Skip to main content
If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Did you know that DDR5 is available in 48GB kits - and this G.Skill option is $130 at Newegg?

A half-way house between a 32GB and 64GB setup, ideal for content creation.

trident z5 rgb
Image credit: G.Skill/Rock Paper Shotgun

Normally we see a straight doubling in RAM module sizes. Around the turn of the millenium, 1GB sticks were commonplace, and by doubling that amount over time we've gradually worked our way up to 8GB, 16GB and 32GB sticks of DDR4 and DDR5 being common sizes. Now though, DDR5 manufacturers are also producing an intermediate 24GB size, allowing for 48GB kits of two sticks each.

This new capacity requires a BIOS update for most motherboards, but pricing on it can be quite good - and that's what we're seeing today, with extremely rapid DDR5-6400 CL36 RAM available in a 48GB capacity for $130 after a $18 price drop.

These G.Skill modules also come with RGB, if you're into that, and look pretty nifty with a swooping design that has a bit more character than Corsair's typical bar-of-light approach.

The advantage of this amount of RAM, obviously, is that you get more RAM than you would with a 32GB kit at a lower cost than other options, eg a 64GB kit. Games, as a rule, don't require more than 16GB, but there are certainly other tasks - like 3D rendering or video production - that can require more than 32GB. Therefore, having a cheaper option that hits that requirement can be useful.

Of course, you'd also be free to combine two of these kits for 96GB of RAM, though on consumer platforms this would remain in dual-channel mode and you'd likely have a very hard time hitting anywhere near the rated speeds and timings.

For me though, it's just a bit of a refreshing idea to see a number that isn't a power of two, a real rarity in computing.

Read this next