As the cost of computer components continues to rise, hardware manufacturers are pivoting back to older memory standards to keep PC upgrades affordable for consumers. While the industry had largely shifted toward the faster, more expensive DDR5 RAM standard, recent announcements indicate a return to the previous generation, DDR4.

Gigabyte recently confirmed that new motherboard lines will support upcoming processors compatible with Intel’s LGA 1700 socket. This socket, which first launched in 2021 with 12th-generation Alder Lake CPUs, was originally designed to support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Although Intel had moved toward a DDR5-only requirement for its newer 2024 releases, the latest hardware updates suggest that the company, alongside AMD, is once again enabling support for the more budget-friendly DDR4 standard. This move is widely interpreted as a response to consumer frustration over the high price of DDR5 memory, which has made building or upgrading PCs significantly more expensive in recent years. By allowing users to utilize existing or cheaper DDR4 sticks, manufacturers hope to lower the barrier to entry for users looking to upgrade their current systems without the added expense of a total memory overhaul.