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How unsafe is it to buy non-QVL RAM?

Hello!

 

I am looking forward to purchase parts for my next PC, next year.

 

I'd like to buy the following parts: 

1. CPU: Ryzen 9 7900X 

2. Motherboard: Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master 

3. Memory: Kingston Fury Beast KF556C36BBEK2-64 (2x32GB DDR5-5600MT/s CL36 @1.25V EXPO/XMP) 

 

Issue: 

That specific memory kit is not on the QVL of the motherboard. 

 

Questions: 

1. Will that kit work in this setup? 

2. How risky is it to purchase non-QVL RAM?

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  1. Most likely yes.
  2. Not really. It's a matter of time before the QVL is updated and the kit will be tested and most likely approved.

HTH!

"You don't need eyes to see, you need vision"

 

(Faithless, 'Reverence' from the 1996 Reverence album)

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1: It will most likely work just fine, but you might have to find out which settings to use. There isn't a known list of specs for your motherboard/memory combo.

2: QVL just means that the manufacturer of the motherboard has confirmed the memory works with this specific board. It might not show up on this QVL list. But I bet it does show up on loads of other QVL lists. >>> it being non-QVL memory only relates to this motherboard, not others. There is no "risk" of you buying worthless junk. The only risk is that it might not work as intended on your setup, or might not work at advertised speeds "out of the box".

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it's sometimes a pain in the butt on new platforms (significant likely risk).
for aged platforms it's a non issue it basically doesn't matter as long as the CPU can actually run the rated speed.

so personally i wouldn't really take my chances for DDR5 because it's probably only 10% likely to be a problem but that's quite high for the annoyance i'll have to deal with to get the kit swapped

Primary System

  • CPU
    Ryzen R6 5700X
  • Motherboard
    MSI B350M mortar arctic
  • RAM
    32GB Corsair RGB 3600MT/s CAS18
  • GPU
    Zotac RTX 3070 OC
  • Case
    kind of a mess
  • Storage
    WD black NVMe SSD 500GB & 1TB samsung Sata ssd & x 1TB WD blue & x 3TB Seagate
  • PSU
    corsair RM750X white
  • Display(s)
    1440p 21:9 100Hz
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39 minutes ago, SquintyG33Rs said:

it's sometimes a pain in the butt on new platforms (significant likely risk).
for aged platforms it's a non issue it basically doesn't matter as long as the CPU can actually run the rated speed.

so personally i wouldn't really take my chances for DDR5 because it's probably only 10% likely to be a problem but that's quite high for the annoyance i'll have to deal with to get the kit swapped

I hear what you are saying... But DDR5 has been out for a while and OP's RAM isn't really fast. Should be fine. It likely is more a concern if you go above 6000 and really tight timings. Or if it is a brand new MB model. 

 

It is a balance between buying the latest and fastest, and mature proven technology. Safest to use an abacus since that computing technology really matured by now.

 

Even if MB manufacturer tested a RAM kit, the one the OP buys was made 5 months later and likely different RAM or even different manufacturer. I mean we are not supposed to mix RAM if it didn't come in the same kit. So the same RAM model number made later will be different.

 

Alternatively buy RAM that is approved. Or an MB  with a longer list of approved RAM. I'm not even sure if they literally test every kit. I was very surprised my last MB had hundreds of kits listed and wonder who tests all those for every single MB model. It is possible they pretend all B650 boards are the same for RAM. And do they re-test for each BIOS version and every new chipset driver? Probably not ... 

AMD 9 7900 + Thermalright Peerless Assassin SE

Gigabyte B650m DS3H

2x16GB GSkill 60000 CL30

Samsung 980 Pro 2TB

Fractal Torrent Compact

Seasonic Focus Plus 550W Platinum

W11 Pro

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32 minutes ago, SquintyG33Rs said:

it's sometimes a pain in the butt on new platforms (significant likely risk).
for aged platforms it's a non issue it basically doesn't matter as long as the CPU can actually run the rated speed.

so personally i wouldn't really take my chances for DDR5 because it's probably only 10% likely to be a problem but that's quite high for the annoyance i'll have to deal with to get the kit swapped

Yeah. 

The thing is that I like that motherboard, and I'd like to insert 64GB (2x32GB) of DDR5 from Kingston, Corsair, or Crucial at a "decent" speed, and "decent" voltage (1.25V max), but there are very few options on Gigabyte's QVL. 

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my AMD Epyc server is running with non QVL ram, and it's fine. (sligtly cheating here.. i'm pretty sure my sticks are identical to some QVL options..)

 

the thing with QVL is though... that it's at least a guarantee that *someone* got it to work.

it seems like for now at least DDR5 is extremely picky.. so unless you're up for some tinkering in case it doesnt run at the spec that is on the box, you might want to check if any QVL memory is available.

 

so.. to answer your question:

1: most likely

2: risky? not at all. perhaps a bit of manual tuning to make it work at more than jdec speeds, but it's gonna work regardless unless you get some pretty esoteric stuff.

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50/50.

 

People still have problems running ddr4..

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

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5 hours ago, Lurking said:

 

Alternatively buy RAM that is approved. Or an MB  with a longer list of approved RAM. I'm not even sure if they literally test every kit. I was very surprised my last MB had hundreds of kits listed and wonder who tests all those for every single MB model. It is possible they pretend all B650 boards are the same for RAM. And do they re-test for each BIOS version and every new chipset driver? Probably not ... 

you're partially correct. they make multiple boards that actually use the exact same PCB layout for ram. so they effectively have identical electrical performance. so they test all those 100s of kits on like 5 different boards for their whole lineup. a kit on the list should always perform as expected because things are built to tolerances, we don't live in a world where they tested the one unit and that one works but all the others from the same factory are all different enough that they need individual special sauce.

the thing is when they find a kit that behaves oddly they add tweaks to the bios to account for that. that's what in bios updates. predefining how it finds ideal timings and what ranges to test first for optimal performance without literally testing every possible value because you have 10s to boot before the user thinks everything is broken.

 

 

4 hours ago, NDRE28 said:

Yeah. 

The thing is that I like that motherboard, and I'd like to insert 64GB (2x32GB) of DDR5 from Kingston, Corsair, or Crucial at a "decent" speed, and "decent" voltage (1.25V max), but there are very few options on Gigabyte's QVL. 

 yeah DDR5 is still really new and acting pretty different between kits so it's more risky than usual. it's more temperamental than ryzen 1000 at launch. I personally don't like the annoyance of having to make a return and wait for some other order to come in. depending on what store they might make me pay restocking or shipping or both. if you're going in a microcenter or you're relying on amazon not ever giving a single fuck about returns those drawbacks basically don't exist. you'd at worse lose a day waiting.

and the way ram works the only bad thing that can happen without the QVL is that you can't run the XMP/DOCP profile. it's basically guaranteed to run at JEDEC spec of 4000MT/s unless it's DOA.
 

Primary System

  • CPU
    Ryzen R6 5700X
  • Motherboard
    MSI B350M mortar arctic
  • RAM
    32GB Corsair RGB 3600MT/s CAS18
  • GPU
    Zotac RTX 3070 OC
  • Case
    kind of a mess
  • Storage
    WD black NVMe SSD 500GB & 1TB samsung Sata ssd & x 1TB WD blue & x 3TB Seagate
  • PSU
    corsair RM750X white
  • Display(s)
    1440p 21:9 100Hz
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