[SOLVED] What ram: Ryzen 3600 & X570 I Aorus Pro Wifi (in an NZXT H1 case)

[artc92]

What do you guys recommend I get?
In terms of future upgradability will the 1.35v kits be better?
is 32gb or 16gb better?
Can I still run at 3200/3600 with the 3733 or 4000 kits @ 14CL?

16gb, 3200 MHz, 14-14-14-34 @ 1.35v;
16gb, 3600 MHz, 14-15-15-35 @ 1.45v;
32gb, 3733 MHz, 17-19-19-39 @ 1.35v;
16gb, 3800 MHz, 14-16-16-36 @ 1.50v;
16gb, 4000 MHz, 17-17-17-37 @ 1.35v;
16gb, 4133 MHz, 17-17-17-37 @ 1.40v;

 

[Karadjgne]

For 3000 series cpus, 3600MHz is the sweet spot. Those cpus use Infinity Fabric which uses the data rate as a set transmission speed when communicating between the cores/chipsets. It's at a 1:1 ratio. That's capped at 3733MHz, where it changes to a 2:1 ratio which drops speeds like a hot potato. Unless you are comfortable with, and have a bios capable of, manually disengaging Infinity Fabric and setting fclock, mclock and uclock, timings etc then you really get no bonus to ram faster than 3600MHz and can even get a performance decrease.

3600/14 is the best for 16Gb, but for 32Gb you might need to drop that to 3600/16. Try and stay at 1.35v or under as DDR4 isn't fond of voltages closer to 1.5v, and at that voltage there's really no room to tweak if needed.

 

[artc92]

For 3000 series cpus, 3600MHz is the sweet spot. Those cpus use Infinity Fabric which uses the data rate as a set transmission speed when communicating between the cores/chipsets. It's at a 1:1 ratio. That's capped at 3733MHz, where it changes to a 2:1 ratio which drops speeds like a hot potato. Unless you are comfortable with, and have a bios capable of, manually disengaging Infinity Fabric and setting fclock, mclock and uclock, timings etc then you really get no bonus to ram faster than 3600MHz and can even get a performance decrease.

3600/14 is the best for 16Gb, but for 32Gb you might need to drop that to 3600/16. Try and stay at 1.35v or under as DDR4 isn't fond of voltages closer to 1.5v, and at that voltage there's really no room to tweak if needed.

In terms of future upgradability will the 1.35v kits be better? Perhaps for now with the 3733 or 4000 kits I can run them lower at 3600 and tighten timings, hopefully to 14CL or less.
For future generations of CPU, in theory, the 1.35v kits might have more headroom for OC right?

Would 32gb or 16gb better?
Can I still run at 3200/3600 with the 3733 or 4000 kits @ 14CL?

 

[Karadjgne]

Competition is keeping the 3600 prices down, not so with the 4000 which is tailored for the elitist who can either get the performance or who wants bragging rights. It's double the price of 3600 usually.

As to size, that's a personal decision, I chose 32Gb this time since I've no plans to update for 5-6 years or maybe more. You are talking about upgrades before even starting and it's unknown if AM5 will be using DDR5 or not, and your upgrade will be a 4000 series cpu at best (known so far) and afaik its not been published what that cpu will cap at for IF.

So it's a guessing game. And your money. Me, I'd just use 16Gb of 3600/16 now and get 32Gb of 4000+ later when caps are known and competition drives prices lower.