Each computer consists of some complex and high-tech components. Like motherboards, RAM is one of them. People usually have this perception that “more RAM is equal to better performance.” But that’s not what actually justifies the RAM capabilities. Also, sometimes it does not prove to be right. There are certain things that should be considered before buying a RAM. Let’s take a look at how to pick best RAM Ryzen.
Physical form factor
First of all, RAMs in laptops are going to be different than the ones in computers. The RAMs in laptops are called DIMM. Here DIMM stands for “Dual In-line Memory Module”. You can see some DIMM RAMs in the market easily. Some of them are listed below.
UDIMM: is the most commonly found module of RAM in any personal computer market. Here U in UDIMM stands for unregistered/unbuffered. So, if you see a RAM called as just DIMM then the chances are that RAM will be UDIMM.
SO-DIMM: comes at the second number of being commonly found in the PC markets used for laptops. Here SO stands for “Small Outline” that means this is the similar DIMM but a smaller version. It can be buffered similar to the above but mainly considered as what you need for your laptops RAMs.
MicroDIMM: is similar to the two above but even smaller than them. Also, these RAM modules are not very common but can work best with smaller machines or some particular laptops.
DDR
The latest RAMs coming in the market come with some specific DDR identifiers. Please note that this DDR does not mean “Dance dance revolution”. In RAMs, the DDR means “double data rate” and if a number is appended then it shows the generation of this DDR standard.
Capacity
Everyone knows about the RAM capacity. There is a very common concept about RAM capacity. That is, more RAM is good, and less RAM is always bad. Hence, RAM capacity is something that everyone looks for while buying one. It is quite understandable that 8GB of RAM works better than the 4GB RAM. Video games generally inform about their RAM requirements in their system requirement specifications. Different software and video games have their own different RAM requirements depending on the amount of work it will do. And that is called RAM capacity.
Speed
Speed is a little tricky aspect of a RAM. You have to consider two main factors of a RAM to conclude that certain RAM is fast. That are its frequency and timing.
Number one is its frequency that is always confused with its speed. You may have seen some DDR-3200 or DDR4-2666MHz RAMs listed in the market. These four digits are actually the speed of RAM and not its speed solely.
Second thing that is considered is its timing, that is Column Access Strobe latency or CAS latency. CAS latency is basically the total delayed time that is used to receive a command from the CPU to the RAM modules and then RAM executes the command. It is a series of numbers such as 33-42-22-22. These numbers are actually the series of the time values that are beyond just CAS latency rate.
Channels
Let’s take an example of roads between the RAM and the CPU. If there’s only one road from RAM to the CPU, then there will be a lot of cars on a single road. And if the road gets extremely busy, then the ones that want to get on road between these two points will face difficulty. Similarly, we can say that about the memory channels on your motherboard. If a super-fast CPU and a high-powered RAM is on a single channel, then it will automatically turn into a checkpoint for your PC’s performance measurement.
Other specifications
There are some other RAM specifications too that you should know to get a little more help.
ECCstands for error checking and correction. This is actually an additional feature of a RAM that adds one more step in the process to check the data, how is it handled? and if there’s any errors. This is an outstanding solution to all those data related problems but it a drawback is that it slows some things down.
Registered/unregistered or buffered/unbuffered: Here you must have gotten small idea of it in the physical form factor section. But generally, conventional customer RAMs are unregistered. These two terms registered and buffered are interchangeable though. But big organizations, servers, and other heavy processors require registered RAMs as these are very important for data safety and automatic error detection and correction.
Voltage: This is not a concern for normal PCs. But those who are building a specific computer to make it use less power, they can consider this feature. Also, voltage is just the number to gauge how much power it will need from the PC to properly.
Heat spreader: For any RAM to perform well, it is required for it to be cooled. But normal PC cases are enough for cooling down a RAM that does normal tasks. But heavy processing PCs require a heat spreader on its stick to cool it down speedily. Heat spreader is essentially another name of heat sink.
Height: This is the physical measurement of the RAM. Normal PCs do not concern about the RAM’s height. But in case you are building a special system then you should check your RAM’s height as it can be the tallest component in your small computer system.
Conclusion:
To pick the best RAM for Ryzen 5600X, you should check the DDR, memory size (GB), and DIMM to get what you’re looking for. Moreover, you can consider the RAM’s frequency, timings, and the channels to get the best performance for your investment.
But here is a piece of advice for everyone, please do not go for downloading more RAM.