The ongoing chip shortage is affecting a wide variety of industries. We don’t just mean chips like CPUs or SoCs like the ones found in smartphones, but basically anything that requires a chip in order to work are affected (such as cameras). This also includes RAM, which is why if you’re finding it difficult to secure a DDR5 RAM module, you’re not alone.
However, ASUS has an interesting solution and that comes in the form of an adapter that lets you slot DDR4 RAM into a motherboard that supports DDR5, such as the new Z69 motherboards that were designed to bring DDR5 RAM to desktops for the first time.
Some of you might be wondering why can’t you just slot in a DDR4 RAM module into the motherboard? This is because save for some lower-end motherboards that support both DDR4 and DDR5, higher-end motherboards, especially those for gaming, support only DDR5. Also, due to the difference in architecture and power supply, a pure DDR5 motherboard lacks the ability to manage the power supply of a DDR4 module, which is a problem the adapter tries to solve.
The adapter won’t magically give your DDR4 RAM DDR5 properties, but it’s more like a stop-gap solution where you could buy or reuse your existing DDR4 RAM in your new build until DDR5 RAM becomes more widely available again. That being said, keep in mind that ASUS isn’t actually selling this adapter just yet and we’re not sure if there are plans to eventually sell it, so in the meantime either hold out on your build or opt for something cheaper to tide you over.