Question What RAM kit for a Ryzen 5 3600x System? 3200MHz or 3600MHz?

[Maalikm]

I have recently come across a Ryzen 3600x and have decided to make this the basis for my new gaming-centric PC. As I finalize the component choices for this build, the question of DDR4 RAM speed comes to mind.

The most likely specifications and requirements for this build include:

• The system will be built on a X570 motherboard and will include either a GTX 1060 6gb, Gtx 1070, GTX 1070 ti, or RTX 2060 (I understand that this is wide variety, but my final choice of GPU might depend on the used market).
• I am building this system with the possibility of upgrading to a Zen 3 processor in mind.
• I am expecting to use 16GB of RAM.
• Some of the games I am planning to play with a 120-144 frames per second target include:
  • Hearts of Iron 4
  • Minecraft
  • Digital Combat Simulator
  • Grand Theft Auto V (Singleplayer)
  • Counter Strike: Global Offensive
  • Sid Meier's Civilization VI
  • Kerbal Space Program (Modded)
  • Arma III (both single and multiplayer)
  • War Thunder
  • Elite Dangerous
  • Newer Battlefield and Call of Duty Titles
• I do not plan on performing either a CPU or memory overclock (beyond XMP/the RAM kit's specifications) within the first year of the system's life.

From what I could gather from web articles and on Reddit, anything above 3600MHz is unnecessary or might even produce detrimental results. However my sources seem to be split between 3200MHz and 3600MHz. The AMD website recommends 3200MHz, but many have reported good results with 3600MHz.

So what should I go with? 3200MHz or 3600MHz?

Thanks in advance for any input you can give!

Bonus Question: Is 16GB of RAM really enough? Or should I spend yet more on 32GB?

 

[Lutfij]

I'd go with a B550 Chipset or a B450 chipset(if the BIOS is up to date). Also, if you're on the B550 chipset, you can pick out DDR4-3600MHz rams if your budget allows(as the minimum cut off point).

For gaming 16GB's is plenty. If you plan to do content creation and more multitasking(not to be confused with playing more than one game, heh, that's a joke) then yeah you'll need 32GB.

BTW, any frequency that's above DDR402133MHz is an overclock so you're overclocking the memory to get to DDR4-3600MHz(or higher).

 

[Maalikm]

I'd go with a B550 Chipset or a B450 chipset(if the BIOS is up to date). Also, if you're on the B550 chipset, you can pick out DDR4-3600MHz rams if your budget allows(as the minimum cut off point).

For gaming 16GB's is plenty. If you plan to do content creation and more multitasking(not to be confused with playing more than one game, heh, that's a joke) then yeah you'll need 32GB.

BTW, any frequency that's above DDR402133MHz is an overclock so you're overclocking the memory to get to DDR4-3600MHz(or higher).

DDR4 isn't too costly right now. I might as well go with 32GB after all!

But why should I go for a B550? A comparable X570 motherboard isn't all that much more expensive. Are the cheaper X570 exceptionally poor in quality or something?