Comparing RAM performance on the AM5 chipset
Comparing RAM performance on the AM5 chipset
Hello everyone, I just discovered a problem with the AM5 platform regarding four RAM sticks. My system specs include an AMD Ryzen 7600x with an Asrock B650E PG Lightning 4x 8GB Kingston Fury DDR5 at 6000 MHz. Since I’m an early adopter, I purchased my RAM before the EXPO kits were released. In theory, this should be XMP calibrated, and it should work fine on AMD systems. However, I’m puzzled by the differing readings—BIOS shows 6000 MHz, while Task Manager displays only 3600 MHz. I’ve heard Windows sometimes reports half the actual speed, so I didn’t worry much before. Now that I’ve learned about the 4 sticks issue, I’m unsure if my setup is truly at its peak performance. I’m planning to buy another set of DDR5 sticks (two 16GB) and compare all four to see what’s happening. Please let me know what tests I should run to confirm whether I’m hitting the maximum speed or not. Thanks for your advice.
Windows sometimes displayed MHz instead of MT/s, making readings like "6000 Mhz" misleading when the actual performance was around 3000 Mhz. I recommend using hwinfo or cpu-z to verify the values. The official 3600 MHz from AMD is recommended for running four sticks on Zen 4, suggesting your motherboard might have automatically slowed them down. It’s likely your memory controller isn’t a major bottleneck, but we’d need further confirmation. A setup of four 8GB sticks should generally perform well, though the exact speed remains uncertain.
I purchased it on the very first day when the Ryzen 7000 was released, and I installed it that same week. G.Skill offered two 16GB DDR5-6000CL30 modules, and EXPO was available. This isn't exactly an AM5 model, but both major systems support DDR5 with top speeds. Also, 8GB DDR5 modules are often limited in availability and rarely mentioned. For best results, consider 16GB kits. CPU-Z or HWiNFO should suffice for monitoring.
Hello, thank you for your message. Could you clarify what details you need from CPU-Z? The XMP-6000 lists a speed of 3000 MHz, while HWInfo doesn’t show RAM speed. In Task Manager (in Czech), it reports 3600 MHz. Let me know if you’d like help interpreting these numbers.
if the memory shows 1800mhz then the RAM is likely running at 3600 id. Consider switching to a 16x2 instead of the 8x4 unit. The 8GB units perform poorly, and even the quad stick should work as long as it's not a quad rank model—though their clocking is still affected by dual-rank chips.
It displays the SPD details or information about XMP profiles. It doesn't show the actual memory speed being used, which is found under the memory section. The screenshot you mentioned is actually from HWMonitor, known for odd reporting issues on AMD systems. For better accuracy, use HWInfo or check CPU-Z's memory tab.
In CPU-Z I observed DRAM Frequency near 1795 MHz. When isolating two of the four RAM sticks, Task Master showed 6000 MHz while CPU-Z reported around 3000 MHz. It seems the four sticks operate at a lower frequency together. I have two 16GB 6000 MT/s CL30 kits ready for testing soon.
Since the initial release, it's wise to consider an updated BIOS version. I mentioned I've been using this system for about a month now, and my Asrock X670E has gone through 25 BIOS updates since then.