Final thoughts

As you can imagine, my dear friends, the conclusion depends on the type of user that is reading these words and on what that said user is looking for in particular. So, if we’re talking about the first part of the tests, in which we’ve seen how six memory configurations behave in applications and games, we could say that things are pretty clear.

In order to achieve maximum performance, it would be advisable to use a 1: 1 configuration at a higher frequency, eg DDR4 3733 1: 1, with appropiate timings, for example 16-16-16-39. But in everyday use, you will not lose too much performance if you use a DDR4 3600 16-16-16 or DDR4 3200 14-14-14 kit. My recommendation would be to buy a 3200CL14 or 3600CL16 kit, set it to 3600 and try to tighten the timings and sub-timings as long as platform stability allows it with a decent vDIMM (1.35-1.4v).

For those who want to get the best performance, the DDR4 3800 CL16 setting is ideal, if your CPU allows fClk 1:1 at these clocks. In this case, you will need a very good quality B-Die or Hynix kit. Last but not least, for benchmark enthusiasts, you’ll need to test each benchmark individually. In some benchmarks, such as 3DMark, a higher memory clock is advisable, even if you use 1: 2 mode. In others, maintaining a 1:1 ratio between fClk and mClk is a priority.

Bottom line – the progress that AMD showed in this area compared to the first generation Ryzen is huge – the user can use several types of memory without problems, in several configurations, without a huge impact on performance. Two years ago, DDR4 3733 18-19-19 was only possible on some motherboards, with very good quality B-Die kits. Now, the RAM is no longer a major limitation when we build an AMD system. Unfortunately, for today’s test, we did not have Hynix or Micron kits in the lab, but it would seem that this time the AMD CPUs are no longer moody, and can run smoothly even with other ICs than Samsung B-Die.

Finally, I would like to say a few words related to the MSI MEG X570 Godlike motherboard and the GSkill SniperX DDR4 3200CL14 memory kit. I really appreciated the simplicity and ease with which I was able to test multiple RAM configurations using the same platform and same memory kit. The behavior of the motherboard is stelar, and in this case the motherboard fan actually helped. I say this because a successful initialization has the effect of setting a maximum fan speed for 2-3 seconds, followed by a reduction in speed. On the other side, if the settings are too aggressive, the fan remains loud, so I don’t even have to check the code on the debug led (0d in this case) in order to know that I need to reset the BIOS.

Once we reset the BIOS, we have the option of directly loading one of the 6 saved profiles using the Alt + Fx combination, so we can continue the tweaking process where we left it. Last but not least, the GSkill SniperX DDR4 3200CL14 memory kit truly amazed me with it’s versatility, running on an extremely wide range of clocks and timings, which is not the case for just any DDR4 kit. This kit is simply amazing!

In the end, I would like to appologies for my English, which is obviously not my native language. Thank you for reading and I hope you find the information useful!