Zen2 - upgrading ram, what matters?

iviv

iviv

iviv

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I currently have a couple of 8Gb sticks but I'm looking at making the move up to 32Gb total ram, so there's a couple of questions I have regarding this. Getting matching sticks and running 4x8Gb is out of the question since the sticks I have are absurdly going for the same price as identical 2x16Gb sticks.

I know 3600Mhz is the sweet spot because that matches up with some sort of internal timings in the CPU, but how important are the timings on the ram? There seem to be 3 main options/tiers with £30 difference between each tier. 18-22-22-42, 16-18-18-36 and the above linked 16-16-16-38. Would I really be giving up that much performance going for the cheaper sticks?

Also, I know B-die was a big deal around the time I first built this system, is that still relevant? Or does it only really matter if you're trying to manually tighten the timings?

Specs: 3900x, x570 Aorus pro motherboard, 6700XT, gaming at 1440p.

Thanks in advance!
 
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Ah, didn't mention as I wasn't sure how relevant it was. I'll edit it into my OP, but I have a 6700XT and game at 1440p alongside streaming.
 
I have tried several Samsung Bdie memory kits and all reached 3800Mhz with 16-16-16 timings. I tried also the Ballistix and I like them.

It is true that at 1440p the difference in performance will be very low so in the end, it depends on your budget and whether you want to try to push for 3800Mhz.
 
For the best performance you want 4x8gb single rank B-die. Next would be 2x16gb dual rank.

I would first test what speed the infinity fabric can be set to on the 3900X and then decide the speed of the memory. If you can run 1900 stable then 2x16gb dual rank 3800 with tight timings is a good spot.

The memory needs to be running double the infinity fabric speed.
 
iviv said:
I currently have a couple of 8Gb sticks but I'm looking at making the move up to 32Gb total ram, so there's a couple of questions I have regarding this. Getting matching sticks and running 4x8Gb is out of the question since the sticks I have are absurdly going for the same price as identical 2x16Gb sticks.

I know 3600Mhz is the sweet spot because that matches up with some sort of internal timings in the CPU, but how important are the timings on the ram? There seem to be 3 main options/tiers with £30 difference between each tier. 18-22-22-42, 16-18-18-36 and the above linked 16-16-16-38. Would I really be giving up that much performance going for the cheaper sticks?

Also, I know B-die was a big deal around the time I first built this system, is that still relevant? Or does it only really matter if you're trying to manually tighten the timings?

Specs: 3900x, x570 Aorus pro motherboard, 6700XT, gaming at 1440p.

Thanks in advance!
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32 gigs of B die is very hard to run. You’d ideally want to upgrade to a 5600X or 5800X for the better RAM controller.


That being said, I’d say get 32 gigs Crucial Ballistix at 3600. It’s either rev E or Rev B micron and AMD loves Micron.

zen 3 loves 4 sticks of 8gig modules if you were wanting to upgrade to it one day.

I would also look at Buildzoids blogspot on RAM buying guide as he has some great suggestions on timings and memory chip types.
 
JollyJamma said:
32 gigs of B die is very hard to run. You’d ideally want to upgrade to a 5600X or 5800X for the better RAM controller.


That being said, I’d say get 32 gigs Crucial Ballistix at 3600. It’s either rev E or Rev B micron and AMD loves Micron.

zen 3 loves 4 sticks of 8gig modules if you were wanting to upgrade to it one day.

I would also look at Buildzoids blogspot on RAM buying guide as he has some great suggestions on timings and memory chip types.
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The 3000 series RAM controller is pretty good tbh - A 5000 series one will be better no doubt. OP will also have to go for a 5900X to keep the same number of cores so that adds to the price of the upgrade..
 
Sean473 said:
The 3000 series RAM controller is pretty good tbh - A 5000 series one will be better no doubt. OP will also have to go for a 5900X to keep the same number of cores so that adds to the price of the upgrade..
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The memory controller is the same for 3000/5000 chips.
 
Sean473 said:
Hmm.. Really? Never heard of this... Any more details you can share?
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https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/features/ryzen-5000-ram-guide

"Ryzen 5000 wields AMD's latest Zen 3 cores that introduced important IPC gains, among other microarchitectural improvements. On the memory front, Ryzen 5000 chips inherited the same I/O die and dual-channel memory controller as their predecessors, therefore, the mechanics remain unchanged. That's an important consideration when selecting and tuning Ryzen's memory."
 
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Joxeon said:
https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/features/ryzen-5000-ram-guide

"Ryzen 5000 wields AMD's latest Zen 3 cores that introduced important IPC gains, among other microarchitectural improvements. On the memory front, Ryzen 5000 chips inherited the same I/O die and dual-channel memory controller as their predecessors, therefore, the mechanics remain unchanged. That's an important consideration when selecting and tuning Ryzen's memory."
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Thanks!
 
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