Intel's bright idea about transitioning between DDR3 and DDR4 for mainstream client platforms is not hugely different from how its P35 Express chipset dealt with the issue. These drops in module voltages were made possible with DRAM manufacturers shrinking their fab process nodes. DDR4-2133 MHz modules ship with rated voltage as low as 1.2V, compared to the 1.8V DDR3 debuted with, before dropping to 1.65V on Nehalem, and 1.5V on SandyBridge.

DDR4 brings energy efficiency to the table. 'Haswell-E' features a 256-bit wide DDR4 IMC, which at JEDEC standard speeds of DDR4-2133 MHz, can bathe the processor's 6-8 cores in 68 GB/s of memory bandwidth, right off the bat. The target audience of these chips won't mind spending the extra dime on cutting-edge technologies, including memory. Hence the memory made its grand client entrance with Core i7 'Haswell-E,' a family of processors that starts at $390, going all the way up to $1000. Intel wants to make real sure that the swelling inventories of DDR3 memory modules are sufficiently digested by the market (sold out), before imposing DDR4 onto the mainstream. Will the story repeat itself during the transition between DDR3 and the new DDR4 memory introduced alongside Intel's Core i7 'Haswell-E' HEDT platform? Not exactly.

Since then, DDR3 proliferated to the mainstream. An IMC, again in Intel's case, meant that the CPU came with memory I/O pins, and could only support one memory type - DDR3. DDR3 only really took off with Nehalem, Intel's first processor with an integrated memory controller (IMC). Those, coupled with the limited system bus bandwidth, to take advantage of DDR3. Higher module prices posed a real, and higher latencies, posed a less real set of drawbacks to the initial adoption of DDR3. The P35 supported both DDR2 and DDR3 memory types, and motherboard manufacturers made high-end products based on each of the two memory types, with some even supporting both. DDR3 made its mainstream debut with Intel's X38 and P35 Express platforms, at a time when the memory controller was still within the domain of a motherboard chipset, at least in Intel's case. The transition between DDR2 and DDR3 system memory types was slower than the one between DDR and DDR2.

Intel desktop board ddr3