[SOLVED] Ryzen 2600, which RAM and compatibility question

[majaczos22]

Hi,
I'm helping my friend build his new PC, he's a bit on a budget so CPU of the choice is the Ryzen 5 2600, motherboard ... we're still fairly undecided but most likely one of the MSI offerings - B450-A Pro, B450M Mortar or B450 Tomahawk (a bit less likely because of the price). Same manufacturer, same chipset, probably the same drivers, there should be next to no compatibility differences, right?

Because of the tight budget and planned future upgrade, 1x8GB stick should do.
Ryzen likes higher frequencies, right? 3200MHz it is. Thing is, barely anything comes in 1x8GB flavour (I'm trying to avoid CL18 ones) and if it is - none of those listed by MSI are available here in Poland (or if one is, its price is crazy). Here are a few choices we have:

- HyperX Predator RGB, DDR4, 8GB,3200MHz, CL16 (HX432C16PB3A/8 )
- HyperX Predator, DDR4, 8GB,3200MHz, CL16 (HX432C16PB3/8 ) (non RGB version)
- HyperX Predator, XMP, 8GB, DDR4, 3333MHz, CL16 (HX433C16PB38)
- ADATA XPG Gaming, DDR4, 8GB,3200MHz, CL16 (AX4U320038G16-SR10 or SB10)
- Ballistix Elite 8GB DDR4 3200 CL15 (BLE8G4D32BEEAK)

None of them is listed by MSI. Time for questions:
1. With new BIOS update with AGESA, should RAM compatibility be less of an issue now?
2. ADATA is a double sided RAM, doesn it make any difference?
3. What "damage" is choosing CL18 going to bring?
4. Does going above 3200MHz make sense? The HyperX in the middle (3333MHz, HX433C16PB38) is listed by MSI but as a 16GB stick (HX433C16PB316), is there a chance it would work?
5. Does pushing for frequency really make sense?
6. How well Ryzen 5 2600 works with 4 sticks of RAM? I know it has two memory channels so two sticks are perfect and everyone is recommending it. But I saw a couple of comparisons and it seems like there was no penalty for using, for example, 4x4GB instead of 2x8GB.

I knew there's going to be the most hassle with RAM and now we're stuck...

 

[Supahos]

Double rank ram is harder to get up to higher speeds on ryzen

It's definitely worth trying for higher speeds

4 sticks makes it nearly impossible to get it up to 3200

 

[lthampton]

The higher the speed the better it will be for Ryzen CPU's.

 

[Dugimodo]

If you have 4 RAM slots on the board you choose you would be better off going for 2 x 4GB sticks in dual channel mode and leaving 2 slots free for the future upgrade. Single channel will hurt performance.

Any of it "should" work, but it's best to stick to the QVL list if you can. I bought SniperX RAM for my 2700X machine without doing any research, turns out it's really optimised for intel chips and does not work well on my system at XMP settings. All that ended up meaning is I had to downclock from 3200 to 2933 to make my system stable. I would have paid the extra for compatible RAM if I realised beforehand but it's no real drama.

 

[kerberos_20]

4 sticks will be pretty much limited to 2666mhz stable

 

[majaczos22]

Any of it "should" work, but it's best to stick to the QVL list if you can.

That's the thing - I don't think I can. Easily 50% of the list contains dual rank memory is may cause issues with higher clocks (even if it says it's supported?). Another 50% RAMs, at least from the quicker ones, are simply unavailable. The rest is either 2x8GB or more. Or 2x4GB. Or CL18. So which one is worse? 1x8GB now or 4x4GB in the future? How high is the risk of taking just single stick of memory of the dual version from the list? Or maybe go with some slower one and try to overclock it? Is it difficult? Many questions that need to be answered...

EDIT. I checked the list again. HyperX HX432C16PB3A/8 (1x8GB, 3200MHz, CL16) seems to be both on it and available at a good price. On the list there's also HX432C16PB3AK2/16 (2x8GB) which appears to be just a dual version. So buying the 1x8GB one (with some fps penalty) and another stick later on looks like a safe option, am I right?

 

[Dugimodo]

I don't like mixing RAM, it's a gamble and you never know if it'll work until you try it.
So if it was me personally, I would go for 2x4 now, then later if I needed to upgrade I would go for 2x8 and try to sell the 2x4.
But if all you can manage is 1x8 now and another 1x8 later, then it should work ok. There's just no absolute guarantee it will.

I'd forgotten what kerberos said about 4 sticks running slower because I only ever have 2.

 

[majaczos22]

Yeah but since HX432C16PB3A/8 and HX432C16PB3AK2/16 are pretty much the same and the latter being 2x kit of the former, it seems like a safe bet? Adding one more 8GB (PB3A/8) stick should effectively make PB3AK2/16, right?

 

[Dugimodo]

I'm not sure, anything that doesn't come as a matched pair of dual channel RAM is not guaranteed to work together. Even the same brand and type can sometimes casue issues.

The best I can say is it should work.

 

[majaczos22]

1x8GB HyperX stick purchased, we'll see what the future brings. Thanks for your imput.

 

[jjg6908]

Just about all of the RAM out there is going to claim that it's optimized for Intel somewhere on the packaging. And it's BS. It's nothing more than a common sales tactic because even with all of Ryzen's improvements Intel's chips are still the superior product and the gold standard. Most people are still going to buy Intel which means there is more competition between RAM manufactures and they're going to do whatever the can to get an edge on their competitor and what easier way then putting a label right on the packaging that says' "Optimized for Intel!" When in reality The RAM doesn't care whether it's in an Intel rig or an AMD rig. It's going to perform as well as the processor and motherboard allow. An I7-8700k with 2666 MHz memory is still going to outperform it's AMD counter-part running 3200 MHz memory. So don't be fooled by false claims on packaging.