G.Skill celebrates Intel Alder Lake's launch by setting a new world record for DDR5

Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are finally out in the wild (check our review of the Core i9 12900K for more info), and with them comes support for the next iteration of memory, DDR5. That means there are new world records to be broken, something that has already started in earnest, with G.Skill getting out the liquid nitrogen to push its memory all the way up to DDR5-8704.

That's RAM running at a frankly ridiculous 4,352.3Mhz, which due to the data doubling cleverness of DDR, gives you the 8,704 MT/s figure.

G.Skill obviously used its own RAM to set the record, specifically a single stick of its Trident Z5 DDR5 memory, which is rated at DDR5-4800. That DDR5-8704 figure is quite a leap from the official XMP 3.0 spec, then. You can see from the official CPU-Z validation that the CPU was operating at a fairly pedestrian 3,570MHz (35 x 102MHz) to hit the RAM record.

And in case you're wondering what other kit was employed, G.Skill worked with Asus here, using the Asus ROG Z690 APEX motherboard and an Intel Core i7 12700KF processor. Oh yes, and quite a lot of liquid nitrogen, or LN2, to get the temperatures to sub-zero levels.

The timings aren't exactly great though, with the primary CAS Latency increased to 127 clocks to achieve the record. This was all about hitting a super-high frequency, not about making for a silky smooth working environment. It's still mightily impressive though.

How long will it be before we tip over into 9,000MT/s territory?

Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.