[SOLVED] 2666MHz or 2400MHz?

[Avik Basu]

Looking at upgrade options and came across an article that suggested getting 2x8GB DDR4 2400MHz, not directly but they provided a link that took me to an online retailer page of that specific RAM. I checked the specs of the motherboard mentioned in the article and it supports up to 2666MHz. So I looked through other RAMs on the site. I wanted to get one 16GB stick but they sell them mostly in 2400MHz or 3000MHz and above. Then I searched if 2666MHz is good for gaming and came across a forum where one person said that 2666MHz is mediocre and outdated.

So my question is, is 2666MHz worth picking one from the limited option available or will 2400MHz do the job? Keep in mind that I'm not currently looking to upgrade the GPU. I plan to do that next year. The purpose of this PC would primarily be gaming with web browsing and watching videos. No other intense usage. Also, feel free to recommend any other good motherboard at the same price range that might support 3000MHz. It's cheaper than the other two so if possible I'd like to get the 3000MHz.

For those who didn't the article the motherboard mentioned in it is Asus ROG Strix B365-G and the CPU is Intel Core i5 9400F and my current GPU is Asus 760 Geforce GTX 760 2GB. I recently started using a Corsair TX650M PSU.

 

[Endre]

I don't think getting a good motherboard is a problem. The problem is them working with Ryzen 3000 without needing a BIOS update. I actually wouldn't have minded going for Gigabyte. They have a good number of USB ports and my current board is Gigabyte too so I'm used to using it. But I have checked the Aorus lineup boards available in my budget and they have the same problem as pretty much everyone else. They are for Ryzen Gen 1 and 2 but will most likely work with 3 after a BIOS update.

@DMAN999 Asus hasn't replied yet but I have checked with the store and they said it'll need a BIOS update and that they'd do it for free. So now the question is should I get the Strix that needs a BIOS update and might get hiccups from it but I'm kinda leaning towards or should I got for the Tomahawk MAX that doesn't need a BIOS update so no need to interfere with that but has a bad BIOS team in case that becomes necessary in the future and I'm not feeling for it?

Well, I wouldn’t necessarily avoid MSI motherboards either, because I had one many years ago and it was OK.

But how about Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro? That works with Ryzen 3000.
Is it too expensive?

 

[Avik Basu]

It is, unfortunately. I think almost every good motherboard that supports Ryzen 3000 out of the box right now over here would be the mid-high to high range ones.

 

[Avik Basu]

Update:

I got the new PC and I have run into some speed bumps. Setting it up was a bit of a trouble since I've never used an RGB setup before and this is the very first time using an AMD CPU. It took me a few hours to get the front fan to light up. It took me 2 days to figure out the Bluetooth. But the biggest problem of all is that the CPU has been getting quite hot even in idle mode. In idle it averages at 70C.

Yesterday I tried playing some games to check how high it gets under stress. I played some PUBG Lite in Ultra for an hour and the temperature stayed about the same. Thinking that it's a mid-range game not requiring high resources and therefore not making things too hot I tried playing Hitman 2 at moderately high settings for half an hour. Again it stayed at around 70C to 80C. Today though, when I started playing PUBG Lite I checked the temperature about 5-10 mins. after starting the game and it had gotten much hotter. It crossed 80C and soon after it was around 92C.

Weirdly, today is much cooler than it's normally here and yesterday, although cool it wasn't this cool.

Also, yesterday at night I was looking online to see if there's a solution to the overheating and suddenly the screen turned off and the PC froze. The Numlock, Capslock lights weren't working and the RGB inside the case had gone static. I had to force shut down and then while restarting I went into BIOS. I had read in a forum where someone said that turning off Performance Boost Overdrive helped for them so I went to try that. I used the motherboards search feature and found there are 3 PBOs. I turned off the one under overclocking since I don't intend to overclock. Then while I was exiting the PC froze again. This time the screen stayed on. I again forced it to shut down. This hasn't happened again.

I should mention that the motherboard LED that lights up when it is checking through the CPU, DRAM, VGA, and Boot stayed lit when the PC froze. It was an orange LED. I check the manual and it said "yellow" light is for DRAM.

I'm using the stock cooler with the thermal paste that is already spread on it and a 120 Corsair front panel fan that came with the case.

P.S. - The boot time is also a bit longer than I'd care for.

P.P.S - The CPU core voltage stays at around 1.3v-1.4v and the CPU frequency stays around 3900-4000 in idle. I'm getting this information from AI Suite 3. CPU-Z says the same thing except it doesn't show the temperature.