RAM selection for Ryzen APU
RAM selection for Ryzen APU
It seems you're asking whether speed or dual-channel setup has a bigger impact on Ryzen APU performance. From a technical standpoint, both factors matter, but dual-channel configuration often plays a more significant role in maximizing throughput for multi-core processors.
Apu refers to the bandwidth connection or CPU performance, with frequency being a key factor.
Thank you for your insight. It seems the performance boost from a Vega 8 GPU with Ryzen APU comes mainly from faster memory and improved graphics handling. While double memory bandwidth is important, it may not be the main factor for gaming speed. Benchmarks are key to understanding these differences. So far, I haven’t seen a comprehensive discussion on how memory frequency and bandwidth affect Ryzen APUs from a broader technical view.
Considering a Ryzen 3600 paired with a mid-range graphics card such as the GTX 2060, the bandwidth and speed differences will mainly affect gaming performance. The graphics card with higher bandwidth will provide smoother visuals and better frame rates, while speed differences impact load times and overall efficiency. For productivity, the graphics card with better performance will handle multitasking and resource-intensive applications more effectively.
Typically, games run best on GPU power, so focusing there would likely improve results. The issue with APUs is usually about system memory speed. I suspect that using dual channels with slower RAM could give better overall performance than a single channel with faster RAM. While other factors help more than bandwidth, I think testing would clarify this. Since I don’t own a Ryzen APU, I haven’t run those tests. In the past, I compared single vs dual channel CPUs with separate GPUs, but results were inconclusive. I remember some confusion about Zen vs Zen+, but not about Zen 2. With Zen 2 you can still use higher RAM speeds independently, which might reduce some impact. Personally, I’d prefer dual channels over a faster single channel whenever possible.
I would take the same path, though with Zen 2 speed it seems more advantageous than bandwidth—though I might be mistaken.
The need for quicker RAM on Ryzen across all generations has stemmed from the IF being linked to RAM speed. This seems likely still the best approach, as picking the quickest RAM you can pair with it makes sense. With Zen 2, IF can now be adjusted asynchronously from RAM, which might have been tested by Linus and others. Even though slower RAM still improved performance when IF was increased, the shift toward asynchronous control suggests a move away from pure speed. Ideally, you want the fastest RAM available to balance both bandwidth and speed.