Gigabyte announced on Friday that two of its motherboard lines will support upcoming processors on Intel's LGA 1700 socket, reviving compatibility with DDR4 memory. That socket first appeared in 2021 alongside Intel's 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs and worked with both DDR4 and the then-new DDR5 RAM. Intel moved to a DDR5-only approach in 2024. According to Gigabyte, the new LGA 1700 chips are expected to launch in early 2027.

The reversal rests on LGA 1700's ability to handle both memory types, an advantage over its successor that has gained importance as DDR4 prices have held up better than DDR5. Intel's apparent strategy is to let buyers choose a new CPU without also having to purchase expensive DDR5 memory. AMD is pursuing a similar route. In August, Gigabyte announced a new series of motherboards for AMD's last-gen, DDR4-compatible AM4 platform, paired with the 10th-anniversary relaunch of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU.

DDR4 reached the market in 2014 and was later succeeded by the faster DDR5. Ordinarily, buying new hardware to run decade-old technology would be a poor investment. The RAM shortage is altering that calculation, with DDR4 appearing to absorb price increases far less severely than DDR5.

The gap is visible at retail for US buyers shopping for memory kits. A DDR5 32GB Corsair Vengeance kit currently costs $620, while the matching DDR4 kit costs $260. That DDR4 price is above what more than 32GB of DDR4 typically cost in mid-2025, yet DDR5 still costs more than double. DDR5 offers real benefits, including higher speeds and better power efficiency, but those advantages may not justify the current price.

It could take years for prices to fall again, a prospect that is settling in as older sockets and chipsets officially return. For now, owners of DDR4 memory have reason to keep it.

The memory shortage has also affected the broader PC market. PC shipments fell around 20 percent in the third quarter, according to analyst firms. AMD has said it intends to substantially increase its chip supply next year. Nvidia's Shield TV Pro received a $100 price hike.

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