News RAM Benchmark Hierarchy: Fastest DDR4 Memory Kits for AMD and Intel

[zhiyeliu]

@zhiyeliu , thanks for the article.

I noticed something weird, however. The AMD DDR5 Frequency vs. DPC vs. Rank table has the combination of 2 DPC + 2 R listed twice, each with different frequencies. I'm guessing the first instance was meant to be 1 DPC + 2 R.
(update: fixed!)

BTW, I always wondered what was the stock limit for Raptor Lake on a 2-slot per channel board. I've had some difficulty finding this info. Now I know! Thanks!

Thanks. Just fixed it. 👍

 

[digitalgriffin]

Now, let's do quad-rank instead of dual rank:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UkGu6A-6sQ

It won't help you that much if it all. Ryzen is dual channel. Not Quad.

Most 2x16 kits are dual rank memory anyway.

BTW: Rank per stick is not the same as channels used.
Plus using all 4 sticks reduces your maximum memory overclock because of signaling issues. This is why you get a slight advantage with Overclocking memory on mITX motherboards with only 2 sticks.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Where is DDR5 section ?
What is the fastest / best DDR5 Kit ?
The title suggest that this articles also cover DDR5

7200 is the fastest I seen. But you pay through the nose for it. And it really depends on your system (Intel vs AMD)

 

[digitalgriffin]

It would be interesting to see how the additional cache on the Ryzen X3D chips affects performance. I'm predicting that the delta between kits is even less.

 

[carpdan]

Hello,

Nice to see the updates to the article.

I'm confused though about how the models were chosen though.
For example, regarding the best modules for AMD, I expected to see "Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s C30 AMD EXPO" (CMH32GX5M2B6000Z30K) not "Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MHz C36 Memory Kit" (CMH32GX5M2D6000C36), since the latter doesn't have EXPO support and has.

Also, I want to confirm that for Ryzen 7 CPUs it's better to stick to Dual Channel and not attempt Quad Channel, like it was for Ryzen 5.

Thank you!

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hello,

Nice to see the updates to the article.

I'm confused though about how the models were chosen though.
For example, regarding the best modules for AMD, I expected to see "Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s C30 AMD EXPO" (CMH32GX5M2B6000Z30K) not "Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MHz C36 Memory Kit" (CMH32GX5M2D6000C36), since the latter doesn't have EXPO support and has.

Also, I want to confirm that for Ryzen 7 CPUs it's better to stick to Dual Channel and not attempt Quad Channel, like it was for Ryzen 5.

Thank you!

Okay there's a difference between dual channel and dual rank. People need to understand the difference. And Ryzen 5 has the same memory controller as Ryzen 7. So memory configuration benefits/drawbacks are the same.

But the more slots you fill on the motherboard, the greater chance of signaling issues. Therefore you have to run at a lower clock speed compared to using just 2 slots.

1 in Slot A2 and 1 in Slot B2 is considered the best arrangement paired up with low latency dual rank memory (typically dual rank samsung chips in a 2x16 config). That way you are using dual channel.

 

[bit_user]

Ryzen is dual channel. Not Quad.

Was there any doubt or suggestion otherwise?

Most 2x16 kits are dual rank memory anyway.

For DDR5, I've tended to see 16 GB DIMMs being single-rank. The only 16 GB DIMMs I see being marketed as dual-rank are off-brand (v-color?), which makes me suspicious.

BTW: Rank per stick is not the same as channels used.

Again, I'm puzzled that you feel the need to clarify that.

 

[bit_user]

7200 is the fastest I seen. But you pay through the nose for it. And it really depends on your system (Intel vs AMD)

@samopa , though Newegg doesn't yet list it in their product filters, they already sell DDR5-8000 from Geil, Team Group, and G.Skill. Just search for it.

There's even faster, on the horizon:

• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gskill-8200mhz-ddr5-48gb-kit
• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gskill-achieves-ddr5-10000-on-air-cooling

 

[bit_user]

Also, I want to confirm that for Ryzen 7 CPUs it's better to stick to Dual Channel and not attempt Quad Channel, like it was for Ryzen 5.

I assume you mean Ryzen 7000 vs. Ryzen 5000. It's confusing to shorten them down to a single digit, since "Ryzen 5" is the AMD equivalent of Intel's "i5", denoting a product tier, rather than a generation.

And Ryzen 5 has the same memory controller as Ryzen 7. So memory configuration benefits/drawbacks are the same.

See what I mean?

As @digitalgriffin said, none of these desktop CPUs support quad-channel. What happens when you populate 4 slots is you get 2-channels with 2 DIMMs per Channel (DPC).

The article has a handy table that tells you what happens when you do that. I'll copy-and-paste it here, since the article has lots of tables and I can't link directly to the one I'm talking about:

DDR5 Frequency (MT/s)	DIMMs Populated Per Channel (DPC)	Rank (s)
5,200	1 DPC	1 R
5,200	1 DPC	2 R
3,600	2 DPC	1 R
3,600	2 DPC	2 R

See? When you populate both slots of a channel, frequency drops from 5200 to 3600. So, the answer is definitely not.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Was there any doubt or suggestion otherwise?


For DDR5, I've tended to see 16 GB DIMMs being single-rank. The only 16 GB DIMMs I see being marketed as dual-rank are off-brand (v-color?), which makes me suspicious.


Again, I'm puzzled that you feel the need to clarify that.

Because if you read the original post the posters seem confused as to the difference.

 

[digitalgriffin]

@samopa , though Newegg doesn't yet list it in their product filters, they already sell DDR5-8000 from Geil, Team Group, and G.Skill. Just search for it.

There's even faster, on the horizon:

• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gskill-8200mhz-ddr5-48gb-kit
• https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gskill-achieves-ddr5-10000-on-air-cooling

Well then good for you.

 

[bit_user]

Because if you read the original post the posters seem confused as to the difference.

I'm sorry. I got confused by the video embedded in your reply. I literally didn't notice that it was a quote blob. I didn't read any of the posts on the first page, after seeing how old they were.

Somehow, I saw the video and thought you had decided to post it, for some reason. I found that puzzling, because I hold you in high esteem and it didn't make sense to me that you'd seemingly post it out of nowhere. I looked over your post at least a second time, before responding, and still didn't notice that it was a reply. I even went as far as going back to the article to search it for any mention of quad-channel, because I was still mystified by why you brought it up.
😔

And I have dual rank 16 gig dimms. 😛

What brand memory? Do you know who makes the chips on it? Just curious.

Well then good for you.

I'm just trying to help. Same as you.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I'm sorry. I got confused by the video embedded in your reply. I literally didn't notice that it was a quote blob. I didn't read any of the posts on the first page, after seeing how old they were.

Somehow, I saw the video and thought you had decided to post it, for some reason. I found that puzzling, because I hold you in high esteem and it didn't make sense to me that you'd seemingly post it out of nowhere. I looked over your post at least a second time, before responding, and still didn't notice that it was a reply. I even went as far as going back to the article to search it for any mention of quad-channel, because I was still mystified by why you brought it up.
😔


What brand memory? Do you know who makes the chips on it? Just curious.


I'm just trying to help. Same as you.

I'll have to look to be sure. But I thought they were samsung dies. Both sides of the DIMM were populated which is a strong indicator or rank.

 

[Elusive Ruse]

Fastest AM5 DDR5 memory at $129, it's safe to say the whole platform cost debacle is over.

 

[atomicWAR]

I want to see best DDR5 64GB kits for both Intel and AMD.

 

[SonoraTechnical]

Looking quickly at the charts, Why does DDR-6000 perform about 50% faster (~3k vs 2k) on Intel vs AMD? Not initiating a flame war, just geniunely curious?

 

[bit_user]

Why does DDR-6000 perform about 50% faster (~3k vs 2k) on Intel vs AMD? Not initiating a flame war, just geniunely curious?

Probably has a lot to do with their Intel testbed using a 24-core/32-thread i9-13900K, while their AMD (DDR5) test platform uses an 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 7700X.

The fact that the CPUs' scores are separated into different tables seems intended to suggest the scores aren't meant to be comparable.

 

[evdjj3j]

Where in the Wide World of Sports did this pricing come from. It's not even close.

 

[RichardtST]

Why do you list DDR4 RAM over 3600 for AMD? I can't even get 3600 to work reliably and have to slow it down to 3200. Why would I ever expect 4000 and above to work???

 

[Gauche Cockney]

Why do you list DDR4 RAM over 3600 for AMD? I can't even get 3600 to work reliably and have to slow it down to 3200. Why would I ever expect 4000 and above to work???

What's your CPU? My obsolete R7 2700x has failed to run above 3600, but upgraded R7 5700x can do

 

[Azzuwish]

The older amd zen 2&3 chiplets had 1/2 speed ddr4 memory write bandwidth on the single chiplet designs. The zen 4 single chiplet on some Aida memory bandwidth benches seems to have lower read & copy than the dual chiplet ryzen 79xx CPUs... I wonder what other quirks are in the the new i/o die & ddr5 controller

 

[atomicWAR]

I want to see best DDR5 64GB kits for both Intel and AMD.

While I am glad you added 64GB DDR5 kits...What about AMD? Please include 64GB DDR5 kits for AMD asap please!

 

[zhiyeliu]

Yeah, vendors are just starting to send their 64GB kits for review. We're doing our best to source other capacities, too!