[SOLVED] R5 2600, 2666MHz vs 3600MHz RAM

I got 2666 now and they’re brand new, should i return them and get the 3600 for like 40€ more? Is it worth it?


3600’s are bdie so i think it’d be worth it but i want more opinions before i spend my money

2666MHz - ~160€
3600MHz - ~200€

 
Solution
I personally would get the 3600MHz kit... I'm not sure how PROFILES work if the CPU isn't compatible with that high of a frequency but you should look for a PROFILE first and try to apply it rather than mess with all manual settings.

Most memory kits have several PROFILES available for you to select. Make sure your BIOS is up to date as that's how they get added.

Depending on the motherboard you may just see a recommended 3000MHz profile as the best choice. I'm guessing though.

Once you do that run MEMTEST86 for a full pass www.memtest86.com

NOW CAS LATENCY matters too. If that 3600MHz kit doesn't have a relatively low CL value don't get it... UPDATE: it's hard to know what the CAS value is at 3000MHz for a 3600MHz kit but I'd...

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
While Ryzen may scale more than Intel with memory clock, benefits and compatibility taper off quite a bit past 3000MT/s while prices tend to shoot up drastically. I wouldn't bother with more than 3000MT/s or whatever the prices sharply trend up at, not enough benefit to justify the cost.
 
I personally would get the 3600MHz kit... I'm not sure how PROFILES work if the CPU isn't compatible with that high of a frequency but you should look for a PROFILE first and try to apply it rather than mess with all manual settings.

Most memory kits have several PROFILES available for you to select. Make sure your BIOS is up to date as that's how they get added.

Depending on the motherboard you may just see a recommended 3000MHz profile as the best choice. I'm guessing though.

Once you do that run MEMTEST86 for a full pass www.memtest86.com

NOW CAS LATENCY matters too. If that 3600MHz kit doesn't have a relatively low CL value don't get it... UPDATE: it's hard to know what the CAS value is at 3000MHz for a 3600MHz kit but I'd maybe ensure the kit at 3600MHz was CL17 or lower to be on the safe side.
 
Solution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu_gOM3ocnI

Most of the benefit if it exists would be between 2666MHz and 3000MHz likely. It gets hard to compare because higher frequency also has a higher CAS LATENCY so if the CL value is relatively lower on the higher frequency is that where more benefit is coming?

Anyway, watch the video which may or may not be representative of what you'll experience. It's probably right since up to 15% seems to be a good guess without knowing the specifics of the game etc.

Also, I would not mess around with extra VOLTAGE (and STRAP etc) if you don't know what you're doing. If you can get a default profile of 3000MHz working stick with that and maybe educate yourself a bit more later... even then don't crank the voltage up much if possible as that can kill the CPU memory controller over time (AFAIK).

For example: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3251-raven-ridge-soc-voltage-guidelines-how-to-kill-cpu-with-safe-voltage

"From speaking with numerous contacts at motherboard makers, AMD, and XOCers, general advisement on unsafe SOC voltages is that it begins beyond 1.3V. Conventional wisdom (starting with Ryzen) is that 1.2V is a safe SOC voltage, but we’ve been told by some vendors that Raven Ridge CPUs can reasonably take up to 1.3V, but the suggested input number tends to be 1.2V; this is because, again, the user-configured number and the actual voltage aren’t necessarily equal. Going significantly beyond 1.3V for sustained periods, e.g. 1.34, will likely result in degradation of the IMC over time."
 

shemgwapo

Honorable
Jan 16, 2014
5
0
10,510
the latest bios from msi lets me run 3600mhz via xmp, before it wont even boot but the problem is its not stable when i play games so i just stayed at 3466 since the max support for my mobo is 3466.