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Quick Answer
Buy DDR5 now. DDR6 is not expected until 2028-2029 at the earliest, and early DDR6 will be expensive with limited platform support. DDR5 is mature, affordable, and fast. Waiting 2-3 years for DDR6 makes no sense when you could be gaming today.
DDR5 is now in its third year and has hit its stride:
DDR5 launched in late 2021. It took until 2024 for DDR5 to become faster and cheaper than DDR4 for gaming. Early DDR5 was slow, expensive, and buggy. DDR6 will follow the same pattern - early adoption is always painful.
Waiting 2-3 years means missing years of gaming on current hardware. Technology always improves. If you wait for the next thing, you will always be waiting. Build with DDR5 now and enjoy it.
Our Verdict
Buy DDR5 today. It is mature, affordable, and fast. DDR6 is 2-3 years away from being viable, and early DDR6 will be expensive and slow. Do not sacrifice years of gaming for hypothetical future tech.
32GB is the new standard for gaming in 2026. Several modern titles use 14-16GB of RAM, leaving 16GB systems with no headroom for background tasks. The price gap is only $30-50 AUD for DDR4 and $40-60 AUD for DDR5, making 32GB the clear choice.
The best RAM for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 in a 2x16GB kit. DDR5-6000 hits the AM5 sweet spot where the Infinity Fabric runs at a 1:1 ratio with the memory clock, giving optimal latency and bandwidth for gaming.
DDR4-3200 and DDR5-5600 perform within 3-5% of each other in gaming with the i5-13400F. The DDR4 platform costs $80-120 AUD less overall. DDR5 only shows meaningful gains with very fast kits (6000+ MHz) that are expensive. DDR4 is the value choice.