Memory-Motherboard speed compatibility

[CaptainWasabi]

Hi!

 

I'm planning to buy a Ryzen 3600 and since it's performance is highly dependent on the speed of the memory, I intended to buy a kit of 3600MHz RAM. 

Do I need to search for a motherboard that has a rated maximum memory speed equal or can I expect to be able to run a 3600 kit on a 3200 max rated motherboard.

For example, I looked for this mobo: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING

 

Thank you!

[minibois]

This board has about 36 sets on their (Ryzen 3rd gen) QVL that can run at 3600Mhz, generally sets with Samsung chips on it.

So it's safe to say it will support 3600Mhz, whether your specific set will work, depends on what you get.

 

This was the cheapest set I found on PCPartPicker that is also on their memory QVL, but you could look a bit further for more options..

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6jBTwP/gskill-trident-z-rgb-16gb-2-x-8gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c18d-16gtzrx

 

Memory QVL:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/ROG_STRIX_B450-E_GAMING/Memory_QVL_3rd_Gen_AMD_Ryzen_Processors.pdf

 

EDIT: if you aren't familiar with reading an Asus QVL, this is the column you should look at:

That of course lines up with the Part no. on the left.

[CaptainWasabi]

@minibois, thank you for the answer, I didn't know this kind of chart existed. I will pick something from this form.

 

Also, can you comment on an other topic? I'm a bit scared if I buy a mobo with an older chipset, like b450 of x470 and not a x570 whit is meant to be compatible out of the box with Ryzen 3rd gen, I will unable to use them out of the box. Are older mobos BIOS updated and this was an issue only when the Ryzen 3rd gen came out?

 

Also, is the new chipset worth the extra cash you wold have to pump in it?

 

Thank you!

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, CaptainWasabi said:

@minibois, thank you for the answer, I didn't know this kind of chart existed. I will pick something from this form.

 

Also, can you comment on an other topic? I'm a bit scared if I buy a mobo with an older chipset, like b450 of x470 and not a x570 whit is meant to be compatible out of the box with Ryzen 3rd gen, I will unable to use them out of the box. Are older mobos BIOS updated and this was an issue only when the Ryzen 3rd gen came out?

 

Also, is the new chipset worth the extra cash you wold have to pump in it?

 

Thank you!

If the motherboard box has a sticker that looks a bit like this:

You should be good!

 

This picture appears on the Asus site for this board, so I assume they are all compatible.. In my experience basically all boards are compatible with Ryzen 3000 now.

The advantage of X570 over B450 would be:

- PCIE 4.0 (not supported much right now)

- More USB 10Gbit headers

- Possibly USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type C) headers, but not all have that

- More PCIE lanes

You could look into a more 'budget' X570 board too, like the Gaming X from Gigabyte. That would work with chips up to and including Ryzen 9 even. But that B450 board you chose will work fine for up to and including Ryzen 5 CPU's.

[CaptainWasabi]

@minibois Thank you so much!