. Existing AMD APUs support only DDR3 memory modules.

The new memory kits probably won't become a special favorite among Intel and NVIDIA fans, since there are far more powerful alternatives on the market, but they might pose some interest to AMD fans that might want to build an all-AMD system from top to bottom.

The Radeon R7 DDR4 memory modules are currently available in select stores in Germany and are not featured on AMD's official website, which is quite curious.