[SOLVED] Need help choosing RAM

emitfudd

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Apr 9, 2017
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I have been debating G. Skill vs Corsair and 4 sticks vs 2 sticks. I know that I want a total of 32GB of RAM at a speed of 3600MHz since that is the sweet spot for the Ryzen 5900x and works best with the infinity fabric ratio. I was looking at the Corsair Vengeance Pro RGB and can get the 3600 kit with latency as low as 16. Then I started looking at the G. Skill Trident Z Neo as that is supposed to be high quality RAM and is optimized for AMD. I can get latency as low as 14 with G. Skill. The C14 kit does run at 1.45v instead of 1.35.

I don't plan on overclocking the RAM above 3600MHz since I feel like that would be more than fast enough and again, the sweet spot to work with infinity fabric. I see a few options here. I could buy a C16 kit and hope it has enough headroom to tighten up the timings to 14. I could buy the C14 kit and basically set the XMP and forget it. I could buy the C16 kit and set and forget.

I am heavily leaning toward the G. Skill RAM and even the C14 kit is on the QVL list. The Corsair is only on the QVL for the C18 kit.

One concern I have is the 1.45 v on the C14 kit. Is this going to run too hot and will it be a must to have a RAM cooler?

The G. Skill kits I am looking at are the F4-3600C16D-32GTZN and the same part number with 3600C14D. The difference in price is only about $40 and I am not basing my purchase on price anyways.

After extensive research I cannot come to a conclusion on 2 sticks vs 4 and which one (if either) runs faster. What I do know is that the 4 stick kit may not reach the advertised speed and will be difficult to overclock. I have decided to go with a 2 stick kit. If I am correct I should be installing the sticks in slots 2 and 4 of the motherboard?

My specs for new build are:

Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero motherboard
Ryzen 5900X CPU
MSI 3080 Gaming Z Trio GPU
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB x2 M.2 SSD
Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W PSU
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm AIO
Corsair 780T case
 
Solution
1.45V is fine without additional memory cooling; just make sure CPU temperature is within range.

2 sticks will be fine, put them in A2 B2 slots to perform best.

Let us know if you encounter any problems or have any other questions.

emitfudd

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Apr 9, 2017
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1.45V is fine without additional memory cooling; just make sure CPU temperature is within range.

2 sticks will be fine, put them in A2 B2 slots to perform best.

Let us know if you encounter any problems or have any other questions.
1.45V is fine without additional memory cooling; just make sure CPU temperature is within range.

2 sticks will be fine, put them in A2 B2 slots to perform best.

Let us know if you encounter any problems or have any other questions.
Are either of these kits using the Samsung B die?

F4-3600C14D-32GTZNA
F4-3600C16D-32GTZN
 

emitfudd

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Apr 9, 2017
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I ended up buying the CL16 kit. I don't know how I got confused with the part numbers but the CL 14 kit ends with an A. I was looking at a CL 14 kit that didn't end with A and it was only about $40 more than the CL 16 kit. The one I need with the A at the end is about $100 more. Between that and the extra heat from the 1.45v I think the CL 16 will be fine.