Can you overclock DDR4 to match DDR5 performance?

No. The gap isn’t just speed — it’s architecture. DDR5 has higher bandwidth per clock, better efficiency, and on-die ECC that DDR4 can’t replicate. Even overclocked DDR4-4000+ still uses the old memory controller and narrower bus, so stock DDR5-4800 outperforms it in real-world tasks. Plus, DDR4 overclocking has diminishing returns and requires good silicon, a compatible motherboard, and extra cooling — modern CPUs are designed for DDR5, so chasing this is like hot-rodding a Camry to beat a Model 3.