7950x: I want 4x32GB unless it sucks, does it suck?

Hi

I am planning to build with a 7950x on an asus Pro art X670e.

In various places I’ve been hearing that 4 dimms is a lot harder to run. I’m not expecting to overclock 4 dimms. If I buy 4 x 32GB of 5200 ddr5 will I have bad performance to the point where 2x32GB would be a better choice?

I know the question will be if I need 128GB then what does it matter if it’s lower performance. The answer is I don’t absolutely need it; but I would absolutely use it if I had it over 64GB just not at the cost of stability or a big enough difference on overall performance.

thanks

6 Likes

Well, the memory QVL list doesn’t list any 4 module configurations at all, so good luck on it even running at all :smiley: I guess we’ll need to wait for someone with that board who has tried it.

yep the closest I have come to useful information is the MSI MEG ace has 4 dimms of 2R at 4000 speed here

promising but not the same board and I’ve settled on the pro art for a reason rhyming with it being €400 less than the rest of those insanely priced boards while the pro art is expensive enough as it is.

I don’t know how to find 1R 32GB ddr5 to know if it even exists… so I presume all I’ll be able to source is 2R 32GB. If it would run at 4000 as it would on the MSI board then that wouldn’t be too bad? I don’t know a lot about infinity fabric

1 Like

Might want to wait it out a bit, before entertaining such a purchase…
Between RAM producers kicking out more SKUs [and likely parade of BIOS updates]

1 Like

I’ve genuinely been pushing back this upgrade for over 2 years so I think it’s getting to the point where I just have to buy something or it will never happen. A few weeks ago I was thinking I should hold off until TR7000 or to see if intel revive HEDT mid next year… Meanwhile I’m struggling day to day with what I have. I know I could go last gen but I don’t think the price difference is enough at all to justify it for me personally. That’s probably me underestimating the new platform issues… but I’m ready to just buy now

I would expect that the problems are overblown. If it has 4 sockets and 128GB capacity rating then go for it. Yes it is true the timings can be tighter on a 2 DIMM system for overclocking but that does not sound like the kind of machine you’re building. If you wanted the fastest gaming you’d be going 12900K or 7900 with two DIMMS of the fastest compatible RAM.

If you’re building a Proxmox machine then the amount of RAM is your limiting factor along with the number of PCIe slots you can use. Number of cores is not really a factor because you can overbook them unlike the RAM which is a one to one relationship.

yeah that sounds right to me anyway, it was just strange that there’s so little information about 4 dimms being used so far on the platform I thought by now at least puget would have some info but I just haven’t seen it.

No gaming at all. I think I’m going to just go for 4x32. I’m ordering later this week. As you said, there are 4 slots and a 128GB limit and that’s what I’ll be using. how bad can it be (this is not a challenge to the universe to prove me wrong)

3 Likes

Please write back, we’re counting on your bravery to save us :wink:

2 Likes

It took several months, to identify Intels Gen12 ILM, being a major-AF problem
Between thermal troubles and they’ve had 4x DIMMmemory issues [lesser spoken of]

Worst case scenario, be to purchase 2x DIMM kits, that are on the mainboards QVL list

From what I’ve heard DDR5 is much more sensitive to mismatched DIMMs, so if you want to run 4 at some point it’s better to get them all in one kit. Besides the way I see it, DDR5 has a long life and those DIMMs could be handy in the future.

2 Likes

these are my pick at the moment KF552C40BBK2-64

they’re on the QVL for the motherboard (as 2x32)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor (€713.45)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€103.64)
Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (€520.17)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory (€281.71)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory (€281.71)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€236.05)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi XL Window ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For €0.00 old pc reusing case)
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME TX 1300 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€373.87)
Total: €2510.60
Prices are exvat I manually found the prices from different places
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-10 14:29 IST+0100

Haven’t decided on a gpu yet but I’m going to see how the 4000 series gpus change stuff this week

2 Likes

I’ll be very interested to see how your build turns out. I’m planning out a very similar build in the next few months, likely with the same processor and motherboard at least. Any chance you’re planning to do VFIO/virtualization? I’m curious to find out how the IOMMU groups are setup for that motherboard.

Yes i can check that. If it works id like to live in linux and swap to a windows vm with a gpu passed through for my job.

M.2 drive and 4090 are ordered and I’m working on the list of which sellers can get me the rest of the parts. A lot of places wont ship to me in Ireland from Germany and they only tell you when you’re putting in your payment details

Parts are all ordered now some substitutions had to be made and prices went up when various places turned out to not ship to Ireland.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor €703.27
CPU Cooler ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler €121.91
Motherboard Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard €520.16
Memory Kingston FURY Beast 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory €340.65
Memory Kingston FURY Beast 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory €340.65
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive €223.63 (includes vat and shipping)
Video Card Inno3D X3 OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card €1769.23
Case BitFenix Shinobi XL Window ATX Full Tower Case Purchased For €0.00
Power Supply be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply €333.29
Custom various shipping €35.00
exvat
Total €4387.79
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-13 15:23 IST+0100

More than the original plan to spend but here we are

2 Likes

Tbf, finding this info even for DDR4 is a pain, I had to do some research before I went with 128gb for my 5950x.
From what I saw, the 12900k struggles with 4x DDR5 sticks, capping those at 3600MHz (basically ddr4 speed with worse latencies).

If having your sticks run at 3600~4000MHz isn’t an issue for you, then I’d go for it, and worse case you can try to return everything and plan a current-gen TR/Ryzen 5000 build.

thanks yeah it’s ordered now anyway so I’m going to just try it. I bought 5600 ram but I know it won’t run that high. I couldn’t source the 5200 non-micron chips and whether its true or not I read enough about micron ddr5 being less stable; I just decided if 4 dimms in general is dodgy, then 4 dimms with the chips people don’t recommend would be me asking for trouble. I believe the ram I’ve ordered is sk hynix memory chips which people online seem to like.

I previously was very close to building around a TR 3970x but the availability and cost at the time just put me off. I was also looking at 5950x while planning but ultimately I just have into wanting the newer one when I saw how close the prices were all things considered.

I could have gone 5950x and a used 3090 and saved a fortune and had 80% of the day to day performance… which is probably what I would recommend if someone else came to me for advice right now but do as I say not as I do and all that.

1 Like

Do tell us if it works when you assemble everything, and at which frequency you managed to get it to run :slight_smile:

I personally went for a 5950x because I already had a B550 with a 3700x, so it was just a single piece upgrade. I thought about moving platforms, but there’s no point for me to go with DDR5 if no high-density sticks are available yet, so I’m better off saving some money whilst still having those sweet 128gb of ram.

3 Likes

Signed up here just to follow this thread. Keep us posted :slight_smile: if it even remotely works I’ll take the plunge and order the exact same setup, then we can work out future kinks in conjunction!

1 Like

100% will do. Current update is everything ordered and paid for, only the M.2 SSD has arrived so far (amazon).

My 4090 order was cancelled and refunded with an apology from the retailer. They had an automated system showing stock levels and it wasn’t kept in sync with actual supply so they couldn’t honour the order. I have sent an email to somewhere else who had previously quoted me for an MSI Suprim X 4090 so hopefully they will still be able to supply it.

The rest of the items are coming from various places so I’m not completely sure when it’ll actually be ready to be put together; hopefully some will arrive this coming week.

Next time I write here it will hopefully have pictures of a running computer…

Great.

I was heavily considering getting a 5965WX Threadripper Pro (26 cores) with 128GB / 256GB RAM but the price for that CPU + compatible motherboard is $3400, insane (for a Zen 3 even).

Thought I’d get the Ryzen 9 7950X instead with 128GB DDR5, but my only concern are these extremely low clockspeeds with 4 sticks of 32GB, 3600 MTS… That brings it back to DDR4 memory bandwidth (around 50GB/s or so given only 2 memory channels) with high latency - a 40% loss from DDR5 potential (at least…).

Since I use it mostly for data analysis I can never feed all 16 cores with that memory bandwidth - the 5965WX would have a theoretical 200 GB/s maximum bandwidth instead with its 8 memory channels.

Or even the Apple Studio with the M1 Ultra with 20 fast cores - with 800GB/s memory of bandwidth on that machine (insanely high) I can at least feed all the cores.

Generally there’s so much untapped potential with all these extremely fast cores and still only 2 memory channels on the latest Ryzen 7000 / Intel 13th gen, man… almost solely built for gamers galore.

4 Likes