Top RAM options for the 5950x include DDR4-3200 or higher modules.
Top RAM options for the 5950x include DDR4-3200 or higher modules.
I believe my 3600 cl18 royals are limiting my performance. Yet others claim exceeding 3600 offers little gain and might jeopardize that perfect 1:1 ratio. The top option I discovered is here: https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-VENGEANCE...B07VGJGKX1 But... I need a 16x2 configuration—it’s likely to run faster than 4x8. I’m also curious about lowering the CL manually, since standard settings seem to reflect genuine quality. It’s frustrating how difficult it is to locate the absolute best RAM, especially when budget isn’t an issue.
3600MHz is the recommended for Ryzen because 1800MHz is sort of the default for the FCLK. You can go higher while still staying 1:1 if you can get the FCLK higher. Zen 3 can pretty easily get to 1900MHz. Even most Zen 2 chips could get as high as 1933MHz. Zen 3 can be pushed to 2000MHz, but that's where it starts to get a lot more iffy. As such you can try 3800-4000MHz, and even if you can't actually get that the FLCK higher enough, you can downclock the RAM slightly and roll that into better timings. 3600MHz is just more plug and play and still get close to optimum. CL18 for 3600MHz is actually not bad. A good CAS latency is 1/2000 the RAM speed, which is exactly CL18 for 3600MHz. CL16 is just better. You can get CL14 as well, but that's a lot more expensive for not that much better performance. Throwing out 3600MHz CL18 just to replace it with 3600MHz CL16 would be a waste of money though. A 2x16GB kit isn't necessarily better than 4x8. For one, the optimal config is 4 ranks, so 2x16GB single rank would actually be worse than 4x8GB single rank. 2x16GB dual ranked would be the same as 4x8GB single rank. There's also density to consider, and there's a far greater likelihood of getting higher density (worse) chips on 16GB sticks that on 8GB. There's still lower density 16GB sticks, as well, but it's virtually impossible to know whether it's using 8bit or 16bit chips without having the stinks in hand.
They already have dual rank sticks, so the extra benefit from CL rating is minimal. The main improvements come from better RAM and optimizing your stable FCLK. If you're interested in upgrading, timing adjustments can matter. I think the 3600CL16 model is redundant if you already have a 3600CL18. You’d need dual rank sticks for 2x16 to avoid performance drops if your current RAM is already dual. Four 8-pack single-rank sticks gives you four ranks, which is essentially dual rank. If your existing sticks are single-rank, swapping in higher-timing RAM and spending time tweaking timings might yield a 1-15% boost in certain cases. Whether it’s worth it? To really improve performance, you’d likely need a premium 2x16GB kit from Samsung. It would probably run faster, but it’s unlikely you’ll feel the difference. Look at the price of a 2x16GB 3600CL14 kit and see if it seems appealing. If RAM costs only a small fraction of your budget, it might be worth it. Otherwise, it could be a waste. Go enjoy your powerful setup!
cl doesn't significantly impact performance if it's already in the 3600-3800 range, especially with dual rank. The top RAM options are currently solid, but you'll likely need four sticks for dual rank. https://www.newegg.com/oloy-16gb-288-pin...ption=cl14 3600&cm_re=cl14_3600-_-20-821-392-_-Product&quicklink=true 4x8 performs better than 2x16 after optimization, unless you require 64GB of RAM, in which case 4x16 is preferable. The variation isn't substantial; consider upgrading only if you're maximizing minimum requirements.
You're using a 1440p ultrawide setup, which suggests higher RAM speeds could help, but your GPU might still be the limiting factor. Better RAM won't solve CPU bottlenecks if you're running above 1080p. It's wise to avoid spending too much on RAM unless you're targeting higher resolutions.