A Second Look: DDR4 Motherboard Performance vs Data Rate

[Admin]

We saw interesting results with a recent memory review, so we dig a bit deeper. Does the motherboard maker really impact memory compatibility and performance?

A Second Look: DDR4 Motherboard Performance vs Data Rate : Read more

 

[setx]

It would be much more interesting to get the root case of that strange XMP behavior on ASUS (likely, subtimings) than just testing defaults of some more boards.

"From Asus’ perspective, there is no denying the wealth of options available for overclocking, but our base level of memory overclocking does leave us wanting.", "If more basic overclocking is desired, we definitely recommend the MSI or Gigabyte boards" – what are those magic different "overclocking options" you are talking about when all what was tested in article was switching basic memory speed and enabling XMP?

 

[washmc]

Maybe I misunderstood the point of the test but I would have liked to see both more boards used and more RAM modules tested. 5 should be the minimum boards and upwards of 10 would be preferred. Also testing different branded RAM would give more insight I feel as to where the inconsistencies lie. Or maybe I should say RAM from different manufacturers, not necessarily the resellers.

 

[honujab]

A question hard to answer is: should spend money on memory, or processor, or GPU?

We really do not have the benchmark data to back the answer.

TH should test different RAM speeds for the best bang for the buck combinations of CPU+GPU

 

[GetSmart]

There could be slight clockspeed and timing variance between those motherboards (if these use different crystal oscillators and clock generators).

 

[TheTerk]

Maybe I misunderstood the point of the test but I would have liked to see both more boards used and more RAM modules tested. 5 should be the minimum boards and upwards of 10 would be preferred. Also testing different branded RAM would give more insight I feel as to where the inconsistencies lie. Or maybe I should say RAM from different manufacturers, not necessarily the resellers.

Josh, I think adding more boards would be a great exercise but even as a motherboard reviewer, I do not have 10 X470 or B450 boards at my disposal. The three chosen today are the best of each brand and likely prove trends in design thinking for each of the companies.
As for memory, I only have a couple of kits that reach the higher data rates, and will be grabbing some ddr4-3733 for a review shortly.