which RAM for Ryzen 7 2700x and b450 tomahawk?

[2018amdbuild]

Hi, this is my first AMD build and it all seems so complicated! in the past I only built low spec intel builds which were very straight forward!

I had a couple of questions about ram choice for ram choices for my 2700x and b450 tomahawk -

1> If i choose a 3000 mhz ram that's not listed on the ram list for the mobo's support page, will i still get 2933 Mhz usage?

2> how to identify samsung b-die?

3> does samsung b-die matter if i want only 2933 mhz? can i get same performance at 2933 mhz with non samsung b-die ram as i would if i were to use samsung b-die?

4> what kind of performance difference is there between 2933 mhz and higher speed rams?

5> does using rams peeds higher then 2933 mhz make my system unstable?

6> what sort of c number (i think its called timing?) should i go for when choosing a 2933 mhz ram?

 

thank you.

 

[geo3]

1. over or under clocking ram is normal and straight forward just as it is with a CPU. However 3200Mhz is generally considered the sweet spot for Ryzen ram.

2. I'll let someone else field this one.

3. Using the higher quality chips will allow you to have tighter timings, especially when running it blow the rated speed.

4. super dependent on the task being run. Faster ram means faster CCX crosstalk which allows Ryzen to access it's cache faster. I'd say up to 5%.

5. Generally no. 2nd gen Ryzen is pretty good about it. I'd more worry about running the memory beyond it's own spec.

6. If you are running b-die at 2933 I'd be severely disappointed if I didn't get CL timing of less than 14.

[Sakkura]

1: Probably. Also the motherboard QVL doesn't mean anything not on it won't work or won't hit the rated speeds. It's just what the motherboard vendor has actually tried.

 

2. 3200 CL14 should pretty much always be Samsung B-die.

 

3. No, you should be able to get 2933 with any die, at least if the memory kit is rated for 2933 or higher. I have some Hynix memory happily running 3000 with my 2700X.

 

4. It kinda tails off from 2933 to 3200. The difference from 2933 to 3000 is only 67 MHz so that's obviously a tiny difference, while 3200 is a decent little extra bump, but not a must-have. Beyond 3200 is generally not worth it. But this also depends on usage and other components, like 3200 won't matter for gaming if you only have a GTX 1060.

 

5. If you're overclocking then it depends whether you dial in a stable configuration. But 3200 can be completely stable on Ryzen if you have a good kit.

 

6. Ideally 14 (or less), but 15 or 16 isn't that bad for the CAS latency (also denoted eg. CL14 on memory) at 2933-3000. Bear in mind this is a number of clock cycles. So at higher memory clocks, you get higher CL numbers (CL15 at 3000 is the same as CL16 at 3200).

[nick name]

1 hour ago, 2018amdbuild said:

Hi, this is my first AMD build and it all seems so complicated! in the past I only built low spec intel builds which were very straight forward!

I had a couple of questions about ram choice for ram choices for my 2700x and b450 tomahawk -

1> If i choose a 3000 mhz ram that's not listed on the ram list for the mobo's support page, will i still get 2933 Mhz usage?

2> how to identify samsung b-die?

3> does samsung b-die matter if i want only 2933 mhz? can i get same performance at 2933 mhz with non samsung b-die ram as i would if i were to use samsung b-die?

4> what kind of performance difference is there between 2933 mhz and higher speed rams?

5> does using rams peeds higher then 2933 mhz make my system unstable?

6> what sort of c number (i think its called timing?) should i go for when choosing a 2933 mhz ram?

 

thank you.

 

1.  You're gonna find that a lot of RAM will run fine with Ryzen 2000 series CPUs.  There isn't a guarantee if it isn't on the QVL, but the kit I use isn't on the QVL and it works great.  

2.  A quick way to identify b-die is matching timings ie 14-14-14, 15-15-15, 16-16-16.  This holds true up to about 3600 and then at higher speeds the timings will differ.  Then once you have found a kit you believe might be b-die you can compare it against this list: https://benzhaomin.github.io/bdiefinder/

3.  And b-die matters because the timings are tighter out of the box as opposed to the 16-18-18 you'll find on many other kits.  It's much harder to get a Hynix kit to respond as well as a b-die.  I know this from experience.  

4.  You won't notice the difference, but it's there and can be quantified with benchmarks. In terms of "feel" it's like comparing an Intel i5 to an Intel i7 -- if you don't know what's in the PC you probably won't notice the difference in most of the tasks you perform.  

5.  Higher speeds don't immediately mean instability, however, if you're going faster than one component can handle then it will.  For example: A 3000MHz RAM kit overclocked to 3200MHz can be unstable or trying to run a 4000MHz kit at its rated speed can be unstable because the Ryzen IMC not being able to handle it.  The motherboard will also be rated to run different RAM speeds.  Some boards will run faster RAM than others due to their construction and design.  

6.  Buy the best RAM you can for the money you have.  So that starts with finding b-die (in my opinion) and then buying the lowest timings and then fastest rated speed.  The goal there is buying the highest quality b-die you can.    

[2018amdbuild]

I ended up ordering 16GB of Patriot Viper 4 3200 Mhz cl16 for £145.41,  found here -

https://www.cclonline.com/product/240263/PV416G320C6K/Desktop-Memory/Patriot-Viper-4-16GB-2-x-8GB-PC4-25600-3200MHz-CL16-DDR4-Desktop-Memory-Kit/RAM3625/

 

that's the cheapest b-die cl i could find for any speed between 2933 to 3200 Mhz so I decided to go with it, what do you guys think of the price - worth the money or are their better bargains out there?

[nick name]

3 hours ago, 2018amdbuild said:

I ended up ordering 16GB of Patriot Viper 4 3200 Mhz cl16 for £145.41,  found here -

https://www.cclonline.com/product/240263/PV416G320C6K/Desktop-Memory/Patriot-Viper-4-16GB-2-x-8GB-PC4-25600-3200MHz-CL16-DDR4-Desktop-Memory-Kit/RAM3625/

 

that's the cheapest b-die cl i could find for any speed between 2933 to 3200 Mhz so I decided to go with it, what do you guys think of the price - worth the money or are their better bargains out there?

I can't really comment because I don't know what deals are good or not in the UK.  But if it's the cheapest 3200 b-die kit then it's definitely better than not a b-die kit that might be a few pounds cheaper.  

[dokidoki]

i have the same cpu and board like the op, i was wondering if a 3600 ram would work out of the box? should i buy a 3600 cl18 or a 3466 cl16? the 3600 is b-die but im not sure about the 3466 and they have the same price at my local store. both ram are from team group xcaliber rgb 3600 cl18 and night hawk legend 3466 cl16.