Normally, the mclock (memory clock), uclock (memory controller clock), and fclock (infinity fabric clock) are run at a 1:1:1 ratio for example, 1600MHz for all three when a 3200MHz XMP is applied. The “special” tests were run because of the way AMD handles memory clocks past 3600MHz.
CPU Z MEMORY SPEED 1080P
All tests were run in dual channel with two 8GB sticks in the recommended RAM slots, and we abbreviated our usual CPU testing suite to just 1080p gaming. This becomes partially a memory kit review as based on Ryzen and these two boards, to that extent. For all but a couple special tests, we just applied XMP (and a DRAM voltage if necessary), as a typical user would. To answer this as simply as possible, we ran a wide selection of DDR4 memory kits on the Gigabyte X570 Master and the MSI Godlike that we’ve used for the majority of our Ryzen 3K testing thus far. Motherboard makers will even tune timings for some kits, so there’s potentially a lot of performance lost by using mismatched boards and memory. Motherboard manufacturers maintain a QVL (Qualified Vendor List) of kits tested and approved on each board, and we strongly encourage system builders to check these lists rather than just buying a random kit of memory. The rest, including unsurfaced timings that the user never sees, are done during memory training by the motherboard.
Motherboards are responsible for most of the timings auto configured on memory kits, even when using XMP, as XMP can only store so much data per kit. One of the biggest points to remember during all of this - and any other memory testing published by other outlets - is that motherboard matters almost more than the memory kit itself.
We’ll look at the trade-off of higher frequencies versus tighter timings to help establish the best memory solutions for Ryzen.
CPU Z MEMORY SPEED MANUAL
Today, we’re benchmarking various memory kits at XMP settings, with Ryzen memory DRAM calculator, and with manual override overclocking. For most people, this type of clock isn’t achievable, but frequencies in the range of 3200 to 4000MHz are done relatively easily, but then looser timings become a concern. The new Ryzen 3000 chips officially support memory speeds up to 3200MHz and can reliably run kits up to 3600MHz, with extreme overclocks up to 5100MHz. Memory speed on Ryzen has always been a hot subject, with AMD’s 10 series CPUs responding favorably to fast memory while at the same time having difficulty getting past 3200MHz in Gen1.