Hi, I’m new to the forum and hope that I could get some help to clarify something for my new build.
I am planning to build a Threadripper Pro system but I am having trouble finding RAM kits (edit: I am outside the US) so I want to know whether buying RAM in a kit is a strict requirement, or whether I can use individually purchased sticks of the same model.
Having looked around online I see some conflicting information (anecdotes about the accuracy of the Asus manual, cases where it appears someone might have used individual sticks)
The issue is that if I get a kit it’s looking like I will need go for one of the few available for delivery to me via Amazon US marketplace or similar routes without a clear support line. This means that it there is an issue with one of the sticks it will take a long time to work out. On the other hand, there seem to be local reputable sellers here with individual sticks available. They would be much easier to get support from.
Specifically I am looking to go with the 5975WX on a rev 2 ASUS Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI. (Also from Amazon. I am loathe to go the BTO route due to the markups here)
I would really appreciate if someone could definitively clarify this!
Kits aren’t required for RDIMMs, In fact you’ll be hard pressed to find kits of RDIMMs at all; for UDIMMs, kits are often encouraged because people tend to overclock them and the kits have UDIMMs that are all “matched” so they’ll overclock together better than if they were randomly assembled; but if your going to be running at the standard JEDEC speed then individually purchased DIMMs of a similar model are just fine.
On a tangent: If you’re getting high-ish capacity RDIMMs ( ≥64GB), you might find it challenging to cool them. There have been several threads on the forum of RAM temperatures being a problem on the WRX80 platform when using large amounts of memory.
Nemix were selling RDIMM kits but now they are all on the market place it seems. I was wondering if there was a supply issue lol.
I will work with my local suppliers to get the memory I need. My priority right now is to get the system up and working with a standard, stable config.
Thanks also for pointing out the heat issues. I had seen that mentioned in my search. I am considering a larger memory footprint as a next step so will plan for this!
For the record even with UDIMMs, getting kits isn’t strictly necessary as long as you’re getting memory from the same production run. If you buy two DIMMs at the same time, even if they don’t have sequential serial numbers like the matched kits do, the chips are probably still going to be the same product from the same vendor. The risk of mixing comes when you mix DIMMs from different vendors, or that are distant enough from each other in production that minor changes (for example a switch to another die) will have affected their performance. Mix something that thrives on tight timings (like Hynix M-die) with something that thrives on high frequencies (like Hynix A-die) and you’re going to need to run all your memory at the lowest common denominator.
Place your order for all the individual sticks you need at the same time and chances are you’ll get memory that matches each other just as well as if they’d been sequentially numbered. In fact you may just get sequentially numbered memory anyway, since the robots packing these things on pallets just stack them in place and the people at the warehouse picking your order will just look how many you purchased to shove into a box and grab that amount from the top of the pallet. Two of my four 32GB DDR5 DIMMs ended up being sequential even though I bought them individually (being ECC UDIMMs), and all of them are identical and overclock well (for double rank ECC memory, at any rate).