Question Buy faster RAM now for future CPU?

[Piri1974]

Hello folks!

I have a question about the compatibility of faster RAM:
I received a Mobo with an AMD A8-9600 APU.
I know this is not the fastest CPU around, so I am thinking about putting in a faster CPU in the future, when my wallet allows it.
I have a case and a 420w power supply from an older computer, so I just need some RAM and a small hard disk to get up and running.

BUT: the A8-9600 only works with DDR4-2400 RAM, according to AMD's website.
To avoid having to buy new RAM for the future CPU, I would like to buy faster RAM now already.
My question is: If I buy faster DDR4 now for my future CPU (Ryzen 5 or so), will this A8 be able to use this RAM, even if only at 2400Mhz maybe?

Or has anyone tried this before, and see that the A8 can also run faster DDR4, like DDR4-3200, even if AMD does not support it officially?

So I actually have 2 questions:
Will the A8 be able to run with faster RAM, and if so, will it run it at slower 2400Mhz speed, or at the true speed?

Thank you all for reading and helping me out.
A nice day to you;
Carl

 

[Lutfij]

Always list your specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

If you're looking at going with a Ryzen 5 processor, you should look into a DDR4-3200MHz dual channel ram kit. It'll just run at DDR4-2400MHz at the very least.

 

[Piri1974]

Thank you for your kind help.
Okay I'm sorry. So here are my specs:

CPU: AMD A8-9600 APU
Motherboard: Gigabyte AB350-GAMING
RAM: to buy
SSD: to buy (will be a small 120Gb or 240Gb one, and then a 1-2Tb normal harddrive to have some decent amount of storage)
GPU: integrated Radeon R7 - 900Mhz
PSU: 420W from Fortron (recycled from another pc)
Case: Coolermaster (also recycled. Don't know the model, but it's a big tower for mobos up to standard ATX)

To describe what price range I'm looking for:
There are gamers who will buy the components they need to be able to play the games they want.
I belong to the second group: I will play the games that my current hardware can play. I will not easily buy a new cpu simply because a new game came out.
So I am not looking for high-end components.
For me, the best budget components - or maybe a little better than that - are good enough.

So if I buy DDR4-3200, it will surely run with this A8 cpu, but maybe only at DDR-2400-speed, right?
I don't run the risk of getting a few beeps, and then no boot... as long as I look for RAM modules which are compatible with my mobo.

As I am not looking for the best, I guess that as long as I stay with known brand names like Kingston, GSkill or Corsair, I can't go wrong.
The same for the SSD: I can't go wrong with Kingston or Western Digital I guess.
I was looking around, and I see that there are these figures behind the DDR nomenclature: CL17, CL16, CL15... does that still stand for CAS latency? The last time I assembled a pc, it was still DDR 1 era, so...
Does that still really matter? Not for my A8 APU I guess. Although: It may make a difference for its integrated Radeon chip...

Thanks all for your help!
Carl

 

[Piri1974]

Oh, I forgot to mention: I'll probably start with 2 x 4Gb.
That should be enough for the time being, and I'll have dual channel.
OS will be Windows 10 Home 64-bit.