Intel and AMD revive DDR4 support on new CPUs as RAM prices soar

Intel and AMD are preparing new processors that support DDR4 memory, walking back several years of industry momentum toward DDR5-only platforms. According to The Verge, the reversal is a direct response to a persistent RAM shortage that has driven memory prices — DDR5 in particular — to levels many buyers can no longer justify.

Gigabyte teases new Intel LGA 1700 chips

The clearest signal so far came from Gigabyte. On Friday, the motherboard maker announced that two of its product lines will support "upcoming" Intel processors built on the LGA 1700 socket, as The Verge reports.

That socket first appeared in 2021 alongside Intel's 12th-generation Alder Lake CPUs and stood out for accepting both DDR4 and the then-new DDR5 memory. Intel moved to a DDR5-only design in 2024. Per Gigabyte, that dual-format support is now being brought back, with the new LGA 1700 chips expected to arrive in early 2027.

Intel has not confirmed the plan publicly. The Verge says the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The strategy, as The Verge reads it, is straightforward: let buyers pick up a new CPU without also being forced into an expensive DDR5 memory kit. The cross-compatibility built into LGA 1700, which its successor lacks, has gone from a legacy convenience to a genuine selling point.

AMD doubles down on AM4

AMD is taking a parallel route on its side of the market. In August, according to The Verge, Gigabyte announced a new series of motherboards for AMD's last-generation AM4 platform — the final AMD socket to support DDR4 — timed to coincide with a 10th-anniversary relaunch of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.

That means both major x86 CPU vendors are, in different ways, extending the life of platforms that were widely considered end-of-life, specifically because they run older and cheaper memory.

The price gap doing the persuading

DDR4 reached the market in 2014 and has since been superseded by the faster, more power-efficient DDR5. In ordinary times, buying into new silicon designed around decade-old memory would look like a poor investment.

The current shortage upends that calculation. The Verge's reporter, shopping for a replacement kit after a DDR4 set failed, found a 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit listed at $620, while the corresponding DDR4 kit cost $260. That is well over double the price for the newer standard — and even the DDR4 figure is higher than what 32GB kits typically went for in mid-2025.

The disparity is the point: DDR4 kits have not been spared from the price increases, but they have absorbed noticeably less of the impact than DDR5. DDR5 still delivers real advantages in speed and power efficiency, but at current prices those benefits are hard to defend for budget-conscious builders.

Why it matters

This is an unusual affordability reversal in the PC hardware market. Instead of each generation pulling the platform forward, memory costs are dragging CPU roadmaps backward, with Intel reportedly reactivating a 2021 socket and AMD refurbishing a legacy one.

For consumers, the practical effect is that existing DDR4 kits and older motherboards retain real value, and an upgrade path may soon exist that does not require replacing the RAM. For the industry, it is an acknowledgement that the RAM shortage is not a short blip — The Verge suggests it could be years before prices fall again, and chipmakers are now planning product launches around that assumption. Anyone holding DDR4 hardware today has reason to keep it.