Looking for High-End Memory for Maximus X Apex

[Flisker]

Hey guys,

I would like to ask for advice on which high-end memory should I pick for Asus Maximus X Apex.

So far I've found out that I should get Samsung B chips so probably some G.Skill kit, but there is so many of them. I found awesome post from Woomack (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...nt-Z-2x8GB-DDR4-3200-CL14-F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW) and was thinking about buying these - F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW (https://www.gskill.com/en/product/f4-3200c14d-16gtzkw) since he ended up with 4400@17-17-17 ... wtf ?!

But I've also found out that G.Skill released new "low latency" kits. Would those be worth considering or should I just buy those I linked, play a bit with OS and be done ?

Low latency G.Skills (https://www.anandtech.com/show/12079/gskill-launches-ddr4-4000-32gb-dimm-kits)

Cheapest one would be F4-4000C17D-16GTZR 4000@17-17-17-37, are there some new chips on these and will I be able to get even better OC or do you guys think that this is just OCed and basically waste of money since I could get already mentioned F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW cheaper and OC it myself ?

Thanks in advance for any feedback \o/

 

[Woomack]

It's matter of luck even if you get Samsung B kit but in general all of them should make 4000. Everything 3000 14-14-14, 3200 14-14-14/15-15-15, 3600 16-16-16 or anything higher in 2x8GB kits will be Samsung B as simply there is no other IC that can make it at low voltages and in mass production.
Trident Z is let's say safe option as all G.Skill kits OC high and are usually higher binned. Some other brands set quite relaxed timings, even if they use Samsung B and later some users have problems with overclocking as it requires more timings to change.

4000+ G.Skill kits usually OC better than these lower but it's not a rule. G.Skill is picking better chips for 4000+ kits but it's hard to say if it's worth to pay premium for 100MHz more or a bit lower voltage. I don't know for what you need this memory but if it's for gaming then get something like 3600 16-16-16 as these kits usually overclock high and have price about the same as 3200 CL14/15.

I will only tell you that all Samsung B that I was testing could make 4133-4400 regardless from what series they were. Issues were starting at tighter timings or at higher voltages but that is required almost only for competitive benchmarking and not even for all tests.

 

[Flisker]

It's matter of luck even if you get Samsung B kit but in general all of them should make 4000.....

Wow, such a fast reply from the master itself :0 thank you for all the info, it's very much appreciated.

Yes, it's for gaming and "normal enthusiast work" not for competitive benchmarking, but I like to push the things. I will pick up some G.Skills 3200/3600 kit than

Just one more question if I may, do you think that I should worry in some way about single vs dual rank and single vs double sided variations ?

From what I see here

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/62vp2g

it's possible to get either single/single or dual/double (rank/sided) versions with Samsung B-Die.

 

[Woomack]

Single rank = 8GB modules, dual rank = 16GB modules ... simply the same chips on one or two sides of PCB. If it's Samsung B and you buy 2x8GB kit then there is no way to get dual rank ( at least not with current batches ).

 

[Flisker]

Oh, yea you're absolutely right, all the dual/double variations are indeed 32GB kits (2x16).

Thank you once more. I will order the https://www.gskill.com/en/product/f4-3200c14d-16gtz since these are available relatively cheap in my country and report back how it worked out

 

[wingman99]

It's matter of luck even if you get Samsung B kit but in general all of them should make 4000. Everything 3000 14-14-14, 3200 14-14-14/15-15-15, 3600 16-16-16 or anything higher in 2x8GB kits will be Samsung B as simply there is no other IC that can make it at low voltages and in mass production.
Trident Z is let's say safe option as all G.Skill kits OC high and are usually higher binned. Some other brands set quite relaxed timings, even if they use Samsung B and later some users have problems with overclocking as it requires more timings to change.

4000+ G.Skill kits usually OC better than these lower but it's not a rule. G.Skill is picking better chips for 4000+ kits but it's hard to say if it's worth to pay premium for 100MHz more or a bit lower voltage. I don't know for what you need this memory but if it's for gaming then get something like 3600 16-16-16 as these kits usually overclock high and have price about the same as 3200 CL14/15.

I will only tell you that all Samsung B that I was testing could make 4133-4400 regardless from what series they were. Issues were starting at tighter timings or at higher voltages but that is required almost only for competitive benchmarking and not even for all tests.

Does Samsung use different IC's on the G.SKILL 3200 CL14-14-14 34 compared to 4000+ CL18-19-19-39 G.SKILL or are they just binned by G.SKILL?

 

[Woomack]

Samsung has couple of IC but everything what we are considering good is based on Samsung B die. Simply everything what is in mass sales at timings like 14-14-14, 15-15-15, 16-16-16, 17-17-17 ... is on Samsung. These timings is using almost only G.Skill. Other brands are using 15-17-17, 16-18-18 just because under these timings can be used all possible IC ( some brands are using various IC under the same product number ).
Every single 3600+ kit which contains 8GB or 16GB modules is based on Samsung B. Every kit at 3000 14-14-14/15-15-15, 3200 13-13-13/14-14-14/15-15-15 or 3466 15-15-15/16-16-16 is also Samsung B.
A bit long explanation but yes 4000+ kits are just higher binned IC. In general are overclocking a bit better, not to mention that are guaranteed to run at declared frequency. Other thing is that these highest kits are guaranteed to run at 4000+ only on some, not many motherboards.

 

[Flisker]

Hey again,

so I got the RAM today (F4-3200C14-8GTZ)

The best I was able to get stable is 4100-17-17-17-38-360-2T @ vDIMM - 1.425v, SA - 1.3v, VCCIO - 1.3v . I could run tests at 4300 but can't get it stable, AIDA test crashes in minute or two, same with 4000-16-16-16-36-2T. And it's impossible for me to get it working stable with 1T



Any tips on squeezing bit more out of this ?

 

[Woomack]

Whatever you see on the forums or in various short reviews/tests doesn't mean it will be stable. Actually most users who share results are not showing stable settings.
Anyway, check max clock at relaxed timings then when you set it stable, try tightening the timings. Start with CL19-21-21 or 21-25-25, something like that at 1.5V ( later can lower voltage ). Your SA/IO voltages are high enough for these clocks.

Check memory OC profiles in BIOS. I'm not sure if there is something new in Z370 but in Z270 APEX was 4133 profile. Using timings from that profile was letting me easily set stable 4266 and also not so hard to reach 4400. 4400+ is always tricky and may require to manually change additional timings.

 

[Flisker]

Whatever you see on the forums or in various short reviews/tests doesn't mean it will be stable. Actually most users who share results are not showing stable settings.
Anyway, check max clock at relaxed timings then when you set it stable, try tightening the timings. Start with CL19-21-21 or 21-25-25, something like that at 1.5V ( later can lower voltage ). Your SA/IO voltages are high enough for these clocks.

Check memory OC profiles in BIOS. I'm not sure if there is something new in Z370 but in Z270 APEX was 4133 profile. Using timings from that profile was letting me easily set stable 4266 and also not so hard to reach 4400. 4400+ is always tricky and may require to manually change additional timings.

Thank you so much Woomack, it's incredible to get help from someone like you ! It's very much appreciated.

You were right, there are memory preset on Maximus X Apex as well and it looks like this ...



So I picked the "New Samsung Single-Side" and it's all basically crazy testing presets aside from the last one ...



I gave it a shot and wow it really runs 1T. It's impossible to boot anything over the 4133Mhz with this preset, but the 4133Mhz seems stable.



Temps are fine, I guess... not sure what is considered problematic from RAM chips. Following temps are after 2.5h of stress testing.



Well and here is my final result ...



Would you consider 2.5h of AIDA64 stress test as sufficient ?
Does the result look at least "decent" to you ?
This crazyness of yours is far from stable, right ? (It's from this thread : http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...nt-Z-2x8GB-DDR4-3200-CL14-F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)



Edit, so I got 4200Mhz working in the end ...

 

[maxfly]

great job! that latency and speed are excellent.

 

[Woomack]

Would you consider 2.5h of AIDA64 stress test as sufficient ?
Does the result look at least "decent" to you ?
This crazyness of yours is far from stable, right ? (It's from this thread : http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...nt-Z-2x8GB-DDR4-3200-CL14-F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)

Edit, so I got 4200Mhz working in the end ...

View attachment 196945

Nice ... it's not as hard as it seems Based on that profile you can change single timings one by one and maybe you will set something higher. On the other hand anything above 4000 is already more than enough and you won't really see the difference.
At 4266+ you will probably need to relax timings like 18-19-19 or 19-19-19. Hard to tell without tests.

2.5h AIDA is enough. Test it in something else. Mixed tests or even more demanding games are good for stability testing.

That 4400 result was quite stable but I don't rememeber if I was checking full stability. For sure 4266 was stable but again, I don't remember on which motherboard and on what settings. Maximum on this memory kit was something near 4580 for OC competition.

I was testing last 4 memory kits on X299 and B350/X370 motherboards. Now I have one Z370 motherboard but I'm not sure if it's able to handle anything higher. Will see in couple of days.
I still wish to play some more with Crucial SODIMM but it's 24/7 in use. It's my only new non-Samsung kit which runs at 4000+.

 

[Flisker]

Nice ... it's not as hard as it seems Based on that profile you can change single timings one by one and maybe you will set something higher. On the other hand anything above 4000 is already more than enough and you won't really see the difference.
At 4266+ you will probably need to relax timings like 18-19-19 or 19-19-19. Hard to tell without tests.

2.5h AIDA is enough. Test it in something else. Mixed tests or even more demanding games are good for stability testing.

That 4400 result was quite stable but I don't rememeber if I was checking full stability. For sure 4266 was stable but again, I don't remember on which motherboard and on what settings. Maximum on this memory kit was something near 4580 for OC competition.

I was testing last 4 memory kits on X299 and B350/X370 motherboards. Now I have one Z370 motherboard but I'm not sure if it's able to handle anything higher. Will see in couple of days.
I still wish to play some more with Crucial SODIMM but it's 24/7 in use. It's my only new non-Samsung kit which runs at 4000+.

Great, once again, thank you I like this, so I just adjusted SA/IO down to 1.265 & (lower seems to cause instablity) & vDIMM to 1.425 and I'm done with it. Yea you're right, it's not that hard, this was kind of my first time really playing with RAM, I used to OC just CPU & GPU or few times monitors