Fast DDR4 recommendation for Audio Workstation with MSI B550-A PRO and Ryzen 7 5700G

[DWJames]

Hi all, I'm looking for a recommendation for faster DDR4 ram.
I've built a PC as a dedicated music production workstation. I needed it powerful, quiet and reliable.
I opted for a Ryzen 7 5700G as my DAW isn't optimised for GPUs and this way it's a clean and simple build with no graphics card.
Motherboard is an MSI B550-A PRO
Currently running Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2X16GB) DDR4 3200Mhz which is single rank according to Thaiphoon burner.

In my DAW, the heavy rendering jobs I want to speed up hardly get any of the CPU cores really working, typically all logical cores are approx 30% load with none over 60%, so I suspect that it's possibly a memory bottleneck issue as this improved when I enabled XMP and went from 2133mhz to the current 3200mhz

I've watched a load of videos benchmarking and explaining memory on Ryzens and 5700G specifically, but almost always it's for games performance and on systems with decent graphics cards, so once the memory speed gets past a certain point, it's not restricting graphics performance any more and the benchmarks don't tell me much about workstation performance.

MSI quote the following for the B550-A Pro
1DPC 1R Max speed 4800 MHz
1DPC 2R max speed 3866 MHZ
2DPC 1R max speed 4000 MHZ
2DPC 2R max speed 3600 MHZ

Does that mean I could reliably use 4800mhz single rank ddr4? Will the Fabric clock even run at 2400mhz on these boards?
I originally opted for 32gb memory, but even on massive projects I'm using just under 50% of this, so I don't mind whether I fit 16gb or 32gb.

What would you choose? Is it worth considering dual rank dimms or is any performance benefit negated by having to run a slower memory clock speed?
thanks,
James

 

[Tetras]

MSI quote the following for the B550-A Pro
1DPC 1R Max speed 4800 MHz
1DPC 2R max speed 3866 MHZ
2DPC 1R max speed 4000 MHZ
2DPC 2R max speed 3600 MHZ

Does that mean I could reliably use 4800mhz single rank ddr4? Will the Fabric clock even run at 2400mhz on these boards?
I originally opted for 32gb memory, but even on massive projects I'm using just under 50% of this, so I don't mind whether I fit 16gb or 32gb.

I'm pretty sure that's only the board, not the CPU, you'd probably need to have a look at what memory/IF clocks other people with a 5700G get, before you buy anything. I'd try to find some specific benchmarks for memory scaling with the work you're doing too, or it might be a waste of money.

 

[DWJames]

I'm pretty sure that's only the board, not the CPU, you'd probably need to have a look at what memory/IF clocks other people with a 5700G get, before you buy anything. I'd try to find some specific benchmarks for memory scaling with the work you're doing too, or it might be a waste of money.

Thank you. I got a helpful email from Simon B who said

For the GPU partof the APU, yes, high frequency RAM improves the graphics performance considerably, however this is not always the best for actual CPU performance. 
In general for optimal processor performance we suggest 3600MHz RAM with as low latency timings as possible as this means that the RAM is running at a 2:1 
(well 1:1 as DDR is double data rate and works on the down and the up clock) with the infinity fabric. We would suggest RAM using Samsung B-Die chips, 
such as GSkill and Team Groups 8-Pack kits...
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/memory/ddr4-ram/ddr4-3600-mhz-memory?manufacturer%5B0%5D=G.Skill&manufacturer%5B1%5D=Team+Group
If you use a higher end board that allows you to run the Infinity Fabric engine at a higher frequency than 1800, then higher frequency RAM running at a 2:1 ratio 
will be optimal, however in general this cannot be overclocked that far, unles you get very lucky with an individual chip.
 
Best Regards
Simon B

Which sounds like a great plan. I'll pick up an 8Pack 32gb kit as then it's definitely dual rank from what I can work out.

 

[FredFlint]

It could be a storage bottle neck, are you using a fast SSD? You are @3200 so the difference between that and 3600 might not be that big but faster storage might be? Which DAW are you using? When I render using FL Studio, my 3900X was never 100% usage so even with fast RAM/Storage you might not get 100%, it depends on the software.

 

[Joxeon]

You could probably get 4000mhz ram 1-1 on a 5700G but before you go out and buy anything it maybe worth trying to overclock what you currently have, I got my 3200mhz kit up to 4600mhz although that's Samsung B-die ICs. Try 3600 first then try pushing 3800/4000mhz, you will likely need to relax timings and increase the voltage a bit so maybe worth checking out some memory overclocking guides.

 

[DWJames]

It could be a storage bottle neck, are you using a fast SSD? You are @3200 so the difference between that and 3600 might not be that big but faster storage might be? Which DAW are you using? When I render using FL Studio, my 3900X was never 100% usage so even with fast RAM/Storage you might not get 100%, it depends on the software.

yeah, it's running a Samsung 970 EVO Plus V-NAND M.2 1TB SSD so should be quick enough.
It's Bitwig Studio on Windows 11.
I've had a play with some faster ram this weekend and it's made almost no difference at all to the rendering speeds, so there's clearly something else holding things back. I wonder whether the relatively small L3 cache of the 5700G @ 16mb is a limitation compared to a regular CPU with 32mb. Is there a way to tell if that's a limit?

 

[Joxeon]

yeah, it's running a Samsung 970 EVO Plus V-NAND M.2 1TB SSD so should be quick enough.
It's Bitwig Studio on Windows 11.
I've had a play with some faster ram this weekend and it's made almost no difference at all to the rendering speeds, so there's clearly something else holding things back. I wonder whether the relatively small L3 cache of the 5700G @ 16mb is a limitation compared to a regular CPU with 32mb. Is there a way to tell if that's a limit?

Probably not without swapping out the CPU.