[SOLVED] Best memory to buy for 5900x and ASUS Rog Strix X570F

[Reb71]

Ok so building a new system. I've never gone for AMD before but went for AMD R 5900X paired with Asus Rog Strix X570-F MB. I'm confused on what memory to get.

I want 32GB and I'm looking at 2x16gb or 4x8gb sets at 3200Mhz or 3600Mhz. I'm not looking to overclock memory, just want it to work in stable fashion for a sensible price. I can't see me ever needing to upgrade this to 64gb.

Issue is I'm reading conflicting things on web about what is optimal memory to get

1. Seems dual rank 2x16gb is ideal but these days a lot of cheaper 2x16gb sets seem to be single rank.
2. 4x8gb is often a good option but some argue that causes performance drag with "daisychain topology" MBs like X570F.
3. Also hear that 4x8gb at 3600Mhz is "unstable" on AMD MBs. Is that really true?
4. 3600Mhz is "sweet spot" but I don't quite see why 3600MHz CL18 is going to be better than 3600Mhz CL16?

Any clarity on this would be appreciated since I'm going round in circles and I suspect it probably won't matter! Also any recommendations for 32gb sets in the sub £200 area would be great

 

[Hellfire13]

On a dual channel board such as yours, running dual channel memory is optimal as the Memory Controller for the chipset has been built that way.
3600mhz CL18 is not better than 3600mhz CL16. Its the other way around. Tighter/lower the timing, better the performance...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Memory | Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory | £171.13 @ Amazon UK
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £171.13
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-08-07 16:44 BST+0100 |

 

[Koekieezz]

1. There is also single rank 2x16gb, which one of my friend have (team dark z alpha 2x16gb 3600mhz) paired with B550M mortar + r3 3300X.

2 and 3. It was unstable at high speed Before Zen 3 which is your processor, AFAIK Ryzen 5000 series are usually stable at 3600mhz 4x8GB (which could be tought as Dual Ranked mode since 2 single rank in one channel). But for performance drag, it wont be much a difference unless you're an enthusiast on every corner on the system

4. 3600Mhz or 4000Mhz is the usual stable speed on ryzen 5000 series on 1:1 with FCLK, but it's gacha because maybe you could lose the silicon lottery , well go for the lowest CL on 3600mhz if you wanted to.

For the ram, i usually don't seek for RGB so a Klevv Bolt XR or Team Dark Z Alpha at 3600mhz or 4000mhz should be good, or Team Xtreem, G.skill Trident Z Neo, and Klevv Cras XR at 3600mhz or 4000mhz should be ok.

You might want to look at this, it's within your budget:
2x16 Kit;
Team Dark Za 2x16GB CL18
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...16-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-tdzad432g3600hc18jdc01

Klevv Cras X RGB 2x16GB CL18
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...16-gb-ddr4-3600-cl18-memory-kd4agu880-36a180x

G.skill Trident Z RGB 3600 2x16GB CL16
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c16d-32gtzrc

4x8 Kit:
G.skill Trident Z RGB 3600 4x8GB CL19
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-4-x-8gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c19q-32gtzrb

G.skill Ripjaws V 3600 4x8GB CL16
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-4-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c16q-32gvkc

 

[Reb71]

Ok thanks for the info and also the recommendations.

@Hellfire13. I did look at Crucial 3600 CL16 (and also 3200 CL16). Crucial would be ideal (and nicely below budget) but I'm reading that it's not dual rank anymore. Or to be more precise you can get both dual rank and single rank since both are being offered under the same SKU (BL2K16G36C16U4B). So it's a bit of a lottery. Do you think this really matters? I read the difference can be nothing or 15% in performance terms. Gaming isn't my focus, more data compression/decompression where I worry memory bandwidth matters more.

@Koekieezz. Do you know if any of the 2x16gb are dual rank? Gskill often is but I'm notr familiar with Klevv or Team Dark

 

[mamasan2000]

The sweet spot is touted as 3600 Mhz because it is compared to 3200 Mhz. On 1000- and 2000-series, 3200 Mhz was pretty much the best you could get. On 3000- and especially 5000-series, 3600 Mhz should just work. 3600 Mhz will also have better memory bandwidth than 3200 Mhz.
I have KHX3600C18D4/16GX which Thaiphoon Burner reports as singlerank. Kingston HyperX 3600 Mhz CL 18 so avoid that if you don't like singlerank. It was cheap for 32 gigs.
You want Fclock the same as Memoryclock. Otherwise you are loosing performance. If you can reach Fclock of 1900, that's great. 2000 on the other hand is rare. I can do 1900 Fclock on my Ryzen 5600x so I have also overclocked my RAM to run at 3800 Mhz (DOUBLE data rate, 3800 Mhz / 2 = 1900 Mhz). I could have just run XMP @ 3800 Mhz, that worked out of the box even tho it is rated for 3600 Mhz but I tightened the timings even more.

As you might have noticed, B-die is great but it's also almost twice the price. 200 dollars vs 380ish dollars. I didn't feel the perf difference was worth almost 200 dollars. For 2-5% in some workloads or whatever it is. It would have been ridiculous to pay more for RAM than I payed for the CPU imho.

 

[Hellfire13]

@Hellfire13. I did look at Crucial 3600 CL16 (and also 3200 CL16). Crucial would be ideal (and nicely below budget) but I'm reading that it's not dual rank anymore. Or to be more precise you can get both dual rank and single rank since both are being offered under the same SKU (BL2K16G36C16U4B). So it's a bit of a lottery. Do you think this really matters? I read the difference can be nothing or 15% in performance terms. Gaming isn't my focus, more data compression/decompression where I worry memory bandwidth matters more.

That used to be a significant factor in performance back in the day when DDR3 was prevalent. With DDR4 and FCLK advancements, it is not a significant factor anymore, hence you wont find the information in most of the product pages. Whatever little effect it had on the earlier Ryzen generations, with the latest AGESA microcodes you're good to go with pretty much any ram there is on the market provided the board supports the frequency and the ram capacity, without the need to look through the QVL of a motherboard.
The current lot of memory controllers pretty much neutralizes the rank effect, so you are chasing a non factor there. I am using that Crucial kit in one of my builds and so far it has been impeccable. It is a Intel build though.

 

[Koekieezz]

@Koekieezz. Do you know if any of the 2x16gb are dual rank? Gskill often is but I'm notr familiar with Klevv or Team Dark

It's kinda gacha for me, since you might got dual rank or single rank. Anyways this is not a big deal for PC users unlike Mobile user. Klevv is owned by SK Hynix, so the memory chip is always SKHynix, thats why the price is lower than usual branded kits. As for team, the company is an old player so i would trust the brand. For lower price, both Klevv and Team is good enough for your budget, 3600mhz CL 18 should be more than ok.