Question Zen 4 builders thread

[Markfw]

I know its early, but as someone pointed out, I better get my ram now before the scalpers are all over it.

To go with a 7950x, what do you think of this ram:

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-288-pin-ddr5-sdram/p/N82E16820374369?Item=N82E16820374369

(edited for my best recommendation, 12/5/2023)

 

[Hotrod2go]

I currently only do beta bios if it fixes a significant bug, otherwise I just wait for the official release.

Yes, I don't like using them either, but for testing purposes I need it for comparing to another rig here (MSI) It seems also, if I lock the BCLK to 100.000 MHz, otherwise if I don't it droops to 99.8MHz on auto, the system thinks I'm manually overclocking so throws the PBO equation away.

 

[igor_kavinski]

In stock at $899

Joe wants the 7800 XT.

 

[Dave3000]

A Gigabyte X670E mobo might help you do DDR5-6400 with tight timings and that would come in handy for games if suppose, you are thrilled by Zen 5 non-3D's performance and can't wait 6 months or more for Zen5X3D. If adroc_thurston's predictions for Zen 5 come true, it will be a hungry beast that will crave maximum bandwidth and X670E mobos should get priority BIOS updates for better support of high speed RAM. All speculation on my part, though.

I might spend the $80 more and get the MSI Tomahawk X670E instead but Micro Center doesn't have them in stock right now and Best Buy does not carry that motherboard. As for RAM, I think I'm going to buy the 64GB Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 kit and run it at JEDEC 5200 and I think that it should default to 5200 for Zen 4 as usually a system defaults to the fastest JEDEC profile programmed in the RAM if a CPU officially supports the fastest JEDEC profile on the RAM and if the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM is not officially supported by a CPU it finds the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM that is officially supported by a CPU and uses that by default in my experience with systems I built over the years. I rather stay with officially supported specs even though I read that there is great success running DDR5-6000 with Zen 4 but I'm not sure if later, like way past the return period of the RAM or CPU, I will run into a crash or BSOD because there was a situation where the memory controller is unstable at 6000. I'll sacrifice a few frames for guaranteed stability and if it's not stable at officially supported settings, I shouldn't have a problem getting RMA under warranty.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I rather stay with officially supported specs even though I read that there is great success running DDR5-6000 with Zen 4 but I'm not sure if later, like way past the return period of the RAM or CPU, I will run into a crash or BSOD because there was a situation where the memory controller is unstable at 6000.

Most people actually push the memory controller and if it doesn't do well at DDR5-6000, it's not a good enough sample and should be returned. Stock settings are for office PCs or work critical workstations. Gamers prefer to live on the edge.

 

[cellarnoise]

I might spend the $80 more and get the MSI Tomahawk X670E instead but Micro Center doesn't have them in stock right now and Best Buy does not carry that motherboard. As for RAM, I think I'm going to buy the 64GB Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 kit and run it at JEDEC 5200 and I think that it should default to 5200 for Zen 4 as usually a system defaults to the fastest JEDEC profile programmed in the RAM if a CPU officially supports the fastest JEDEC profile on the RAM and if the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM is not officially supported by a CPU it finds the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM that is officially supported by a CPU and uses that by default in my experience with systems I built over the years. I rather stay with officially supported specs even though I read that there is great success running DDR5-6000 with Zen 4 but I'm not sure if later, like way past the return period of the RAM or CPU, I will run into a crash or BSOD because there was a situation where the memory controller is unstable at 6000. I'll sacrifice a few frames for guaranteed stability and if it's not stable at officially supported settings, I shouldn't have a problem getting RMA under warranty.

I have this running at faster and a little tighter timings than expo 6000 in a cheap b650 lightning ASRock board. Many ram tests and many distributed computing tasks at full multiple core load and game playing. No problems and some gaming also. It is quick RAM. Around 10ns. There is faster but this is good and fast stuff.

G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 5600 Desktop Memory Model F5-5600J2834F32GX2-RS5K​

 

[Joe NYC]

I might spend the $80 more and get the MSI Tomahawk X670E instead but Micro Center doesn't have them in stock right now and Best Buy does not carry that motherboard. As for RAM, I think I'm going to buy the 64GB Crucial Pro DDR5-5600 kit and run it at JEDEC 5200 and I think that it should default to 5200 for Zen 4 as usually a system defaults to the fastest JEDEC profile programmed in the RAM if a CPU officially supports the fastest JEDEC profile on the RAM and if the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM is not officially supported by a CPU it finds the fastest JEDEC profile in the RAM that is officially supported by a CPU and uses that by default in my experience with systems I built over the years. I rather stay with officially supported specs even though I read that there is great success running DDR5-6000 with Zen 4 but I'm not sure if later, like way past the return period of the RAM or CPU, I will run into a crash or BSOD because there was a situation where the memory controller is unstable at 6000. I'll sacrifice a few frames for guaranteed stability and if it's not stable at officially supported settings, I shouldn't have a problem getting RMA under warranty.

Going with DDR5-6000 RAM that has EXPO profile should be a pretty fool proof choice. Since the newer BIOSes can go way up, past 6400, even 7200, DDR5-6000 should be very safe choice. And not much of a premium for these modules.

 

[DrMrLordX]

In stock at $899

That's not a very good price on a 7900XT, not this long after it's launch.

 

[Joe NYC]

In stock at $899

PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT OC 20GB GDDR6 Graphics Card for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT OC 20GB GDDR6 Graphics Card at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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I am planning on sticking to just 7800 XT in $500 range to fit into my $2,000 budget.

But speaking of 7900 XT Hellhound, Micro Center is selling it for $749, which is a little bit tempting.

 

[eek2121]

Just curious, what MB + BIOS & AGESA version + CPU + RAM combo are you using?

Missed this one.

ASUS X670e-i, beta bios on latest AGESA (there is a newer version out, but I haven’t updated yet, because this is the first BIOS that works properly for me so I am hesitant to upgrade)
7950X
Some G.Skill DDR5 6000 64gb kit running at DDR5 6200 with tweaked timings (can’t remember exact kit)

I basically enabled nitro + extended memory training, made all my tweaks, then enabled Memory Context Restore.

They even mostly fixed the chipset fan bug.

 

[biostud]

Asrock has a new beta bios out 1.30:

-Optimize XMP/EXPO boot time

Reddit - Dive into anything

reddit.com

 

[StefanR5R]

I have been idly wondering for a while now when it might be time to update from my Xeon E3-v3 (Haswell) home desktop computer. AM5/Ryzen 7000 might be the answer. I like that there is a tiny iGPU which can drive large monitors. What I would also like to have is the ability to configure the PPT limit in the BIOS. X670 and B650 boards have this, but do A620 boards have it too? What I have read on the 'net so far is that this configuration option resides in the PBO related BIOS menus, and that A620 boards are not supposed to support PBO (but might secretly do so regardless on a case by case basis).

 

[In2Photos]

I have been idly wondering for a while now when it might be time to update from my Xeon E3-v3 (Haswell) home desktop computer. AM5/Ryzen 7000 might be the answer. I like that there is a tiny iGPU which can drive large monitors. What I would also like to have is the ability to configure the PPT limit in the BIOS. X670 and B650 boards have this, but do A620 boards have it too? What I have read on the 'net so far is that this configuration option resides in the PBO related BIOS menus, and that A620 boards are not supposed to support PBO (but might secretly do so regardless on a case by case basis).

My guess is that it is not on A620 boards. You are correct that it is part of the PBO options. I have my 7700 set to a custom limit.

 

[Joe NYC]

I have been idly wondering for a while now when it might be time to update from my Xeon E3-v3 (Haswell) home desktop computer. AM5/Ryzen 7000 might be the answer. I like that there is a tiny iGPU which can drive large monitors. What I would also like to have is the ability to configure the PPT limit in the BIOS. X670 and B650 boards have this, but do A620 boards have it too? What I have read on the 'net so far is that this configuration option resides in the PBO related BIOS menus, and that A620 boards are not supposed to support PBO (but might secretly do so regardless on a case by case basis).

I am actually in process of upgrading from 6 core Haswell HEDT to 8 core 7800x3d. Just missing a couple of components.

 

[Ajay]

I am actually in process of upgrading from 6 core Haswell HEDT to 8 core 7800x3d. Just missing a couple of components.

That'll be a real nice upgrade!

 

[biostud]

That'll be a real nice upgrade!

It sure is

 

[cellarnoise]

I have been idly wondering for a while now when it might be time to update from my Xeon E3-v3 (Haswell) home desktop computer. AM5/Ryzen 7000 might be the answer. I like that there is a tiny iGPU which can drive large monitors. What I would also like to have is the ability to configure the PPT limit in the BIOS. X670 and B650 boards have this, but do A620 boards have it too? What I have read on the 'net so far is that this configuration option resides in the PBO related BIOS menus, and that A620 boards are not supposed to support PBO (but might secretly do so regardless on a case by case basis).

Don't know why you would want an A620 over a B650? Several TeAm D.C. members are using the ASROCK B650M-HDV/M.2 with a 7950x and it does great even in PrimeGrid challenges. The VRM heatsinks and number of are smaller, but temps seem decent if the TDP is limited to under 170W or so. I don't know what happens over 170W myself on this board as performance improvement is about nill. This board is inexpensive and has all the PBO stuff, but only 2 dimm slots.

 

[StefanR5R]

My question about A620 came up because I don't really need B650's or X670's additional I/O, but I do want the ability to reduce PPT by more than what ECO mode¹ does. If B650 is mandatory for this ability, then I'd go with B650.

________
¹) According to AnandTech's Ryzen 7000 review:

AMD's Ryzen 7000 ECO Modes are as follows:

• 170W TDP Base = 105W with ECO Mode enabled
• 105W TDP Base = 65W with ECO Mode enabled

…and 170 W TDP comes with 230 W PPT, 105 W TDP with 142 W PPT, 65 W TDP with 88 W PPT.

 

[cellarnoise]

My question about A620 came up because I don't really need B650's or X670's additional I/O, but I do want the ability to reduce PPT by more than what ECO mode¹ does. If B650 is mandatory for this ability, then I'd go with B650.

________
¹) According to AnandTech's Ryzen 7000 review:

…and 170 W TDP comes with 230 W PPT, 105 W TDP with 142 W PPT, 65 W TDP with 88 W PPT.

You can set hard maximum limit within the Bios of the Asrock along with likely all B650 and x670 motherboards within the PBO sub-menus. I don't even know what a620 motherboards are selling for or what their typical CPU power support is? I'm running two 7950x with typically around 140W hard max TDP settings and they work well. Compute per watt goes down fast after 140 to 150 or so. Tanks after 170W...

I've ran my 7950x at silly stock TDP - horrible heat and throttle even under a fairly decent ARctic 420 aio. Over a hard limit of 170 to even up to 180W limit, performance per watt gets bad fast... The I run less expensive Asrock boards, both b650 and the $125 equivalent posted before has been fine running 170W hard limit for 10 days or so on hard 7950x AVX512 PrimeGrid tasks so far and I monitor temps and frequency

I have another b650 lightning asrock board that is a little more expensive and has better VRM and larger heatsinks, but I think the one I posted before will work great for 100% D.C. tasks in a warm room with good case airflow..... Until it smokes

The A620 boards I'm looking at reviews at now are just asking to let the smoke out or they throttle so much that it can't happen at all. And that is not as exciting when the time comes for most electronics

 

[cellarnoise]

I don't know why I have been researching this... I am a D.C.er...er...er... add more.... Never stop...

For current zen4 desktop for D.c. (what else is there?). If over an 8 core AMD current gen cpu, I would not go under the VRM specs of a 8+2+1 Power Phase.... for 24/7/365/ century performance And the bios consistency seems better for updates and options among the options...

For VRMs and having all VRMs having some if not a lot of heatsink this is the least spec wise of supporting the CPU heat, I would go for D.C. and over an 8 core zen4 current cpu... https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650M-HDVM.2/index.asp

 

[Hotrod2go]

My question about A620 came up because I don't really need B650's or X670's additional I/O, but I do want the ability to reduce PPT by more than what ECO mode¹ does. If B650 is mandatory for this ability, then I'd go with B650.

________
¹) According to AnandTech's Ryzen 7000 review:

…and 170 W TDP comes with 230 W PPT, 105 W TDP with 142 W PPT, 65 W TDP with 88 W PPT.

You can use curve optimizer to reduce power consumption instead of fiddling around with PPT options. The thing I'm not 100% sure about though is if all the A620 boards out there have this option in bios for curve optimizer. 8+2+1 is a thing on this A620 board from Gigabyte with of course full support for the entire range of Zen 4 currently on the market. But if someone out there has an A620 board & would be so kind as to upload screenshots of the bios options for cpu energy control, then please by all means please post away here. My curiosity has been aroused.

 

[mikegrok]

There is a new zen4 cpu.
Starts at under $450 for 8 cores.

https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/products/epyc/amd-epyc-8004-series-processors-datasheet.pdf

8 to 64 cores
6 channels of ecc ddr5, each can take 2 dimms
96 PCIe PCIe 5 lanes, of which 16 can toggle to sata, usually 7 motherboard jacks plus an 8x pcie/sata mcio port.
1 sata usually goes to the ipmi.
Several of the boards have gigabit + on board dual 28 gigabit ethernet.

Newegg has a motherboard shipping, ASRock rack has atx and micro atx motherboards pending.
Some retailers have CPUs available.

The IO die is a cut down epic, it is lower clock speed than the epyc, but with all of the features.

it uses the lower binned and cut down cpu dies so it is slower. The lowest wattage cpu (8 core) is 80 watts.

I have an epyc 9124. The IO die without any cores active consumes 62 watts. I assume that the IO die on this is similar.

 

[Markfw]

7950x number 7 and number 8 build almost all here. I have thre two heatsinks (not removed from 5950x systems yet) and waiting on the 7800 EXP memory (Friday) and one or 2 4090s' (to be replacing the 2080TI and 2060 shown here, when I can afford them)

Thanks to Prime days for the $509 CPU's. I only planned on one, but at that price I could not resist. So these two builds will have motherboards and memory and heatsinks at the 2 far ends of the price spectrum. $100 to $500 motherboard, and 6000 to 7800 memory. Heatsinks are ak620 and I can't remember the model number of the other.

 

[Timmah!]

Just had my first ever crash on this Zen4 machine since i put it together in May. Was working in 3DS Max, had Opera browser and Steam updating some game in the background - and out of blue, boom, display going black, hard reboot. No bluescreen or nothing. Event viewer says Event 41, but no bugcheck. Should i be worried, or not until happens at least couple of times more in coming days? Could it been power blackout/brownout? I do use only surge protection, but no UPS battery or anything like that.

 

[Ajay]

Just had my first ever crash on this Zen4 machine since i put it together in May. Was working in 3DS Max, had Opera browser and Steam updating some game in the background - and out of blue, boom, display going black, hard reboot. No bluescreen or nothing. Event viewer says Event 41, but no bugcheck. Should i be worried, or not until happens at least couple of times more in coming days? Could it been power blackout/brownout? I do use only surge protection, but no UPS battery or anything like that.

I'd wait to see if it happens again. Also, get a UPS with AVR - best insurance there is.

 

[Timmah!]

Crap, it happened again, about 3,5 hours after the first reboot. This time i was watching utube video and shortly before updated GPU driver, as i wanted to install Modern Warfare III beta. Actually considered to reboot anyway, but wanted to finish watching the video.
No bugcheck again.

Last time i had random reboots it was because of faulty memory. But there were bluescreens back then. Could it still be memory related? Or since the screen goes black, could it be GPU?