When the PlayStation 5 made its way onto the market in November of 2020, players and reviewers (like yours truly) were fascinated to learn about the numerous upgrades Sony had made over those of the PS4.
For a while, it felt as though we were playing on a bogged-down system that was struggling to compete with what Microsoft was putting out with its Xbox consoles.
I’m a diehard PS gamer and always have been.
My PS2 and PS3 are still with me. But in terms of specs, the PS4 was a little underwhelming.
The PS4 contains 8 GB for CUH10XX/CUH11XX versions or 8 x 1 GB on the CUH12XX variants in terms of GDDR5 unified system memory.
The PS4’s highest operating speed is 2.75 GHz, and its maximum bandwidth is 176 GB/s.
This was sufficient at the time of publication in November 2013.
But it soon became clear that in order to run bigger, more graphically intensive games, we would need more RAM.
Sony decided to boost the ante on its specifications as a result of games having higher poly models, more intricate textures, and exponentially more complicated landscapes (holy moly, have y’all seen the open-world structure of Elden Ring?!).
With nearly twice as much RAM as the PS4, Sony’s PS5 is significantly more equipped to stay up with the gaming industry.
Let’s look at how much RAM the PS5 has specifically.
What RAM Does the PS5 Have?
A 16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM main pool and a 512 MB DDR4 SDRAM secondary pool make up the PS5’s two RAM pools. High bandwidth rates are utilised to play high-performance games on the main pool. The operating system uses the secondary pool for background work.
Who makes the PS5 and how much RAM does it have? The RAM of the PS5 can be increased.
How does this RAM stack up against the PS4’s RAM?
And does RAM exist for computers? To discover more about the PS5’s two RAM pools, continue reading.
What kind of RAM does the PS5 have?
Unquestionably, RAM is one of the largest improvements to the PlayStation, and Sony went all-out by equipping the PS5 with two RAM pools that each handle a distinct set of tasks.
16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM
The primary RAM pool is a 16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM, which replaces the prior GDDR5 and stands for “Graphics Double Data Rate 6 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory.”
With a greater bandwidth interface, the GDDR6 is intended for use with graphics cards, game consoles, and high-performance PCs.
This RAM pool is designed with gaming and performance in mind.
The PS5 uses a mixture of 8 2 GB chips (for a total of 16 GB), each of which has a clock speed of up to 14000 MHz, or 448 GB/s, more than twice the PS4’s bandwidth.
The fact that this GDDR6 RAM can load data directly from the SSD and do so at exponentially faster rates makes it far more efficient as well.
512 MB DDR4 SDRAM
Sony included the 512 MB DDR4 SDRAM to handle all of the OS’s background operations.
its advantages? greater cost-effectiveness, improved performance, and increased power efficiency.
Who makes the PS5’s RAM?
Actually, distinct manufacturers created these two RAM pools. Let’s examine who creates them.
16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM
Micron manufactures the main pool 16 GB GDDR6 SDRAM.
This pioneering tech company, which has been around for more than 40 years, is well-known for its memory cards and DRAM technology.
512 MB DDR4 SDRAM
SK hynix makes the second RAM pool.
Since 1983, this South Korean business has been setting the standard for the worldwide ICT sector.
They are the second-largest manufacturer of memory chips behind Samsung.
They rank as the third-largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world.
Can you add more RAM to the PS5?
Although the PS5’s built-in RAM can’t be increased, doing so is not really necessary.
The SSD has temporarily made it unnecessary for users to upgrade the PS5’s RAM.
For some users, the conventional magnetic HDDs might not have had enough bandwidth, but the SDDs definitely do.
The PS5’s SDD is well over 100 times faster than a standard hard drive, which is quite impressive indeed.
Most of the unnecessary information can be kept on the PS5’s SSD and loaded into RAM instantly when needed.
Additionally, many new games make full use of SSD technology.
Additionally, you get almost fast level transitions because a game will dump all of its current level’s data out of RAM and load the new level from the SSD into the main RAM pool in less than 1.5 seconds.
Any assets in games like Insomniac that aren’t on the screen right now will be stored on SSD and loaded into RAM as needed.
The PS4’s hard drive was unable to load telephone boxes and bins quickly enough, so they were stored in RAM.
With the PS5, they can now be stored on the quick SSD and loaded into RAM as needed.
What kind of RAM does the PS4 have?
Speaking of the PS4’s RAM, it has two RAM pools with the following specifications: 8 GB (16 512 MB) of GDDR5 RAM for the CUH10XX/CUH11XX Models or 8 x 1 GB (1024 MB) of GDDR5 unified system memory (and a maximum bandwidth of 176 GB/s) on the CUH12XX Models, plus a secondary RAM pool with 256 MB pool of RAM to
the GDDR5 RAM in the PS4.
What PC RAM is akin to the PS5’s RAM?
Since the PS5’s RAM is shared by the CPU and GPU, this comparison is challenging. Unlike a PC.
Instead, the RAM in a computer is split between the CPU and the GPU, who each have their own pools of DDR4 and GDDR6 RAM.
A PC with 16GB of system RAM operating at a speed of 3200Mhz is the closest thing that can be compared from a PC perspective.
In terms of graphics RAM, a PC would need to have a GPU with between 10GB and 16GB of GDDR6 in order to truly compete with the PS5.
| Related Article: How To Reset A PS5 Controller: |
Closing Thoughts
Sony didn’t cut corners when developing the PS5.
Although it wasn’t a bad console, the PS4 had some drawbacks and wasn’t as futuristic as it could have been.
The PS5 structures its RAM with a greater consideration for the future of gaming in mind.
The PS5 is able to provide responsive gameplay at maximum efficiency thanks to two pools that divide up the work.
What RAM Does the PS5 Have FAQ:
Is 16 GB of RAM good?
The majority of games advocate using 16GB of RAM, which will significantly improve performance above 8GB. Applications can be executed in the background without interfering with game play.
How fast will DDR6 be?
DDR6 contains twice as many memory channels and is anticipated to be twice as fast as DDR5. About 12800 Mbps of transfer speed may be reached with DDR6 (JEDEC), and it supports overclocking to 17000 Mbps. The fastest DDR5 DIMMs available right now from Samsung have transfer rates of up to 7200 Mbps.
Why is DDR5 so fast?
In comparison to DDR4, DDR5 RAM enables higher-capacity DIMM modules (commonly known as RAM sticks), has a faster base speed, and uses less power while maintaining the same performance specifications.
