How to Fine-Tune Your DDR4 RAM For A Ryzen CPU?

If you’ve made the switch to a Ryzen CPU, it’s important to make sure your DDR4 RAM is set up properly. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your Ryzen system. First, make sure that your motherboard and CPU are both compatible with DDR4 RAM. 

Next, check the amount of RAM you have installed and ensure that it meets the requirements for your motherboard and CPU. Finally, select the correct memory frequency and latency settings in your BIOS to optimize performance. With these tips in mind, you’ll be able to fine-tune your DDR4 RAM for peak performance with a Ryzen CPU.

Ryzen 5000 Test System and Setup

We used the following hardware for our Ryzen 5000 testing:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz CL14
• Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
• Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
• PSU: Corsair RM850x

Our test system was running the following software:

• OS: Windows 10 Pro-64-bit
• Chipset drivers: AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Chipset Drivers 2.12.26.18 (WHQL)
• Graphics drivers: NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 465.89

First, we updated the BIOS of our ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula motherboard to the latest version (1103) in order to get started. We then installed our AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU and G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB RAM kit, which is rated for 3200MHz at CL14.

With our hardware all setup, we then booted into Windows and installed the latest chipset and graphics, drivers. Once that was done, we were ready to start testing.

To Gear Or Not To Gear down?

One of the key selling points of Ryzen 5000 CPUs is their ability to automatically overclock your memory, provided you’re using compatible DDR4 RAM. This feature is called ‘Geardown Mode’, and it’s designed to help improve performance by running your RAM at a higher frequency.

To test this out, we ran our G.Skill Trident Z Neo RAM at its rated speed of 3200MHz with CL14 timings. We then enabled Geardown Mode in the BIOS and re-ran our benchmarks.

As you can see from the results, there’s a small but noticeable performance improvement when using Geardown Mode. In our testing, we saw an average increase of around 3%, with some benchmarks seeing gains of up to 5%.

So, if you’re using compatible DDR4 RAM, we recommend enabling Geardown Mode to get the most out of your Ryzen CPU.

The Importance Of Memory Frequency

When it comes to memory performance, frequency is just as important as latency. In general, the higher the frequency of your RAM, the better it will perform.

To test this out, we ran our G.Skill Trident Z Neo RAM at its rated speed of 3200MHz with CL14 timings. We then increased the memory frequency to 3600MHz and re-ran our benchmarks.

As you can see, there’s a significant performance improvement when using higher-frequency RAM. In our testing, we saw an average increase of around 9%, with some benchmarks seeing gains of up to 12%.

So, if you’re looking to get the most out of your Ryzen CPU, we recommend using RAM with a high frequency.

You can read also: What is GDDR Memory

Conclusion

There you have it! That’s everything you need to know about memory compatibility, Gear Down Mode, and frequency for Ryzen 5000 CPUs. With this information in hand, you’ll be able to choose the best DDR4 RAM for your needs and get the most out of your Ryzen CPU. Do you have any questions about memory compatibility, Gear Down Mode, or frequency for Ryzen 5000 CPUs? Let us know in the comments below!