Need advice RAM for Asus Maximus hero z890 + core ultra 7 265k

[Carsomyr]

Snagged a sweat deal on core ultra 7 265k and Asus Maximus hero z890. Both brand new sealed in box for 415$ usd (675$ CAD). Now Im looking to get high speed ram to go with it. I'm aware the Imc on the core ultra 7 265k isn't the same as it is on 285k probably... Still... While I'm at it rocking an Asus Maximus hero z890, what ram kit would you recommend?

I need minimum 48gb (2x24gb). I'd like to get the best speed/best latency/stability per dollar I can get. Right now the best I've found is gskills F5-8200C4052G24GX2-TZ5CK.

I'm curious to see what kind of OC/latency tightening I can achieve with this board. In terms of dollar/speed. I think 7200-7600mhz offers the best prices, but Im starting to see the 8000mhz kits come down too. So yeah, interested to read your opinions

And before someone questions my choice of cpu. Obviously it has to do with the cost I got these 2 at. Here's a little explanation of my thought process behind the purchase of the 415$ usd core ultra 7 265k and Asus Maximus hero z890 combo:

1. Core ultra 9 285k is 475$ CAD more than core ultra 7 265k for barely any more performance... Just makes zero sense
2. And ryzen 9 9950x is also 475$ more than core ultra 7 265k for barely any more performance. But it's actually better than core ultra 9 285k so that one is more justified... But still at that price? Just no
3. I9 14900k offers about 10% more performance for 175$ CAD more... Not bad at all but a whole host of issues await... Instability, runs hot as hell, dead socket etc... But this one has the strongest argument of all the cpus I thought of and yet... Because of the extra cost and negatives... Decided against it
4. I7 14700k = 115$ extra cad dollars... For less performance except in multi threaded applications and by a small margin... Again a whole host of issues awaiting...
5. Ryzen 9900x. Superb thermals, 275$ more cad. Performance is pretty much tied. So again good cpu, wrong price.

After that we're talking amd 7950x/9700x... Just more of the same situation. In some cases it's the same price I paid for a bit less performance, so yeah, at the price I paid I feel good about my combo. That being said, I understand the cpu IMC quality is probably gonna limit some of my choices. I'll just go with whatever makes the most sense with what I got to work with. Obviously when intel release a more worthwhile cpu on socket lga 1851 I might just swap...

P. S. I hear some ram kits have an AEMP profile on top of their XMP profile (Asus enhanced memory profile). I don't know if that's something I should look into as well. The most difficult thing for me to figure out has been UDIMM Vs CUDIMM. Because I ask for advice on reddit and people over there were contradicting each other. Some say cudimm is better others say they run their 8200mhz kit with the core ultra 7 265k just on UDIMM no cudimm needed... So who should I believe? I also read that cudimm has a hit more latency generally speaking? Something to do with a-die apparently

 

[bonehead123]

Have you looked at the QVL for that mobo ? That might give you some idea of what brand/speed/type of ram is recommended for it, and then you could narrow down your choices from there....and decide whether to go faster/bigger etc or not ..

And generally, Gskill makes good ram, but they are far from the only quality mfgr out there....I've been using KLEVV Urbane (which can o/c up to 8400) and Corsair Vengeance (which can o/c up to 8800) for my recent high-end client workstation builds on similar Z890 boards & ultra cpu's, nottaproblemo

 

[Carsomyr]

Have you looked at the QVL for that mobo ? That might give you some idea of what brand/speed/type of ram is recommended for it, and then you could narrow down your choices from there....and decide whether to go faster/bigger etc or not ..

And generally, Gskill makes good ram, but they are far from the only quality mfgr out there....I've been using KLEVV Urbane (which can o/c up to 8400) and Corsair Vengeance (which can o/c up to 8800) for my recent high-end client workstation builds on similar Z890 boards & ultra cpu's, nottaproblemo

thanks I'll go check that out right now

 

[ir_cow]

After that we're talking amd 7950x/9700x... Just more of the same situation. In some cases it's the same price I paid for a bit less performance, so yeah, at the price I paid I feel good about my combo. That being said, I understand the cpu IMC quality is probably gonna limit some of my choices. I'll just go with whatever makes the most sense with what I got to work with. Obviously when intel release a more worthwhile cpu on socket lga 1851 I might just swap...

Lots to unpack here. But the short is the Ultra 2 series suffers from high memory latency because of the Title Die Design. Unless you are willing to manually adjust the Ring Cache and Die 2 Die Ratio, gaming performance compared to AMD or previous Intel isn't going to be great even with the "Best" memory.

P. S. I hear some ram kits have an AEMP profile on top of their XMP profile (Asus enhanced memory profile). I don't know if that's something I should look into as well.

AEMP is just ASUS way of saying Intel XMP on AMD motherboards. For Intel, sometimes vendors will not use EXPO naming, but whatever they decide to name it. Really doesn't matter if XMP or EXPO profile ia use. Some EXPO profiles should have the advantage because of a few extra subtimings, but often memory makers leave it out because XMP doesn't include them in the first place. Just a copy /paste of the XMP one...

The most difficult thing for me to figure out has been UDIMM Vs CUDIMM. Because I ask for advice on reddit and people over there were contradicting each other. Some say cudimm is better others say they run their 8200mhz kit with the core ultra 7 265k just on UDIMM no cudimm needed... So who should I believe?

CUDIMM vs UDIMM is about the highest frequency you can run and on what motherboard. Like for instance I can run 8400 MT/s on a $200 motherboard with CUDIMM. I cannot with UDIMM. Not even close to that number in fact. It is unfortunate that motherboard vendors aren't distinguishing max supported frequency based on CUDIMM or UDIMM, because they are different. To be safe I would not go above 8000 MT/s for UDIMM on that ASUS Hero Z890.

I'm curious to see what kind of OC/latency tightening I can achieve with this board. In terms of dollar/speed. I think 7200-7600mhz offers the best prices, but Im starting to see the 8000mhz kits come down too. So yeah, interested to read your opinions

I also read that cudimm has a hit more latency generally speaking? Something to do with a-die apparently

24 GB DIMMs have higher latency in the XMP/EXPO profile due to the tRFC values being higher. 3GB vs 2 GB ICs. I have a whole explanation in a few of my reviews giving better details. https://www.techpowerup.com/review/team-group-t-force-xtreem-ddr5-7200-48gb-cl34/20.html. 2 GB SK Hynix is A-DIE and 3 GB SK Hynix is M-Die. Not to be confused with SK Hynix 2 GB M-Die, which is harder to find these days. It tops out around 7000 MT/s for retail, so you will not see it in 8000 MT/s memory.

A-Die will get you the lowest tRFC values, M-Die (3GB) can get close, but never as low due to the IC die size. The question becomes, are you going to manually adjust the subtimings, or is this a plug-n-play type setup?

 

[Carsomyr]

Lots to unpack here. But the short is the Ultra 2 series suffers from high memory latency because of the Title Die Design. Unless you are willing to manually adjust the Ring Cache and Die 2 Die Ratio, gaming performance compared to AMD or previous Intel isn't going to be great even with the "Best" memory.


AEMP is just ASUS way of saying Intel XMP on AMD motherboards. For Intel, sometimes vendors will not use EXPO naming, but whatever they decide to name it. Really doesn't matter if XMP or EXPO profile ia use. Some EXPO profiles should have the advantage because of a few extra subtimings, but often memory makers leave it out because XMP doesn't include them in the first place. Just a copy /paste of the XMP one...


CUDIMM vs UDIMM is about the highest frequency you can run and on what motherboard. Like for instance I can run 8400 MT/s on a $200 motherboard with CUDIMM. I cannot with UDIMM. Not even close to that number in fact. It is unfortunate that motherboard vendors aren't distinguishing max supported frequency based on CUDIMM or UDIMM, because they are different. To be safe I would not go above 8000 MT/s for UDIMM on that ASUS Hero Z890.




24 GB DIMMs have higher latency in the XMP/EXPO profile due to the tRFC values being higher. 3GB vs 2 GB ICs. I have a whole explanation in a few of my reviews giving better details. https://www.techpowerup.com/review/team-group-t-force-xtreem-ddr5-7200-48gb-cl34/20.html. 2 GB SK Hynix is A-DIE and 3 GB SK Hynix is M-Die. Not to be confused with SK Hynix 2 GB M-Die, which is harder to find these days. It tops out around 7000 MT/s for retail, so you will not see it in 8000 MT/s memory.

A-Die will get you the lowest tRFC values, M-Die (3GB) can get close, but never as low due to the IC die size. The question becomes, are you going to manually adjust the subtimings, or is this a plug-n-play type setup?

thanks for the reply. I think I forgot to mention that now my usage is 80% productivity/work at home (heavy on the ram, 28-32gb in task manager when everything is opened and i7 9700k at 90-100% cpu usage at all times pretty much, temps are all good, rtx 3080 helps with hardware accel.) 20% gaming

In other words, gaming has become MUCH less important for me these past years. And just like movies, I find that the video games that really interest me are far more rare than in the old days (might just be me becoming difficult with age lol)

I also failed to mention I game at 3440x1440 resolution with my etx 3080 currently. So I suppose my gaming is a bit less cpu limiter than if I was gaming at 1080p

so yeah, I don't mind the lesser gaming performance of the core ultra 7 265k, I mind the productivity performance A LOT more because of my work. But like I said, I know I didn't go and get the 800-900$ cpu I could have... prices really didn't feel in the right place for none of them. I found none of them to be "exciting" except for Maybe the i9 14900k. I was gonna go there, but got a deal that couldn't be refused on a CPU that can achieve what I need for now at a good price so here I am. I made some findings in the QVL list. I'll post here the two best sets of ram kits I could find over there and see if you guys have some thoughts on em

 

[ir_cow]

If highest fps in gaming isn't the main target, and 4K gives you similar performance regardless of memory frequency, it makes decisions easier.

I honestly would just buy based on the size you need and not worry about A Die vs M or whatever reddit people is arguing about. Slowest to fastest memory, you lose 10 seconds in a 12 minute Blender Rendering from 4800 to 8800. Low latency memory is mostly just a for gamers who have extra beefy video cards and play at lower resolutions.

Just my opinion.

 

[Carsomyr]

If highest fps in gaming isn't the main target, and 4K gives you similar performance regardless of memory frequency, it makes decisions easier.

I honestly would just buy based on the size you need and not worry about A Die vs M or whatever reddit people is arguing about. Slowest to fastest memory, you lose 10 seconds in a 12 minute Blender Rendering from 4800 to 8800. Low latency memory is mostly just a for gamers who have extra beefy video cards and play at lower resolutions.

Just my opinion.

thanks I'll consider it. Because of my needs I'm trying to get the highest possible speed, but making sure my new core ultra 7 265k will be able to handle it alongside the asus maximus hero z890
if the ram kit in question happens to have better timings, it'll just be icing on the cake

 

[ir_cow]

Check out this review I did of CUDIMM 8800. It has a bunch of comparisons. You'll see there isn't much difference from the slowest to fastest unless you manually are changing CPU Ring Cache and D2D. However since this is mainly a work computer, I wouldnt change anything. Just asking for stability issues. That is unless you want to spend a lot of time validating a stable overclock.

Corsair Vengeance RGB CUDIMM DDR5-8800 48 GB CL42 Review

Corsair is once again pushing the boundaries of memory performance with the latest CUDIMM technology. This new Vengeance RGB kit boasts an impressive 8800 MT/s XMP profile, optimized to unlock the full potential of Intel's cutting-edge Z890 motherboards. Follow along as we test this memory and...

www.techpowerup.com

I have a Crucial 6400 2x64GB review I'm working on now. Perfect for those who need high capacity. Affordable too for the size.

 

[Carsomyr]

Check out this review I did of CUDIMM 8800. It has a bunch of comparisons. You'll see there isn't much difference from the slowest to fastest unless you manually are changing CPU Ring Cache and D2D. However since this is mainly a work computer, I wouldnt change anything. Just asking for stability issues. That is unless you want to spend a lot of time validating a stable overclock.

Corsair Vengeance RGB CUDIMM DDR5-8800 48 GB CL42 Review

Corsair is once again pushing the boundaries of memory performance with the latest CUDIMM technology. This new Vengeance RGB kit boasts an impressive 8800 MT/s XMP profile, optimized to unlock the full potential of Intel's cutting-edge Z890 motherboards. Follow along as we test this memory and...

www.techpowerup.com

I have a Crucial 6400 2x64GB review I'm working on now. Perfect for those who need high capacity. Affordable too for the size.

Here my findings, some of which have CUDIMM and some others do not and all of which have minimum 7600mhz and above (mostly 8000mhz and above) I'll list in them in order of price and make a section for CUDIMM vs UDIMM.
Keep in mind those prices are in CAD (so 39% more than they would be USD)

• CUDIMM=
  1. https://www.newegg.ca/g-skill-48gb-ddr5-8200/p/N82E16820374648
     1. $309.99 CAD (condition = NEW)
  2. https://www.amazon.ca/CORSAIR-Vengeance-8000MHz-CL38-50-50-128-Computer/dp/B0DNTQ6HZL/ref=sr_1_2_so_INTERNAL_MEMORY?crid=30YHDK91N5KIQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.y4QSDTRFjE4hr1fxn5XXDrdBdtEhcDxzBSFx9FzKDSnGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps._iGmic6ws3Z8Ufxj4fV8-96wrUKe0MxF8QIIOksk6kA&dib_tag=se&keywords=cudimm+ddr5&m=AUJBRIGYRJ3Q8&qid=1744828592&s=warehouse-deals&sprefix=cudimm+ddr5,warehouse-deals,61&sr=8-2
     • 339$ CAD (condition = used: very good)
  3. https://www.newegg.ca/team-48gb-ddr5-8400/p/N82E16820985276
     1. 352$ CAD (condition = NEW)
• UDIMM=

1. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CTJ82Q7Q?linkCode=gg2&tag=pangoly0b-20
   1. $179.99 CAD (considition = New) (7600mhz) By far the best deal I found in terms of cost for speed
2. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CK75HL12?tag=pangoly03-20
   • 249$ CAD (condition = New)
3. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CTJ85W1Y?tag=pcp0f-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1
   1. 265$ CAD (condition = New)

 

[ir_cow]

Its dual-channel regardless of amount of slots. The CPU is dual-channel.

4 slot motherboard is stacking 2 DIMMs per channel if you put 4 in. Generally 2-slot motherboards are better for memory because it's closer to the CPU socket and the traces are shorter.

 

[Carsomyr]

Its dual-channel regardless of amount of slots. The CPU is dual-channel.

4 slot motherboard is stacking 2 DIMMs per channel if you put 4 in. Generally 2-slot motherboards are better for memory because it's closer to the CPU socket and the traces are shorter.

yes indeed, unfortunatly my motherboard has 4 slots, so I'll just have to live with it for now. Take a look at the memory kits I found and listed earlier. Do any stand out as a better choice to you?

 

[ir_cow]

I personally have no preference for most things, though Patriot Xtreme 7600 is a real banger! Put a fan on it and off you go

I would just pick the capacity you want and speed that fits your budget because unless you really are willing to play around with sub-timings, ring cache and D2D, none is going to blow you away.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I personally have no preference for most things, though Patriot Xtreme 7600 is a real banger! Put a fan on it and off you go

I would just pick the capacity you want and speed that fits your budget because unless you really are willing to play around with sub-timings, ring cache and D2D, none is going to blow you away.

This. Even A-Die 6000 sticks will OC 8000mt/s and beyond.

 

[Carsomyr]

I personally have no preference for most things, though Patriot Xtreme 7600 is a real banger! Put a fan on it and off you go

I would just pick the capacity you want and speed that fits your budget because unless you really are willing to play around with sub-timings, ring cache and D2D, none is going to blow you away.

Thanks for the reply. Indeed I agree. Just by looking at what is available I can quickly assume the following:

32gb kits (2x16gb) seem to go as high as 7800mhz (that you can buy with that xmp rating). I found today an incredible set of 2x16gb gskills 7800mhz at CL36. That's 9.27ns latency, quite something.
Higher than 7800mhz you enter the 8000mhz plus territory. Instantly all kits are suddenly 48gb minimum (2x24gb). By coincidence, this is also where cudimm begins. So my understanding of the whole ram situation is:
If you have a series 2 intel cpu core ultra, either go 32gb NO CUDIMM needed up to 7800mhz. Obviously make sure mobo and cpu can attain that xmp profile....

Or

Buy a 8000mhz + ram kit. I round plenty of posts on reddit from users who run a 265k and managed 8000-9000mhz stable on UDIMM. That being said I suspect that there are probably specific situations where that stability might give way. Some niche apps or games. I think anything beyond 9000mhz probably requires CUDIMM for stability or some more serious bios tweaking.
I make those assumptions just based off what I found on reddit and by seeing the inventory of ram available. The fact that you don't see a single ram kit that has CUDIMM below 8000mhz says something...

This. Even A-Die 6000 sticks will OC 8000mt/s and beyond.

I agree. But I suspect 8600mhz plus might be harder on a 6000mhz kit no?
And even a 6000mhz kit can go 8000mhz plus with overclocking, not sure if core ultra 7 265k could handle it (without the kit being xmp rated for 8ghz plus)...
Anyhow. It so happens that the cheapest 48gb kit I could find has decent speed and latency. The only thing I don't like about that one is that it's rated at those specs but with 1.45v. Some other kits achieve similar results with 1.4v
That being said with a quality board like mine maybe there's wiggle room to increase voltage or decrease. The joy of overclocking...
I also look forward to seeing what AI overclocking can do

 

[ir_cow]

I haven't been able to get above 8600 Gear 2 with UDIMM stable yet for 285K, but I also haven't tried super hard either. CUDIMM I'm working on 10k. Getting close with Gear 4....

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Thanks for the reply. Indeed I agree. Just by looking at what is available I can quickly assume the following:

32gb kits (2x16gb) seem to go as high as 7800mhz (that you can buy with that xmp rating). I found today an incredible set of 2x16gb gskills 7800mhz at CL36. That's 9.27ns latency, quite something.

Higher than 7800mhz you enter the 8000mhz plus territory. Instantly all kits are suddenly 48gb minimum (2x24gb). By coincidence, this is also where cudimm begins. So my understanding of the whole ram situation is:

If you have a series 2 intel cpu core ultra, either go 32gb NO CUDIMM needed up to 7800mhz. Obviously make sure mobo and cpu can attain that xmp profile....

Or

Buy a 8000mhz + ram kit. I round plenty of posts on reddit from users who run a 265k and managed 8000-9000mhz stable on UDIMM. That being said I suspect that there are probably specific situations where that stability might give way. Some niche apps or games. I think anything beyond 9000mhz probably requires CUDIMM for stability or some more serious bios tweaking.

I make those assumptions just based off what I found on reddit and by seeing the inventory of ram available. The fact that you don't see a single ram kit that has CUDIMM below 8000mhz says something...


I agree. But I suspect 8600mhz plus might be harder on a 6000mhz kit no?
And even a 6000mhz kit can go 8000mhz plus with overclocking, not sure if core ultra 7 265k could handle it (without the kit being xmp rated for 8ghz plus)...

Anyhow. It so happens that the cheapest 48gb kit I could find has decent speed and latency. The only thing I don't like about that one is that it's rated at those specs but with 1.45v. Some other kits achieve similar results with 1.4v

That being said with a quality board like mine maybe there's wiggle room to increase voltage or decrease. The joy of overclocking...

I also look forward to seeing what AI overclocking can do

You sacrifice timings for speed.

So the reality is, you don't really reduce latency, you just increase bandwidth.

I am utilizing a 7000mt/s kit at 6800mt/s CL 28-38-38 (still working on it) and it produces a low of 54ns AIDA64 latency but that's with multiple runs, it's actually closer to 56ns latency. About 100K reads. (Good enough for me personally)

 

[Carsomyr]

I haven't been able to get above 8600 Gear 2 with UDIMM stable yet for 285K, but I also haven't tried super hard either. CUDIMM I'm working on 10k. Getting close with Gear 4....

what ram kit are you using to push 10ghz?

 

[ir_cow]

what ram kit are you using to push 10ghz?

ADATA / XPG 9600 Lancer CUDIMM. I don't think it's for sale yet.

 

[Sunny and 75]

none is going to blow you away.

This^

 

[Carsomyr]

This. Even A-Die 6000 sticks will OC 8000mt/s and beyond.

do you have a real life example of this being true?
something I could look at?

 

[Frizz]

CUDIMMs only. And no less.

Avoid the Corsair Vengeance with the shiny heatsink I owned this and pulled it apart it feels like plastic and may as well be made of plastic because of how thin it is.. it heats up to 70c to 80c while benching.

 

[ir_cow]

do you have a real life example of this being true?
something I could look at?

Lexar 6000 OC to 7800

Lexar THOR DDR5-6000 32 GB CL32 Review

Lexar is back with another RAM series for its DDR5 lineup. Paired with primary timings that will benefit both Intel and AMD, Lexar THOR memory is targeting gamers with its DDR5-6000 CL 32 XMP & EXPO profiles. Follow along as we take this memory for a test drive!

www.techpowerup.com

Mostly only tired this with 6800 and 7200 A-die. You'll have to change the voltage and timings for it to work. Can't just change the speed.

Unless you are willing to spend time troubleshooting and checking memory stability, it's better to buy the speed you want instead of hoping to hit the jackpot.

CUDIMMs only. And no less.

Avoid the Corsair Vengeance with the shiny heatsink I owned this and pulled it apart it feels like plastic and may as well be made of plastic because of how thin it is.. it heats up to 70c to 80c while benching.

Put a fan on it. I had no problems with running 8800.

It really should be mandatory to have a ram fan like the DDR2 days

 

[Frizz]

Put a fan on it. I had no problems with running 8800.

It really should be mandatory to have a ram fan like the DDR2 days

I ended up adding the RAM into my loop with. 5C delta from Coolant temps haha, trefi was then immediately set to 100k+ and had no issues with xmp at 8400 cl38.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

do you have a real life example of this being true?
something I could look at?

Sure. How about AMD Epyc? (This is not my screenshot, was pulled from spit051261's profile, whom is on my benchmarking team)

 

[Dr. Dro]

Strikes me weird you'd buy an overpriced ROG Maximus board but you're being stingy with a i7 tier CPU... just buy a cheaper Z890 motherboard and the 285K?

also there are no open issues with Raptor Lake... the chance you'll get a 14th gen CPU with oxidation issue is precisely 0%... it was fixed long before that, if what's being said is true, fixed even before they started binning 13900KS's... so yeah, you can buy a 14700K fine if that suits your fancy too.

the damn FUD, make it stop aaarrghhh

Sure. How about AMD Epyc? (This is not my screenshot, was pulled from spit051261's profile, whom is on my benchmarking team)

View attachment 395410

Isn't that the new 6000 C26 hyper binned kit though? And that's also taking enough VDIMM to probably make that poor B650M-HDV scream, lol. My 6800 A-die kit did 7600 fine on my Apex Encore, but 8000... it doesn't wanna do it, at least not below 1.5V and I can't cool that.