Compatible ram for a B450 or X370 motherboard?

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Message 1966993 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 14:11:32 UTC

I am building a computer from scratch for the first time in ages. I am starting small, and if the noise, heat, and increase in the power bill doesn’t upset my wife, I can always upgrade from there.

I am going to pick up a Ryzen 3200G for starters, knowing that the socket can take a Ryzen 7 later on. No GPU now, but obviously there will be room for one, maybe two later on.

I have been taking a crash course in the specs of everything, so bear with me.

The big problem I have is with ram. I want to get ram that is at least 2933 to max the potential with the Ryzen 3. It appears that any mobo I look at either has compatible ram in the qvl, but only able to operate below 2933, or it has ram that doesn’t have Samsung or Hynix chips (what I am reading those are practically a requirement).

Am I making a big deal out of nothing, or is this a commin problem?
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Message 1966999 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 15:10:30 UTC - in response to Message 1966993.  

Building for the future is always a challenge ... Where does one stop?
I hope this info is correct ...

The B350/X370 are Gen1 Ryzen boards, compatible with Gen2.
The B450/X470 are Gen2 Ryzen boards, compatible with Gen1, but with performance gains for Gen2 GPUs.

With plans to upgrade to a 1700 later (maybe 2700?) they really like the Samsung CAS14 RAM for performance.
Not needed now, but would likely benefit you now as well.

Just food for thought.
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Message 1967013 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 17:09:39 UTC - in response to Message 1966993.  

All the reviews and tests I've read so far on the B350 chip set boards with the 2200G APU show that the graphics performance is really impacted by the speed and latency of the memory because the graphics engine in the cpu uses system memory. So it is best to run the fastest memory with the lowest latency. The best choice in that camp is to get memory made with Samsung B-dies or Hynix CJR dies.
Don't worry about what the QVL says, that is only to show the memory that is qualified at the Ryzen minimum memory spec of 2933. Ryzen can run much faster memory if using the best memory. First stop should be a visit to the B-Die Finder website.
B-die finder
with a further review if necessary on the Hardwareluxx thread which is being kept current with the latest memory products. Samsung 8Gbit B-The List That is for the single rank 8GB sticks. Further down the page are the double rank 16GB sticks but I always recommend sticking with single rank as it is easier on the cpu IMC to run them at speed.

Next you should download the Ryzen DDR4 DRAM Memory Calculator which helps develop suggested timings for SAFE,FAST and EXTREME timings based on the type, manufacturer and quality of your RAM. DRAM Calculator for Ryzenâ„¢ 1.4.0 Watch the YT video for instructions on how to use the tool.
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Message 1967015 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 17:18:00 UTC

Also if you can squeeze a little more into your budget, you should get the 2400G over the 2200G since all the reviews say that that chip is much better overall for both applications and graphics.
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Message 1967017 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 17:29:02 UTC
Last modified: 25 Nov 2018, 17:30:21 UTC

The old way of telling whether the RAM stick used Samsung B-dies was whether the RAM was rated at greater than 3200Mhz or had a latency of CL14. A good way of telling is the manufacturer primary timing specs that are usually advertised with the kit listing on the sales site. If you see equal timings it is a good chance they are B-dies. An example would be 14-14-14-14-34 or 15-15-15-15-35 or 16-16-16-16-36 or 17-17 etc you get the idea. If you see timings with only the first timing low and the rest higher like 16-18-18-18 they are likely Hynix dies and not as friendly to achieving good memory overclocks. The products offered by Corsair are almost exclusively made with Hynix RAM. The other telltale is the cost of the kit. If the are reasonable price or offered on sales leaders they are likely Hynix and lower quality. If the kit price is in the upper 90 percentile range it is a good chance that the kit will be able to hit higher memory clocks on Ryzen. Unfortunately, RAM is where you will NOT save on your budget list.
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Message 1967035 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 19:29:05 UTC - in response to Message 1967013.  

All the reviews and tests I've read so far on the B350 chip set boards with the 2200G APU show that the graphics performance is really impacted by the speed and latency of the memory because the graphics engine in the cpu uses system memory. So it is best to run the fastest memory with the lowest latency. The best choice in that camp is to get memory made with Samsung B-dies or Hynix CJR dies.
Don't worry about what the QVL says, that is only to show the memory that is qualified at the Ryzen minimum memory spec of 2933. Ryzen can run much faster memory if using the best memory. First stop should be a visit to the B-Die Finder website.
B-die finder
with a further review if necessary on the Hardwareluxx thread which is being kept current with the latest memory products. Samsung 8Gbit B-The List That is for the single rank 8GB sticks. Further down the page are the double rank 16GB sticks but I always recommend sticking with single rank as it is easier on the cpu IMC to run them at speed.

Next you should download the Ryzen DDR4 DRAM Memory Calculator which helps develop suggested timings for SAFE,FAST and EXTREME timings based on the type, manufacturer and quality of your RAM. DRAM Calculator for Ryzenâ„¢ 1.4.0 Watch the YT video for instructions on how to use the tool.


Ok, thank you for the clarification in your posts, Keith. I'm still processing it a bit, but I'm getting there.

So, basically you're saying, ignore the QVL completely? I might have made an assumption, but i thought the ram had to be listed there in order to make sure it works with the mobo. I don't need to get in the weeds with this (although that might be too late), but it seems like there is a lot of memory shown on the QVLs that is a lot slower than 2933 and/or the ram is capable of much faster speeds.

I will be sure to check out the DRAM Calculator once I get everything ordered and up and running.

Thank you again for the help. This is going to be a "baby steps" build. All my other "rigs" have been laptops, obviously with no customization. This is a way to get my feet wet, even if it isn't a screaming rig. Assuming I succeed, I will hopefully have gained some experience to have a better handle of what I want for the next rig.
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Message 1967065 - Posted: 25 Nov 2018, 20:30:42 UTC - in response to Message 1967035.  
Last modified: 25 Nov 2018, 20:33:40 UTC

I've never bought RAM off the QVL as that is always the lowest common denominator stuff. Only qualified at official speeds. Since I always overclock I don't even consider the cheap stuff. If you need to purchase off the QVL because of budget, try and search for posts in the forum on your prospective RAM kits you are considering to see whether others have been successful with Ryzen and what are the typical speeds they have achieved.
[Edit]You can start reading up on memory for Ryzen here.[Official] AMD Ryzen DDR4 24/7 Memory Stability Thread
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Message 1967468 - Posted: 28 Nov 2018, 2:14:52 UTC

Been reading lots of posts in the memory threads that there are some really good buys currently available on Flare X and Sniper X that are typically $80-100 less than Trident Z. And they are using Samsung B-dies or Hynix CJR dies so are readily overclockable and able to hit 3466 reliably.
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Message boards : Number crunching : Compatible ram for a B450 or X370 motherboard?


 
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