Question Hynix/Samsung RAM for B450/Ryzen 2000?

Nov 15, 2019
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Setup: MSI B450 Tomahawk, Ryzen 7 2700x

This has been driving me up the wall with indecision. As I've read, Ryzen likes Samsung b-die memory and may not have stable overclocks with Hynix ones. This apparently was a bigger issue with Ryzen 1st gen, but is it really necessary for 2nd gen with all the BIOS updates? I am eyeing a 2x8gb DDR4 G.Skill Flare X 3200mhz CL16 kit ( F4-3200C16D-16GFX ) which apparently isn't b-die. B-die memory where I live is significantly more expensive and runs out of stock all the time. Will I be able to run it stably at the advertised speed just fine, or should I make the extra effort and get specific b-die memory?

In short, can I just get a cheaper 3200mhz 16GB CL16 kit, or should I really go for a C14/C15 B-die kit for my build?
 
Flare X sticks are MADE for Ryzen. There should not be any problem using them. You might get slightly tighter timings or higher clocks when running four sticks with B-die modules but overall you should be perfectly fine with that Flare X kit. For a 2 DIMM kit, so long as the kit works, I would have no performance concerns.

The difference will be negligible anyhow and likely only seen on synthetic benchmarks. If you are not sure, look at the G.Skill configurator to make sure it shows compatibility with that motherboard, but I happen to know those Flare X sticks will run fine on a Tomahawk board.
 
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Barty1884

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FlareX is specifically released for Ryzen, and should be fine B-Die or not.

For the most part, 3000-3200MHz was doable on 2nd Gen Ryzen without needing B-Die.
Of course, for guaranteed compatibility, B-Die was preferrable.

While most decent kits (CL16 or less) should be fine at 3000-3200MHz, there's still a slight chance it could be problematic &/or require manually tuning your timings.

For 100% compatibility guarantee, consult the QVL* for the board. There will be 3200MHz kits that are non B-Die and still verified to work at their rated speeds.

*QVLs aren't exhaustive lists though, simply what the board vendor has tested - so doesn't mean other kits won't work.
 
That chart is no more useful than the motherboard QVL lists. It has some usefulness, but much as the QVL lists are not that list is not all inclusive and you are much better off using the compatibility lists for each memory manufacturers products as found on their individual websites. They have a dog in the fight when it comes to making sure that all of their products either do or do not work with any given motherboard, unlike AMD or the motherboard manufacturer who only need to show some moderate compatibility with a wide range of products.