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Ryzen 5000 RAM Guide: Find The Best RAM For Your Zen 3 CPU
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We decipher the best memory frequency and configuration to unleash your Zen 3 processor's full potential.

When it comes to processors, even the best can be made better through a little tuning, and that statement certainly holds true with AMD's market-leading Ryzen 5000 processors. These chips often don't overclock to bleeding-edge core frequencies, instead relying on automatic algorithms to extract the best core performance. However, tuning your memory can significantly improve performance. In fact, often just selecting the right kit with the correct number of DIMMs can provide tangible performance gains with a minimum of fuss. This article covers the best memory settings and combinations for Ryzen 5000 processors, including overclocked configurations, along with a few tips on what you should expect from your chip. 

It's not always easy to stay on the right path, and AMD, like any other company, has had its ups and downs. After being off track for a few years, the chipmaker ultimately found the winning formula with its Zen microarchitecture. Four years later, AMD's foot is still on the pedal and taking the fight to Intel, with its latest army of Ryzen 5000 (codename Vermeer) processors leading the charge. 

Ryzen 5000 wields AMD's latest Zen 3 cores that introduced important IPC gains, among other microarchitectural improvements. On the memory front, Ryzen 5000 chips inherited the same I/O die and dual-channel memory controller as their predecessors, therefore, the mechanics remain unchanged. That's an important consideration when selecting and tuning Ryzen's memory.

The Infinity Fabric Clock (FCLK) continues to be in a permanent relationship with the unified memory controller clock (UCLK) and memory clock (MEMCLK) in a 1:1:1 ratio. As usual, the trio needs to be on the same page for optimal operation, while breaking that synchronicity results in a heavy latency penalty that's detrimental to performance in some applications.

DDR4-3200 is still the officially supported memory frequency on Ryzen 5000. Looking back, Ryzen 3000's FCLK typically hits a wall at 1,800 MHz, which means you can run the memory at DDR4-3600 and remain in 1:1:1 mode. There have been rare exceptions where some really extraordinary Ryzen 3000 samples could run stably with a 1,900 MHz FCLK (DDR4-3800).

However, Ryzen 5000's FCLK is a lot more forgiving, paving the way for a 2,000 MHz FCLK (DDR4-4000). AMD doesn't guarantee that every single Ryzen 5000 processor will achieve the feat, but the majority will. Let's see how that impacts performance. 

Ryzen 5000 Test System and Setup

We evaluated nine different memory frequencies in total, spanning from JEDEC's baseline of DDR4-2133 all the way up to DDR4-4000. We configured the memory manually by inputting the different parameters. Our tests included four different memory configurations, with 16GB (2x8GB), 32GB (4x8GB), 32GB (2x16GB), and 64GB (4x16GB) setups to assess the impact of memory ranks and capacity on AMD's Ryzen 5000 processors.

During the entirety of our tests, we kept the Ryzen 9 5900X's FCLK in sync with the memory frequency that we tested. As with most Ryzen 5000 processors, the FCLK ceiling for our sample was 2,000 MHz (DDR4-4000). To ensure consistency among the tests, we ran our RAM benchmarks three times and used the median value as the final result.

We updated the firmware for our Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master to the latest publicly-available revision. On the software front, we used a fresh 64-bit installation of Windows 10 Professional with all available updates. Furthermore, we updated our test system's drivers, benchmarking programs, and game clients to the latest versions at the time of testing.

To Gear Or Not To Geardown?

Geardown Mode (GDM) is enabled on AMD motherboards whenever the memory runs above the DDR4-2666 standard. If your memory kit has an odd CAS Latency (CL) value, Geardown Mode basically rounds it up to the nearest even number and sets the command rate (CR) to 1T.

Our G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-4000 C15 2x8GB (F4-4000C15D-16GVK) memory kit has primary timings of 15-16-16-36. When the option is enabled, Geardown Mode configures the timings to 16-16-16-36 timings at 1T. Disabling the option restores the timings to default at 2T.

To explore the different variables in play, we tested a third configuration with the memory kit running at the default timings, but at 1T.
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