Question What's the best RAM for a 3600 XT

kawi6rr

Senior member
Oct 17, 2013
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My cousin is building a new system for his son around a 3600 XT chip and from what I've been following RAM makes a significant difference in performance. What is the best RAM for that chip?

MB: x570, he's going top notch on this $350ish
Card: RTX 2060
RAM: 16 to 32 gigs of RAM
PS: 750 gold platinum

The system is going to be built to play Fortnite, knowing Intel is a little quicker for gaming what would be a good Intel build relative to what I mentioned above?

Chip?
MB?
RAM?

Thanks
 

Hans Gruber

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2006
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He should wait until November. Zen 3 and the new Nvidia cards will be here in a couple of weeks. At least 3600mhz ram that will do Cas 16 is what he wants. Anything beyond that is pricey. Besides, ram prices are dropping again.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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The best gaming RAM continues to be Samsung b-die, but it isn't cheap. What's the budget? You can get 32GB of pretty good RAM based on Micron e-die that is not too-difficult to tune via Ryzen Memory Calculator to DDR4-3600 CAS/CL16 (which is what most sites were using to benchmark the 3600XT).

Here's a kit I would recommend for anyone not looking to spend a fortune on RAM:


Yes, it is Micron e-die, and yes, it can pretty-consistently run faster than DDR4-3000. You just have to tune it. For a little extra, you can get stuff that is mostly tuned for you:


If you want to try your hand at Hynix CJR-based RAM, you can try something else, like:


Slightly cheaper, but the timings are going to be a tad worse by default. You may be able to tune for better performance.
 

Massive79

Senior member
Sep 16, 2004
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My cousin is building a new system for his son around a 3600 XT chip and from what I've been following RAM makes a significant difference in performance. What is the best RAM for that chip?

MB: x570, he's going top notch on this $350ish
Card: RTX 2060
RAM: 16 to 32 gigs of RAM
PS: 750 gold platinum

The system is going to be built to play Fortnite, knowing Intel is a little quicker for gaming what would be a good Intel build relative to what I mentioned above?

Chip?
MB?
RAM?

Thanks

If you search RAM for Ryzen, tighter timing will be best for Ryzen platform, so consider RAM timing when you buy RAM.
And also current platform of Zen2 have limit on RAM speed 3800Mhz, assuming you will be running 1:1 with FCLK, so 3800Mhz RAM or 3600Mhz with low timing will be the best. Some said that B die can serve that purpose, however considering its quite rare and the price is high, there are other that have decent performance as well.

Best RAM I can find on 3800Mhz is this set --> Gskill 3800Mhz CL14
 

EliteRetard

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2006
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Seems like some odd choices for a build.

Why a 3600XT vs a 3600 or 3700X? Seems to hold a weird price position for little gain.
Why a $350 MOBO? Something like an X570 Tomahawk for $200 seems like a better match.
Why a 750w PSU? Even 550w would be plenty overkill, unless you plan on a 350w GPU.

As mentioned there will be a new generation of parts soon, that doesn't happen often now.

Even if they don't want to wait, spending smarter could get more bang for the buck right now.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
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Ya seems to be a rather poorly balanced build. A better GPU and CPU would make sense.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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Something like an Aorus Master ($350) gives you a good platform for Zen3 later. I don't disagree with that purchasing decision unless they're staying on a 3600X in perpetuity.

Seems like the video card is a stand-in for later upgrades.

edit: Aorus Master can be had for $330 right now:


Amazing price on an amazing board. The price cut makes me think there will be an x570 product lineup refresh next month, but I doubt we'll see much better than that.
 

EliteRetard

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2006
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Something like an Aorus Master ($350) gives you a good platform for Zen3 later. I don't disagree with that purchasing decision unless they're staying on a 3600X in perpetuity.

Seems like the video card is a stand-in for later upgrades.

edit: Aorus Master can be had for $330 right now:

Amazing price on an amazing board. The price cut makes me think there will be an x570 product lineup refresh next month, but I doubt we'll see much better than that.

I'm curious, why do you advocate for such an expensive board?

Especially to pair with a 3600 class CPU?

Even the $220 X570 Tomahawk I mentioned would outclass that CPU, it's good for any CPU upgrade.

If he saves ~$175 on the MOBO/CPU/PSU he could jump all the way to a 3070 as an example.

Good X570, 3600, 16GB, 3070, and a 600W PSU
vs.
Extreme X570, 3600XT, 32GB, 2060 and 750W PSU

Realistically the 3070 is probably not an option immediately, alternatively there are some great used options.
I don't really want to make any specific suggestions right now, I'd advocate waiting for the new parts currently.
My advice is just to consider the balance of the budget and price/performance of the various components.
 
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DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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I'm curious, why do you advocate for such an expensive board?

Especially to pair with a 3600 class CPU?

The OP chose the board, and did not ask for advice on what to get in that department, so I'm not going to gainsay his decision. Some X570 boards actually kind of suck. He could look for something cheaper, he could get something cheaper, but that's really on him. His cousin wants a top-notch board (as quoted by the OP) so that's what he's going to get. Personally I have an Aorus Master and I do not regret it one bit. Anything I want it to do, it does, and it delivers in spades. I can test the limits of my CPU with custom water, the southbridge fan isn't noisy at all (except during POST), everything works. I even debugged Intel's stupid AX200. If there's any reason I would recommend NOT splashing big on x570, it's that the refresh boards that might launch this month will probably have different 802.11ax options. AX200 is not a great product anymore. Also some people have complained about Gigabyte's onboard sound on all their x570 boards so, YMMV there. I don't use it.

Also there are other nice top-end x570 boards out there. I think the C8H is worth a look.
 
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Nov 26, 2005
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If the board you choose is Daisy Chain topology then it's best to get the maximum capacity you want to game with in 2 DRAM sticks, if you choose a board with T-Topology then loading the board with 4 sticks will not effect DRAM overclocking stability as much as Daisy Chain, but the overall max DRAM overclock is slightly weaker with T-Topology from what I've seen.
 

Massive79

Senior member
Sep 16, 2004
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With this kit I was able to hit 62ns latency 3733 cl14.14.14 I now just run it at the XMP


Great result.
I use the 32GB kit of the 3600Mhz CL16-16-16 at CL 14-14-14 only get around 63.5ns in AIDA and 62.8 custom latency at DRAM calculator...since 32gb is dual rank I think it has its limitation as well

Gskill Tridentz Neo 2x16GB DDR4 @3800Mhz CL14 Tweaked Web.png DRAM Calculator Benchmark 3800Mhz CL-16.jpg


If the board you choose is Daisy Chain topology then it's best to get the maximum capacity you want to game with in 2 DRAM sticks, if you choose a board with T-Topology then loading the board with 4 sticks will not effect DRAM overclocking stability as much as Daisy Chain, but the overall max DRAM overclock is slightly weaker with T-Topology from what I've seen.

How would you know if your mobo has certain topology?
Mine is MSI B550 Tomahawk?
 
Last edited:
Nov 26, 2005
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@Massive79 Motherboard reviews. When I asked the same question I went looking back into my mb manual and the give-away was that the manual suggests using A0 & B0 slots for best performance. If there wasn't a specific set of slots suggested to use then it's likely a T-topology.

Check out this video
 
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blckgrffn

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The best gaming RAM continues to be Samsung b-die, but it isn't cheap. What's the budget? You can get 32GB of pretty good RAM based on Micron e-die that is not too-difficult to tune via Ryzen Memory Calculator to DDR4-3600 CAS/CL16 (which is what most sites were using to benchmark the 3600XT).

Here's a kit I would recommend for anyone not looking to spend a fortune on RAM:


Yes, it is Micron e-die, and yes, it can pretty-consistently run faster than DDR4-3000. You just have to tune it. For a little extra, you can get stuff that is mostly tuned for you:


If you want to try your hand at Hynix CJR-based RAM, you can try something else, like:


Slightly cheaper, but the timings are going to be a tad worse by default. You may be able to tune for better performance.

Do you have 32 GB e-die suggestion with a solid XMP profile that has RGB? I like that ballistix but looking for something with more strobe/rainbow/matching radeon red available.

Asking for... a friend? ;) He is going to be pairing with Auros board/3600.
 

blckgrffn

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@blckgrffn pressed for time but I'll edit this post later and see if I can find what you want.

Haha man, no worries, you just seemed like you had good information at your fingertips and had a great response here. I learned a lot from it. Any feedback would be cool, I realize you probably have a life outside this forum ;) You owe me nothin’
 
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DrMrLordX

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@blckgrffn

If you are looking for something to match a Radeon Red color scheme with RGB, a good XMP profile (some tuning may still be required for an AMD system - XMP is still an Intel-biased standard), and Micron e-die, this is the best I can find:


Red + RGB, can't get much more Radeon than that. I'm not a huge fan of the price, but hey at least it's binned at the upper limits of Micron e-die.
 
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blckgrffn

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@blckgrffn

If you are looking for something to match a Radeon Red color scheme with RGB, a good XMP profile (some tuning may still be required for an AMD system - XMP is still an Intel-biased standard), and Micron e-die, this is the best I can find:


Red + RGB, can't get much more Radeon than that. I'm not a huge fan of the price, but hey at least it's binned at the upper limits of Micron e-die.

It was a pretty specific request, thank you for you taking the time. I'm considering it :D
 

A///

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I thought micron e-die was fickle with Intel systems. There used to be RAM, who knows when, where the spreaders were highly polished metal not unlike those mylar balloons you see at florsts or other stores. They looked really impressive with tamed case lighting. If I had to guess, it was a early to mid DDR3 fashion statement.
 

kawi6rr

Senior member
Oct 17, 2013
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This is his first build and he's trying to future proof it so that's why is going overboard on a few item. I talked him out of the overkill MB and he's now going to wait for the new chips/cards to drop. I'll point him to this thread so he can get some good insight and make a wiser decision.

Thanks everyone!
 

DrMrLordX

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@kawi6rr

Sounds like a solid plan. Also might be a good idea to see how UEFI support for Zen3/Vermeer shakes out in October. Some boards may do a really good job of supporting it. Some, not so much. We'll see!

@blckgrffn

Hope it helped. BTW, for you (or anyone else) who looked at that kit @Massive79 posted . . . and to expand on what @BTRY B 529th FA BN posted:

That kit is beastly. If you have the money and don't care about the aesthetics, heck yea get that. It's Samsung b-die in all its glory, and it's tuned out-of-the-box to be in the range that you want for Matisse (Vermeer? Who knows?). But. You may have some issues getting that kit to work perfectly on a board that is daisy chain versus T-topology. Whereas the Micron e-die kits (and also Hynix CJR kits) that are 2x16GB should work quite well - if not better - on daisy chain boards versus T-topology. And most x570 boards are daisy chain I think, except for some of the cheaper ones.

Something to think about.

Also it's not red-themed so blah.
 
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