Compatibility check (please)

Dirk Diggler · 16 Nov 2023 at 12:28

Will the following sticks be ok to pair up with a 5900x? I've always run my RAM at 3200MHz or 3600MHz, and I'm not sure whether 4000MHz kit would be ok? I'd be happy to step out down if required.

2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz

TIA

JollyJamma · 18 Nov 2023 at 13:01

Dirk Diggler said:
Will the following sticks be ok to pair up with a 5900x? I've always run my RAM at 3200MHz or 3600MHz, and I'm not sure whether 4000MHz kit would be ok? I'd be happy to step out down if required.

2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz

TIA

You need to look at your motherboard manufacturers memory QVL list for compatibility.

It’s impossible to tell just from a CPU model - you could have an amazing memory controller or a poor one.

Best memory speed for Ryzen 5000 is 3600 MT/s as that allows the Infinity Fabric to run at 1:1 ratio.

1800 mhz RAM (3600) : 1800mhz IF.

4000 MT/s (it’s not 4000 mhz) means that the Infinity Fabric will run out of synch with the RAM and can hurt performance (it depends on the setup and how good you are at tweaking the whole setup but it’s a good rule for general users)

I’d suggest getting a kit of memory that your motherboard supports at 3600 MT/s and not to worry about anything faster (unless you’re wanting to play around with RAM at 3733 and overclocking the IF)

Dirk Diggler · 18 Nov 2023 at 17:55

JollyJamma said:
You need to look at your motherboard manufacturers memory QVL list for compatibility.

It’s impossible to tell just from a CPU model - you could have an amazing memory controller or a poor one.

Best memory speed for Ryzen 5000 is 3600 MT/s as that allows the Infinity Fabric to run at 1:1 ratio.

1800 mhz RAM (3600) : 1800mhz IF.

4000 MT/s (it’s not 4000 mhz) means that the Infinity Fabric will run out of synch with the RAM and can hurt performance (it depends on the setup and how good you are at tweaking the whole setup but it’s a good rule for general users)

I’d suggest getting a kit of memory that your motherboard supports at 3600 MT/s and not to worry about anything faster (unless you’re wanting to play around with RAM at 3733 and overclocking the IF)

Motherboard is X570 Mag Tomahawk.

Couldn't I just set the memory to run at 3600, or maybe the XMP would have a 3600 setting for the board?

I'll get a look through the motherboard documentation when I get the chance, and thanks for the info.

Tetras · 18 Nov 2023 at 18:55

Dirk Diggler said:
Couldn't I just set the memory to run at 3600, or maybe the XMP would have a 3600 setting for the board?

There's a review on tomshardware (I think the sticks are the same as the ones you quoted) and the review says they only have the one XMP profile, though I suppose that may have been their sample. Ballstix is officially discontinued by Crucial, by the way, so be careful who you get it from as the warranty situation might be iffy.

Dirk Diggler · 18 Nov 2023 at 20:19

I decided to consult Google Bard. AI is scary..

Yes, the 2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz RAM is compatible with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU. The CPU supports up to PC4-4000 DDR4 RAM, and the RAM has a speed of 4000MHz, so it is within the CPU's specifications.

Here are some additional details about the compatibility of the RAM with the CPU:

* The RAM is JEDEC certified, which means that it has been tested and approved by JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) to work with AMD Ryzen CPUs.
* The RAM is also listed on AMD's website as being compatible with the Ryzen 9 5900X CPU.
* There have been many reports from users who have successfully used this RAM with the Ryzen 9 5900X CPU.

Based on all of this information, I can confidently say that the 2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz RAM is compatible with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU.

Yes, the 2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz RAM is also compatible with the MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard. The motherboard supports up to PC4-4600 DDR4 RAM, which means it can handle RAM speeds of up to 4600MHz. The RAM in question has a speed of 4000MHz, so it is well within the motherboard's capabilities.

Here are some additional details about the compatibility of the RAM with the motherboard:

* The RAM is listed on MSI's website as being compatible with the X570 Tomahawk motherboard.
* There have been many reports from users who have successfully used this RAM with the X570 Tomahawk motherboard.

Based on all of this information, I can confidently say that the 2x 16GB Crucial Ballistix Max, 39-19-19-18 4000MHz RAM is compatible with the MSI X570 Tomahawk motherboard.

Tetras · 18 Nov 2023 at 20:42

Dirk Diggler said:
I decided to consult Google Bard. AI is scary..

Despite being able to plagiarise freely, half of that response is incorrect and the rest is just misleading, so we're not all useless just yet

JEDEC: JEDEC don't individually "certify" RAM to work with Ryzen and the JEDEC frequency/timings on that memory have a maximum speed (from the SPD data in the tomshardware review) of 2666, so it means nothing about if it works @ the rated speed.

The CPU specifications don't support 4000 (3200 is the maximum) and RAM isn't rated in Mhz anyway and if it was, 4000 Mhz is wrong (it is 2000).

When I checked, AMD's compatibility chart entry for overclocked memory is only for the 8GB sticks, not the 16GB sticks.

The memory is on the motherboard's QVL, but high speed RAM doesn't take into account the CPU's memory controller, buildzoid talks about that here:

intel XMPs and motherboard QVLs are a useless mess.

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/buildzoidTeespring: https://teespring.com/stores/actually-hardcore-overclockingBandcamp: https://machineforscreams.bandca...

www.youtube.com

Dirk Diggler · 18 Nov 2023 at 20:47

AI will never replace a bone fide geek - we created that MF!

JollyJamma · 19 Nov 2023 at 10:14

Dirk Diggler said:
Motherboard is X570 Mag Tomahawk.

Couldn't I just set the memory to run at 3600, or maybe the XMP would have a 3600 setting for the board?

I'll get a look through the motherboard documentation when I get the chance, and thanks for the info.

If I recall, I mixed two different RAM kits and one wasn't matched so it appears to be an ID10T issue on my side.

That's a good motherboard, I just found that I wanted to go ITX.

You can manually set the RAM speed or go XMP/EXPO or whatever the RAM profiles are called these days per platform I don't know.

Ballstix is officially discontinued by Crucial

WTF???? That was such a good branding name IMO.

Tetras · 19 Nov 2023 at 17:09

JollyJamma said:
WTF???? That was such a good branding name IMO.

They don't sell any overclocked RAM at all anymore, even their expo/xmp stuff is just operating at the rated speed when enabled to bypass automatic downclocks.