RAM Choice

[afrodude985]

Hey guys, 

 

I;m new to the forum and I'm not sure if this topic is posted elsewhere so I apologize if it is repetitive. But I am looking to build a new PC. I have my parts selected and will list them below. I am not a complete novice but this is my first build with AMD Ryzen as opposed to Intel. I want to make the jump from an i7-6800k (which unfortunately I feel I lost the silicon lottery with). My question is what is the best RAM to pair with the 3950x? 

 

My prospective specs are:

CPU:     3950x

Mobo:    x570 Crosshair VIII Hero (w/ wifi)

AIO:      Corsair H150i (360mm RAD)

GPU:    RTX 2080

RAM:    32 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 3200 optimized for AMD

 

Does anyone have any advice on whether this is good RAM to buy? Does the optimization for AMD make any difference or is it a marketing statement? I haven not purchased the CPU, motherboard, or RAM yet. I am reusing my 2080 from a current build. I did get a new platinum PSU and do plan to overclock my CPU. Nothing super crazy, but whatever is stable and gives decent temps is good for me. 

 

Any more needed information please ask! Thanks in advance for the help. I try to keep up with all the news and stuff but a lot has changed over the past couple of months with tech stuff. Very exciting time to be an enthusiast!

[boggy77]

hi and welcome to the forum. what is your budget and location? also, what do you use your pc for? 3950x has a lot of cores that only few applications can utilise.

in terms of ram, "optimised for amd" is just marketing. actually the sweet spot for 3000 series ryzen is 3600mhz, so try to find a 3600C16 kit. fo 32gb, I would advise a 2x16 kit.

[Constantin]

Ryzen like high RAM Frequencies... Anything => 3200Mhz is ok

[Jurrunio]

Fancy heatsinks bloat up the price, usually significantly. Apart from heatsinks and RGB they share the same components as the cheap unloved siblings kits with the same capacity and speed (+ timings) rating so you'll be paying the premium here (unless pricing gets weird)

 

Imo if you have budget for all that, I'd at least get a 3600MHz kit, preferably CL16 but even CL18 is better than 3200MHz. Exception only if that kit you mentioned is actually 3200MHz CL14, of which only those who would tune memory frequency and timings themselves should consider and more on that if this is the case.

[ImNotNeko]

3 hours ago, Constantin said:

Ryzen like high RAM Frequencies... Anything => 3200Mhz is ok

Zen 1 likes high RAM Frequencies.

Zen2 is not very different from intel CPU.

 

 

I'd say around 3200-3600MHz with C15-C16

[afrodude985]

Thanks for all the tips. @Constantin, @Jurrunio, @ImNotNeko I don't have an unlimited budget but I can absolutely throw in 3600MHZ RAM. Also the RAM I was looking at was C16 as well so I will look for C16 3600MHZ. I know it likes higher frequencies but wasn't sure if the "optimized for AMD" made a difference because it only comes in 3200MHZ. @boggy77 I use it for gaming and stuff which the high thread count doesn't help too much with, however we have a three year old in the house where I constantly have a movie playing while I do other school work, gaming, or anything else. The extra cores will help me with multitasking which I do a lot of. The CPU is certainly overkill but that's what I'm interested in to an extent. 

 

Thank you all again for the quick responses! Much appreciated.

[boggy77]

9 minutes ago, afrodude985 said:

Thanks for all the tips. @Constantin, @Jurrunio, @ImNotNeko I don't have an unlimited budget but I can absolutely throw in 3600MHZ RAM. Also the RAM I was looking at was C16 as well so I will look for C16 3600MHZ. I know it likes higher frequencies but wasn't sure if the "optimized for AMD" made a difference because it only comes in 3200MHZ. @boggy77 I use it for gaming and stuff which the high thread count doesn't help too much with, however we have a three year old in the house where I constantly have a movie playing while I do other school work, gaming, or anything else. The extra cores will help me with multitasking which I do a lot of. The CPU is certainly overkill but that's what I'm interested in to an extent. 

 

Thank you all again for the quick responses! Much appreciated.

I'd go with a 3900x then. It will save you a lot of money and you won't notice the difference

[afrodude985]

@boggy77 Thank you for the tip. I can get the motherboard and CPU for just a little more than the 3950x alone. I think I will go for that one instead and bump up the quality of RAM I buy instead. It will still save me money in the long-run. 

 

I'm looking at Trident RAM with the following specs:

• DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)
• Timing 16-19-19-39
• Voltage 1.35V
• 32GB (2x 16GB sticks)

Do those timings look alright or is there something better out there?

[boggy77]

14 minutes ago, afrodude985 said:

@boggy77 Thank you for the tip. I can get the motherboard and CPU for just a little more than the 3950x alone. I think I will go for that one instead and bump up the quality of RAM I buy instead. It will still save me money in the long-run. 

 

I'm looking at Trident RAM with the following specs:

• DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800)
• Timing 16-19-19-39
• Voltage 1.35V
• 32GB (2x 16GB sticks)

Do those timings look alright or is there something better out there?

Looks good

[afrodude985]

@boggy77 Thank you! I really appreciate it! Those are all the questions I have haha. Actually just ordered the CPU and motherboard. RAM and AIO will be ordered in a couple days.