Ram selection for an X299 build

[Woomack]

Nothing has changed
On new motherboards all IC run good just matter of timings and these are still the best on Samsung. On Ryzen regardless if it's Samsung, Hynix or Micron, you can count on 3600-3733 max. In general everything above 3600 is hard to stabilize. On X299 about the same. Most motherboards handle 3600-3800 stable using various IC. Some will run at 4000 and above that a lot depends on the IMC ( as I found out in last days ).
From motherboards ASRock is solid and pretty much every their X299 motherboard will run at 3600 using 4x16GB Samsung kit or at 3800-4000 using 4x8GB.
I can't tell you what about X470 motherboards but IMC in new ryzens is the same so all is matter of BIOS and that at least in ASRock motherboards is good. I know that Shawn had some luck with MSI too.
From memory kits there is long list but if you want something good that will run at tight timings then still it's everything form G.Skill TridentZ/TridentZ RGB at 3200 CL14 or 3600+ at any timings. In last days I was also testing Team Xtreem 4133 CL18 kit which is on the same IC and runs about the same on Intel and AMD as higher Trident Z.

If you have any kits on your mind then just post product numbers and will be easier to say if it's good or not.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232219

Still looking at these. Has gone up in price lately seems like.

 

[Woomack]

In this price will be hard to find anything better.

This kit is on guaranteed Samsung IC as all Xtreem kits (it's in specification):
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820331160

TridentZ RGB cost much more because of LEDs:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232492

3200 CL14 without LEDs also more than Ripjaws V and the difference is only in heatsinks:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232348

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I can do without the RGB silliness, especially if it boosts the price. I prefer nice boring black.

- - - Updated - - -

Are your preferred 3600 sticks those types, too?

 

[Woomack]

Everything 3600 CL16-16-16 will be on good Samsung IC but from kits in reasonable price is almost only GSKill. Sometimes, like this Team Xtreem in link, it's 16-18-18 but at least these kits are only on Samsung so all should be good. I have 4133 CL18 Xtreem kit and it works really good on Intel and AMD ( lower clock than XMP on AMD ) but for quad channel I was mixing it with TridentZ RGB at 4000.
Any of these linked kits will be good but for some reason today I would pick Team Xtreem and run it at tighter timings. Tomorrow can be TridentZ ... what counts the most is used memory IC and XMP profile. Both brands make good memory profiles. GSkill support is better and they have more kits available in stores.

If you are not going to overclock CPU high then maybe Ryzen will be better ( or at least cheaper ) option.
Then you could use something like this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232560
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232376
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232378
I'm just not sure how this memory will act on all motherboards. My 4x16GB modules run at 3466 16-18-18 on TR which has about the same memory controller as other Ryzens. I guess that timings could be tighter and I have to test it some more. On X370 with 2 modules results were about the same.
On Ryzen you can't count on easy 3600+ which will be fully stable. Depends on BIOS it sometimes works and sometimes not... even with the best memory. Also on Ryzen memory frequency counts more than timings.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

So which would you go for, 3200 or 3600? Cost is about the same.

 

[Woomack]

Still for the X299 ?
I would get higher frequency so 3600 16-16-16

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Or Ryzen 2 2700X. Can't make up my mind.

 

[Woomack]

I don't know how much it can help you but that's how I see it:

1. X299 (multiple tested motherboards) = minimum worth tto buy will be something like 7900X + 4x8GB DDR4-3600 CL16-16-16 ( price about the same as 3200 CL14 and used IC too )
+ can overclock past 4.5GHz
+ higher performance per core than on AMD system
+ no problems with memory compatibility up to 3600 and sometimes higher
- needs good cooling so additional cost
- needs quad channel to be worth it
- needs higher core CPU to be worth it
- good motherboards cost more than anything for Ryzen
- all magical NVMe RAID etc technologies are just a myth so additional PCIE lanes won't be really needed

2. X470 = minimum worth is 6 core Ryzen but you think about 2700X, minimum 2x8GB RAM but you want 32GB so 2x16GB ... in this case it will be 2700X + 2x 16GB 3200 CL14 kit + recommended X470 motherboard (I had a chance to test all 1 so won't help much in mobo choice )

+ good performance/price
+ doesn't need any special cooler and cooler should be in the box with the CPU
+ on good motherboards, supports all available IC without issues
+ doesn't need memory with tight timings, no matter what people say, memory runs good and there are no performance issues even at relaxed timings but recommended is higher frequency
- limited overclocking, in some cases no overclocking at all as boost clock is not much lower than max manual settings
- needs a good motherboard, not all have well-prepared BIOS and AMD is pushing updates without proper tests
- less PCIE lanes, max 1-2 M.2 SSD and some other things are a bit limited comparing to the X299

I really wouldn't buy 7800X right now because price of the CPU is similar and whole X299 will cost much more if you pick better components. Ryzen 2700X will be faster but overclocking will be limited. I'm not sure if you care about it.
If you start to think about 8 core Skylake-X then you can also think about the Threadripper. Again, hard to say if it's worth the price as 1920X is the lowest TR I would go ( and actually did some time ago). Still 8 core Skylake-X will cost about as much as 12 core Threadripper. Both will offer about the same if we look at motherboards but TR will have more cores. Both cost a lot and there is next thing to think about ...

You are thinking about this PC for a long time and new CPU premieres will be in maybe 3-4 months. New CPU for the X299 will be in 3-6 months, new Threadripper about the same. Hard to say when we will see them in stores but on paper should be in Sept. Only AM4 won't get anything new till next year and I count that closer to Q2 2019.

 

[maxfly]

i hate to add to the difficulty in choosing but check out the ryzen 1700 at microcenter for 2 bills.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/..._am4_boxed_processor_with_wraith_spire_cooler
at that price with the $30 off with a solid 470mb( so you can upgrade to a 2700 when prices drop or just cuz) its REALLY tempting. a nice 8 core proc that should do 4gig no problem for $250-$300 incl mb...thats tempting.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I'm on a Sandy Bridge and a 980Ti, so I'm waiting on two things: Nvidia's next GPU first, then whatever a nice CPU to go with it is.

Looking at Asrock Extreme4 mainboards. No frills, power systems like a tank. ~$200 range. Going to migrate to a single NVMe at the same time as a boot/game drive.

Also continuing with custom H2O unless the TDPs are 95W or less, and as brainless of an OC as possible. 2x140 class radiator.

If I go Skylake looking at 8-10core, 7820X as minimum. And of course I will de-lid and reapply with good TIM.

 

[Woomack]

If you are not going to overclock high then 8-10 cores can work at voltage of about 1.1V ( so below stock/auto ) and you can still set something up to 4.5GHz. No delidding required.
ASRock X299 Extreme4 can handle about the same CPUs as top series and overclocks about the same. I have one for tests and results in memory support and CPU/memory overclocking were the same as on higher series.
So the only issue can be to spend so much money on the CPU and 2-3 months later find out there is already new generation.