Memory upgrade and/or other stuff?

[ericfx1984]

I am trying to decide on some upgrades... I see no reason to upgrade CPU/mobo at this point... But I definitely see reasons to upgrade my memory to at least 32GB and maybe somethng that can run higher ram speeds with better timings?...

and maybe the storage?

At some point I'll consider a new GPU, but it seems unnecessary at this point, as i game @ 1080p on an LG 27EA63 (bought used for $10 with a bad plug... had the plug laying around at home...)

Back in the day I was very active in PC overclocking... but honestly... until recently I have just not seen the point to overclocking... Back in the day it seemed like I upgraded my pc, sometimes weekly... I had built chilled coolant setups that ran into the negative temps under load... destroyed my fair share of equipment... now I can go at least a couple years before I really need an upgrade...

I built this machine 11-19-2018 and it still works great... but has a little quark... I can't get anywhere near the listed memory speeds and timing... 2133MHz 19-20-20-40 @ 1.35v? anything much above this causes memory errors

At this point I am also working on bigger projects and starting to see higher memory utilization and some minor page file usage. I fear that as projects get larger I MAY start to need more memory

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 1700x (no OC)
Cooler: EVGA AIO cooler 240 (used on FB market place $10)
Mobo: ASRock X370 Killer SLI/ac
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) (F4-3600C19D-16GVRB) (but only running 2133MHz 19-20-20-40 @ 1.35v)
GPU: RX580 with a custom bios, heavy OC and tight timing (used 2 years ago for $75)
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS Plus 850 Gold SSR-850FX (bought used for $15 at a swap meet, lol)
Storage: ADATA Ultimate SU650 2.5" 240GB SATA III 3D NAND ASU650SS-240GT-R (no where near the best, but it gets the job done)
Windows 10

 

[bmwbaxter]

first gen ryzen will be hard pressed to get your rated memory speeds, 2400Mhz though seems like it should easily reach. Have you tried upping the SOC voltage a bit or updating to the most recent BIOS since some memory issue have been fixed that way? Whatever memory you are upgrading to ensure you check your motherboard QVL and get a kit from there to be safe since you are already having memory issues.

 

[Zerileous]

Agreed on the BIOS update. SOC voltage is good advice as well. The 1700 is a decent overclocking CPU if you want to do that.

Getting the memory above stock is important to a Ryzen system. The 8 cores are separated into 2 compute complexes (CCX) and the speed of the infinity fabric (the connection between the two CCXs and the IO) is determined by the memory speed. So you'll be doing a lot by getting memory up to 3000 or 3200.
Getting that CPU to run 32GB may be difficult and cost you some memory speed.

Something like this Samsung B-die might be your best bet (it is generally overrated for Ryzen, even for 1000 series, but there is more merit to it on this platform than newer ones) https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232899. As you can see there is a 90%-100% premium price on this stuff, I have a hard time feeling like it is worth it, especially given that you could have perfect memory and the IMC might just crap out anyway. You have to be careful with the QVL as some manufacturers have changed the ICs used in a part number over time.

This kit is actually listed on the G.Skill RAM configurator: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232751 https://gskill.com/configurator?pag...del=1526293643&adSearch2=Tested_Speed§3200MHz, my understanding is that if the kit is on that list and doesn't work as advertised, they will accept an RMA (but I would verify that before purchasing if that is a major factor).

Edit: I just realized that was a 16GB kit. It looks like 2933 is the fastest they have 32GB kits running: https://gskill.com/configurator?pag...2=Capacity§32GB (16GBx2),Tested_Speed§2933MHz,

 

[trents]

Yes, I would focus on getting the memory speed higher to begin with. The motherboard companies turned out a lot of bios updates to correct memory compatibility issues with first and second gen Ryzens so check on that. And I agree that you should be able to get the memory speed higher than 2133 though probably not to XMP speeds. On the other hand, there are some steep discounts on 3rd gen Ryzens right now and with their improved IMC I would think you could get your existing memory to run at 3200 mhz. I would look at a 3700X if I were you. It will run on your motherboard with a bios update so if you go that way, do that first before removing your 1st gen CPU.