This B450 motherboard is compatible with 3600MHz RAM.
This B450 motherboard is compatible with 3600MHz RAM.
I looked into motherboards to purchase because many are unavailable, and I found the Asus PRIME B450M-A/CSM. When checking memory support, the maximum listed speed reached 3466 OC. I already bought my RAM, which is 3600mhz C18 (though it claims a Samsung B die). Will my memory be down-clocked? Or is the motherboard more important than my CPU? I own a Ryzen 5 3600, which should handle that speed. When I checked other boards, they said they support speeds above 3200mhz, so does that mean it can handle RAM faster than that? This is my first PC build and I’m really confused. Will it run at its default speed with the XMP profile turned on? Also, I was thinking about overclocking the RAM to take advantage of Infinity Fabric.
In theory it should function perfectly. Please let me know if you'd like to swap this board, as it's considered one of the poorest B450 options available.
The motherboard isn't the main concern. You'll likely run into CPU issues before focusing on the board. The Ryzen 5 3600 tends to work inconsistently after around 3200, making it a matter of luck with the chips. Out of my two 3600 models, one will function and the other won't. Another thing to keep in mind is that Ryzen doesn't like odd timing settings.
Pro 4 will be priced similarly and will significantly improve the experience.
It's also important to consider the potential downsides of the board.