THE CRUNCH

Soaring RAM prices are pushing PC makers to dust off a decade-old memory standard. Intel and AMD are preparing new CPUs that support DDR4, the older and more affordable type of memory, as the seemingly unending price hikes make upgrades tough for many people.

The clearest sign comes from Gigabyte, which announced on Friday that two of its motherboard lines will support upcoming processors built on Intel's LGA 1700 socket. That socket launched in 2021 with the 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs and supported both DDR4 and the then-new DDR5, before Intel dropped it for a DDR5-only approach in 2024. According to Gigabyte, that dual-format support is now being revived.