RAM compatibility DDR4

[gwynbleidd997]

Hi,

I got a crucial ballistix 2x8GB 3600MT/s 16-18-18-38 kit installed and I want to upgrade to 32GB. The thing about crucial is that they killed their ballistix line so now I have to scour eBay and the likes for any hope for another ballistix kit.

I found a dude on eBay who was actually willing to send me a Thaiphoon Burner report of one of the 2 sticks he's selling me (from the same kit, or atleast I hope). His report, apart from the manufacturing date, lot and serial number, is exactly 1:1 the same as the one I generated from one of my DIMMs (all the timings are the same).

From the MB's manual, the supported speeds are the following:

• 1DPC 1R max speed 4400 MHz
• 1DPC 2R max speed 3866 MHz
• 2DPC 1R max speed 4000 MHz
• 2DPC 2R max speed 3600 MHz

I should fall under the third category, 2DPC 1R (which will make the whole thing 2R but with 1R DIMMs)

Is there any chance it won't work? The eBayer doesn't accept returns so I was hoping my chances of this working would be around 95% otherwise I just flushed money down the toilet.

Thanks.

These are the timings should they prove interesting to anyone.

 

[ir_cow]

To be clear you are asking if 4x DDR4-3600 will work with a AMD 5600X and MSI B550-A PRO? If it was from the same kit, I an incline to say yes. I've had mix outcomes with 4X DIMMs. Just depends on if your willing to troubleshoot or not.

Here are some concerns:
1) Mixing and matching kits. Basically for best practices, buy four at the same time. If you cannot, make sure the ICs are the same. AKA which version of Micron Die is that. the Manufacturing date is not important at all. If you cannot get the exact same ICs, timings and voltages are something to consider getting close to the same.

2) DDR4-3600 with 4 DIMMs may require messing with some BIOS settings. For instance, if you want to run 1:1 FLCK:MEM, it could be a issue as AUTO settings might use unstable settings.

 

[gwynbleidd997]

To be clear you are asking if 4x DDR4-3600 will work with a AMD 5600X and MSI B550-A PRO? If it was from the same kit, I an incline to say yes. I've had mix outcomes with 4X DIMMs. Just depends on if your willing to troubleshoot or not.

Here are some concerns:
1) Mixing and matching kits. Basically for best practices, buy four at the same time. If you cannot, make sure the ICs are the same. AKA which version of Micron Die is that. the Manufacturing date is not important at all. If you cannot get the exact same ICs, timings and voltages are something to consider getting close to the same.

2) DDR4-3600 with 4 DIMMs may require messing with some BIOS settings. For instance, if you want to run 1:1 FLCK:MEM, it could be a issue as AUTO settings might use unstable settings.

1) They are both Micron E-die and C9BLM:

These 4 rows are the exact same in both reports.

2) Why is it any different than with 2 sticks when it comes to infinity fabric?

 

[tabascosauz]

1) They are both Micron E-die:
View attachment 265226
These 4 rows are the exact same in both reports.

2) Why is it any different than with 2 sticks when it comes to infinity fabric?

Higher end Ballistix (3600CL16 or better) is probably one of the best candidates to mix and match 4 sticks. Even if Thaiphoon is wrong, they can only either be RevE or RevB, and both behave similarly for the most part on timings. And on 8GB sticks you can only have single rank either way.

I think there is another way to tell RevE from RevB - if the stick SKU shows up with M8FE1 or M8FB1 suffix. That's for Ballistix Max though, not sure what they look like on regular Ballistix. Should be visible on the sticker.

MSI's QVL speeds are only a conservative estimate of what the board topology itself can do. Says nothing about the sticks (although barring major problems with binning, both Microns should find 4000CL18 or CL19 easy to do), and says nothing about whether your 5600X can do 2000MHz Fabric stable.

 

[gwynbleidd997]

Higher end Ballistix (3600CL16 or better) is probably one of the best candidates to mix and match 4 sticks. Even if Thaiphoon is wrong, they can only either be RevE or RevB, and both behave similarly for the most part on timings. And on 8GB sticks you can only have single rank either way.

I think there is another way to tell RevE from RevB - if the stick SKU shows up with M8FE1 or M8FB1 suffix. That's for Ballistix Max though, not sure what they look like on regular Ballistix. Should be visible on the sticker.

MSI's QVL speeds are only a conservative estimate of what the board topology itself can do. Says nothing about the sticks (although barring major problems with binning, both Microns should find 4000CL18 or CL19 easy to do), and says nothing about whether your 5600X can do 2000MHz Fabric stable.

Both are M8FE1:

(The eBayer has just sold his last black Ballistix 2x8 3600 CL16 kit when I contacted him, so I opted for the white version instead but apart from the color they seem to be identical and we'll see about the aesthetics when I install them )

And for 4000MT/s, I may consider trying RAM overclocking if I have the time for it but on Ryzen it seems like it's a lot more work than last time I overclocked RAM (Intel 4th gen). For now, dual rank with 4 sticks at 3600CL16 should provide very good performance.

 

[tabascosauz]

Both are M8FE1:

(The eBayer has just sold his last black Ballistix 2x8 3600 CL16 kit when I contacted him, so I opted for the white version instead but apart from the color they seem to be identical and we'll see about the aesthetics when I install them )

And for 4000MT/s, I may consider trying RAM overclocking if I have the time for it but on Ryzen it seems like it's a lot more work than last time I overclocked RAM (Intel 4th gen). For now, dual rank with 4 sticks at 3600CL16 should provide very good performance.

I don't think you should have any trouble at 3600CL16, should be a walk in the park. Although, it is still mix and match 4DIMM, so best keep an open mind.

For actual performance I wouldn't bother delving into all the mem OC stuff for chance at 4000. Just going from single rank to dual rank at 3600CL16 should provide some healthy performance.

 

[ir_cow]

Slim chance 4x 4000 will work without some serious tinkering. Well I take that back. If you just want DDR4-4000 to work, set it to FLCK / Gear 2 and call it a day. But perf will be worse than 3200.

 

[gwynbleidd997]

Update: If anyone else is in the same situation and has maybe the same or a similar hardware configuration, they work just fine.

 

[ir_cow]

I see you have 4 DIMMs now. What is the freq and settings. Also have you run any sort of memory tests to make sure you don't have errors? Booting into Windows does not count as stable.

 

[gwynbleidd997]

I see you have 4 DIMMs now. What is the freq and settings. Also have you run any sort of memory tests to make sure you don't have errors? Booting into Windows does not count as stable.

It's just XMP, I haven't messed with anything. Still 3600MT/s and 16-18-18-38 1T.
I had TPU's MemTest64 run 3 loops at max tested memory and got no errors. I'll probably use good old memtest86 and let it run overnight but from what I can see it seems to be ok at least for now.
I do have some sort of a problem though, I just posted a new thread about it: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/lower-read-copy-speeds-with-4-sticks-vs-2.300083/
It seems like memory read/copy went down a little bit which is a bit weird. (I can remove that thread and just post the same screenshots here if you want me to, I didn't know how best to go about it)