Memory confusion and sticker shock, for AS Rock B450 Pro4 MB

[nsasucks2015]

I have assembled about 100 PCs (mostly years ago), and have never had so much trouble finding memory to go with a new motherboard, that:
a.) is affordable
and
b.) is compatible

I just bought an AS Rock B450 Pro4. I want to put 2 sticks of 8MB DDR4 RAM in it. I intend to buy an AMD Ryzen 7 1800X. I'm not an overclocker (well, once I was: I did replace an 8088 chip with an 8088-2 chip once, but I like having a warranty.)

From what I have read, 2666 speed RAM is a good choice, but I can't even find that article to explain why. I'm not a gamer and don't want LEDs on my RAM. I'm pretty sure I don't want RAM that was designed for an Intel chipset (Z170?) - but this whole concept is new to me since my last build about 3 or 4 years ago. I see some RAM that says it is for AMD - but it always also comes with sticker shock.

So, what speed RAM to buy? If it is slower than 2666, then it will likely be affordable and the hunt will become easy. If I am never going to overclock, is RAM speed even a factor?

Does it have to say "Made for AMD" to work in this B450 MB? (A side question is why doesn't the "made for Intel" RAM work, or does it - but, at a slower speed?)

It seems like every stick of 288-pin DDR4 8GB memory stick that is listed as working is either not available at newegg, or is considerably more expensive RAM.

Here's the AS Rock site, showing compatible memory, for the B450 Pro4 MB:
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B450%20Pro4/index.us.asp#Memory

Thanks in advance for any help (either picking specific RAM, or explaining some of what makes no sense to me.)

Dennis

 

[Supahos]

First I highly recommend a 2700x over an 1800x as it'll definitely be easier to get ram up to speed on it.

With ryzen there is "infinity fabric" connecting the 2 4 core dies to the cache/memory to make it an 8core chip. The clock speed of this interconnect is direct tied to the memory speed and timings. Faster speed/lower latency actually speeds up the processor with ryzen

Usually you can find a 16gb (2*8) kit oc 3000/3200 (almost needed with ryzen) for not a ton more than regular ram. The 2700x is faster out of the box than an 1800x and also more compatible ram wise. The 3000/3200 ram usually has to be cl14 which is very expensive for the 1800x it typically doesn't with a 2700x

 

[nsasucks2015]

Thanks Supahos,

I had a configuration problem with Tom's Hardware, and I had originally tried to post my question a month ago. It must have been in the queue until yesterday... so I already did buy RAM.

My new MB is an Asus B450Pro4, I switched to a Ryzen 5 2600X CPU, and got G.Skill TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GTZR. The CAS Latency is 16 on these memory chips - so I hope they work correctly.

I really did not plan to overclock, but just to buy hardware that was overclockable, as"headroom"/overkill. I don't game. I did not find anything stating that I had to buy CL 14 chips, and with the "Gen 2" Ryzen architecture, I think I read that the memory compatability issues were less dramatic. Have I made a mistake in buying these chips? The memory I bought has the silly LED light display, only because it was cheaper than comparable RAM without lights.

 

[Supahos]

No absolutely not, should be a very solid setup. The 2nd gen ryzen with 400 series boards are a lot more forgiving on ram