Modern PC CPU/RAM Voltages

[Baldchap]

I'm in the process of sorting a shopping list for a high-end gaming build for the boy come Christmas. As a former sysadmin, I've built/repaired hundreds of PCs over the years but the key word in that statement is 'former', and things have moved on somewhat!

Using PCPartPicker I've nailed down an approximate build featuring a Ryzen 9 and some DDR4 4600 RAM, but I'm getting warnings that the RAM voltage is over 1.35v and therefore unsuitable. Changing to an Intel chip and motherboard gives me the same error. The motherboard supports 4600 RAM.

The exact warning is: "The Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4600 Memory operating voltage of 1.5 V exceeds the AMD Matisse CPU recommended maximum of 1.35 V+7% (1.444 V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.35 V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the AMD recommended maximum."

Am I missing something here? It feels like the only way to run the current crop of high-end CPUs is to run them with slower memory - surely that can't be right?

Any ideas?

[chow pan toon]

There is no reason that you can't run the RAM at 1.45v on pretty much any AMD chipset. I'm wondering if it is getting it mixed up with the CPU core voltage? Having said that, you don't need 4600 RAM. Due to the way that Ryzen works, the infinity fabric will go to half speed past DDR4 3600 unless you tweak it, this will increase latency and reduce performance. DDR4 3200 is probably the sweet spot for price/performance. The article below will explain it better

https://www.techspot.com/review/1891-ryzen-memory-...

[Baldchap]

Fantastic. Thanks.

3600 it is!

[h0b0]

I have a 1950 threadripper and have issues with RAM speed. I think AMD got better but still don’t support full speed. As has been said before the extra speed isn’t significant. And ddr 4 is a standard upto 2100, anything above is overclocked.

[chow pan toon]

h0b0 said:

I have a 1950 threadripper and have issues with RAM speed. I think AMD got better but still don’t support full speed. As has been said before the extra speed isn’t significant. And ddr 4 is a standard upto 2100, anything above is overclocked.

The first gen had a lesser memory controller. The 2xxx and 3xxx series are a lot better.