I review DDR5 RAM and these are the Black Friday deals I would use to upgrade my rig
This November really is the perfect time to upgrade to DDR5 RAM. Perhaps more so than ever before, DDR5 is affordable, available, and worth the trouble of upgrading.
A lot of the time, the biggest barrier to entry for the best RAM for gaming is that it often requires a new motherboard and processor. For DDR5, both of those things need to be compatible, so the excitement about upgrading immediately turns into a more expensive, long-term project you need to budget for.
This Black Friday, however, things are different. Obviously, you'll still need those compatible parts, but thanks to Black Friday gaming PC deals and Black Friday CPU deals, you can get a hold of this stuff a whole lot cheaper than usual.
Now that the Raptor Lake refresh wave of Intel CPUs has launched and uses the same architecture as the last two generations, the playing field has been well and truly leveled. There are now more products than ever that can set you up for a DDR5 rig, and more of them are on sale than ever before.
The most common question I get asked when I tell people I review DDR5 RAM is if it actually makes a difference. Is it really worth it when RAM is sort of the least meaningful component upgrade you can make? I always delight in telling people that actually, yes, DDR5 does make a big difference.
Whether it's a smoother browsing or video editing experience, more efficient frame rates thanks to XMP and AMD EXPO profiles, or supporting your CPU and SSD to achieve their blistering speeds, DDR5 is more of a meaningful shift than you'd think.
Black Friday DDR5 RAM deals
Let's start with DDR5 RAM since that's most likely what you came here for. Below are the deals I'd recommend for cheap and affordable DDR5, from reliable budget brands to my personal favorites I've reviewed this year.
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Crucial Pro DDR5 RAM 32GB | $104.99 $67.99 at Amazon
Save $37 - As soon as Black Friday's up, we'll be testing this RAM for review. Given Crucial's excellent track record, especially with SSDs, there's no doubt in my mind this will be a really solid way of boosting your gaming PC's CPU. I haven't seen 32GB (2x16GB) of DDR5 RAM cheaper than this in all my searching during Black Friday so far.
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TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert Overclocking DDR5 32GB + Free 64GB USB flash drive | $96.99 $79.99 at Newegg
Save $17 - TEAMGROUP is one of the best brands out there when it comes to trying to find affordable memory. You don't get fancy RGB lighting here, but you do get a really clean design and two 16GB sticks that can run at 6000MHz. $80 is a great price for two 16GB sticks that have an on-the-box speed of 6000MHz.
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Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB | $99.99 $89.99 at Best Buy
Save $10 - It isn't a massive saving here either, but it makes a premium memory kit a bit more affordable, and that's exactly what you want for Black Friday. The quoted speed here is 5200MHz, so this would pair better with an i5 or Ryzen 5 processor.
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Klevv Cras XR5 RGB DDR5 32GB | $99.99 at Amazon
Technically, this isn't actually on offer for Black Friday, but it speaks volumes for why this is our top DDR5 RAM recommendation - it's constantly sitting at a reasonable price and gets you such solid performance for that money. It's also available at higher clock speeds but this is the kit we think offers the best value.
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Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 64GB | $199.99 $189.99 at Amazon
Save $10 - Arguably, there are very few people that need 64GB of DDR5, but if you're one of those people that needs the extra headroom, and you want to go with a premium brand, Corsair has some stunning RGB kits that are worthy of your attention. It is worth mentioning that the quoted speed here is the slowest of any deal we've recommended in this roundup - so we'll let you weigh up the pros and cons of slower speeds and more memory.
Black Friday motherboard and CPU deals
If you don't already have a DDR5-ready system, you'll need to grab a CPU and a motherboard that can deal with the blazing speeds of your new RAM. Below are some cheap options we've found.
You might notice that a lot of the processors we recommend below are either Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 ones. Don't fret if you haven't upgraded your CPU in a while, with these latest generations, these still house some incredible power for the money that will absolutely let you take advantage of DDR5 speeds.
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Gigabyte A620M Gaming X motherboard | $109.99 $86.99 at Amazon
Save $23 - For a DDR5-compatible motherboard this is stupidly cheap. There doesn't seem to be any Gen 5 capability when it comes to SSDs, but regardless, you're getting a very capable AMD motherboard here that will fit inside a smaller ATX chassis.
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MSI Pro Z790-S ATX Motherboard | $189.99 $159.99 at Newegg
Save $30 - This is extraordinarily cheap for a Z790 motherboard from a top brand. You get some great futureproofing here too with Wi-Fi 6E support and a socket that will fit 12th, 13th, and 14th gen Intel CPUs.
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Intel Core i5-12600K | $299 $189.99 at Newegg
Save $110 - In our opinion, this is still one of the best value CPUs money can buy. It may be an i5 from two years ago, but it can still work great with a high-end graphics card. It's half the price of the previous high-end Intel processors too.
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AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | $299 $219 at Amazon
Save $80 - If it's a current-gen mid-ranger from AMD you're wanting, seriously consider this. This is under the price of a 13600K, and you'll get similar performance. We have seen this as low as $199.99, but its average price on Amazon is around $250, so you still make a saving.
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Intel Core i5-13600K | $329 $270 at Amazon
Save $59 - This is our current favorite CPU recommendation for most PC gamers at the moment, and at this price (it's cheapest ever) you're getting incredible power for the money.
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Intel i7-13700K CPU | $419 $345 at Amazon
Save $74 - This is the CPU we use in our testing rig just now, so we can speak to its quality and consistency. Arguably, all you really need is a 13600K if you aren't actually in need of extra headroom for content creation, but at this price, it's hard to turn down the extra power.
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AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D | $449 $369 at Newegg
Save $64 - From what I've heard, these AMD-X3D CPUs are the holy grail of gaming CPUs at the moment. Unfortunately, we haven't been hands-on with them yet, but if you want the best bang for your buck on the AMD side, these are worth considering.
Looking for more Black Friday deals? Check out the best Black Friday gaming deals, Black Friday Meta Quest deals, and Black Friday VR headset deals.
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One of my earliest memories is playing SuperMario64 and wondering why the controller I held had three grips, but I only had two hands. Ever since I've been in love with video games and their technology. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship at Expert Reviews. Over the last decade, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel about my love of games too. These days, I'm one of the resident hardware nerds at GamesRadar+, and I take the lead on our coverage of gaming PCs, VR, controllers, gaming chairs, and content creation gear. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.














