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Buying a Ryzen motherboard: Which Chipset, Manufacturer and RAM is right for you?

X370, B350 or A320: The AMD Ryzen is becoming ever more attractive to PC hobbyists for its significantly cheaper price than at release. We reveal which motherboard chipset you should get.

Ryzen motherboard

The Ryzen 1800X is the flagship of the new AMD processors. It will not be fun for users to use without a motherboard, though.

AMD Ryzen CPUs are a good choice for gamers, as the CPUs performed very well in tests. The performance is great, and the price is also appealing. For PC hobbyists, it is important to find useful combinations of board and motherboard, as well as RAM and graphics cards. AMD have three chipsets, on which basis users can choose matching motherboards. That would be the models X370, B350 or A320. This excludes boards for SFF systems (Small Form Factor) with an A300 chipset (X300 and A300). It is a less popular format, which is often found in office computers or mini PCs. The latter also applies for the A320. Although, through the focus on classical desktop systems, the chipset is, in our opinion, not left out.

The order of the chipsets corresponds to the descending request profiles of different users. The X370 is therefore tailored towards enthusiasts and the A320 to the simple average user. All motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors rely on an AM4 socket, just as with the previous generation of AMD processors and APUs (Advanced Processing Unit; Processors with integrated graphics). The X370 chipset does not support processors with integrated graphics, only the B350 and A320 can do this. It will be interesting when AMD releases processors from the Raven Ridge series in the beginning of 2018, which require video output on the board for each integrated graphics unit.

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RAM: 7 things you need to know about memory

Our big RAM guide gives seven tips about memory and answers questions such as “how much is enough?”, “which modules are suitable?” and more.

RAM

Some advertising slogans remain in our memory. “It’s more worthwhile now than ever before”, as it was often broadcasted in an advert about a natural medicine with a lot of alcohol. The slogan, however, is not only perfect for said medicine but also for the memory of a Windows computer.

Memory has always been essential to the speed of the system, but today it is even more important than ever before, with ever-increasing amounts of data and file sizes. Regardless of how fast a processor is or how quickly a hard drive works, too little or unsuitable memory is a bottleneck in the system, which cannot be eliminated by other components and simply acts as a brake. It is therefore crucial that you not only get the right amount of memory for your computer, but also choose the suitable modules and optimal configuration. The best way to do this is revealed in this article.

Tip #1: Take an inventory of your memory

Firstly, you need to determine how much memory has been built into your computer. Usually, PC motherboards have four RAM slots, of which one, two or all four slots have memory buffers, depending on the computer. There are two ways to find out which of these circumstances apply to you: You can either open the case of your computer and look for it or you can install the tool CPU-Z and let it do the work for you.

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DDR4 vs. DDR3: Is It Worth The Upgrade?

DDR4 vs. DDR3Eight years after the launching of DDR3 memory, JEDEC, the association responsible for the standardizing of engineering and technologies that are based on semiconductors, publicized the final specifications of the new standard DDR4 and its variant for mobile units, LPDDR4.

DDR4 is an evolution of DDR3 that offers better performance, higher density, greater reliability and other new architectural features. And all with a lower energy consumption than the DDR3. Among the inconveniences (along with the current price and limited support), it is worth pointing out the lack of compatibility with the previous standards in memory because of the difference in pins, which makes it obligatory to change the motherboard.

Is it worth it to upgrade at this time, keeping in mind the investment? We will try to respond to that question in this introduction, in which we will examine the main differences and the current offers.

DDR4 vs. DDR3

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A guide: Everything you need to know about RAM

RAMRAM is a vital component in any type of computer unit or system in a broad sense, and we can say without fear of error that its use depends to a large degree on the specific operating system that we use, as well as the applications that we use that system to run.

In spite of its importance, the truth is that RAM is a great unknown to many users, even for some who are above the basic level, who have not understood certain key aspects of the characteristics and functionality of this component.

This lack of understanding keeps giving rise to a lot of nonsense which we see from day to day, like for example recommendations to prioritize a higher quantity of memory over other types of components or even the recommendation to go for those with the highest clock frequency possible, period.

Because of this it tends to be very common to find unbalanced devices, which might have, for example, 16 GB of RAM but a low-level combination of CPU and GPU, and be used to copy games. This huge quantity of RAM acts like a decoy or hook in search of unwary buyers who are carried away by the great computer fiction that “it’s better because it has more memory.”

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Special: RAM Memory, five myths you should not believe

RAM memory is one of the most important basic components of almost every technological device, including PCs, smartphones, smart watches, and so forth, but it is also one of the components that has the most false myths attached to it.

RAM memory is one of the most important basic components of any technological device that can be found in PCs, smartphones and smart watches, among others, but is also one of the components surrounded by many myths.

Several of these myths still persist and they can be truly troublesome, so we wanted to dedicate this component one of our special segments.

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How to know if the RAM of a laptop can be expanded?

Surely on more than one occasion you have said or heard someone say a computer is running slow, especially on older computers, as more and more powerful applications are being developed and therefore more resources are needed. RAM is one of the key components in computer performance, although other components such as the processor itself or the hard drive are also important in this regard.

Sometimes we decide to change computer the minute we start noticing it becomes slow and that there is no way to optimize its performance through software, however, you should first think about the possibility of making some changes in the hardware to extend the life of our PC or laptop much more.

laptop

Undoubtedly, changing from HDD to SSD can help you a lot, but in many cases users think first about increasing the RAM of their computer. However, several doubts may arise here, how much RAM do I have installed right now, what type, how much RAM does my computer support, how to know if I have room to install more RAM and how do i install it.

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What is the difference between RAM and ROM?

Computers and mobile devices need two main types of memory in order to operate correctly and to store the data that they work with. These two types of memory are known as RAM and ROM, and we are going to analyze in detail each of their differences and in what way each one stands out.

RAM

The first one is RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory, and as its name indicates, constantly changes its content. This is usually the second component with most memory on our device, after the hard discs or SSD, followed by the graphics cards. RAM is used to store the programs and data that the CPU is using in real time, hence the term ‘Random Access Memory’.

RAM

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G.SKILL welcomes Kaby Lake with 4.133 and 4.266 Mhz DDR4 memories

Taking advantage of the launch of the new Intel Kaby Lake processors, memory chip manufacturer G.SKILL has announced two new DDR4 TridentZ RAM kits specifically designed for the Z270 platform along with these seventh generation processors.

The fastest kit will consist of two 8 GB modules to achieve a total of 16 GB with speeds of 4.266 MHz and latancies of CL19-19-19-39 to 1,4 volts, while the other kit will arrive with double the capacity, 32 GB, distributed in four 8 GB modules with speeds of 4.133 MHz and latancies of CL19-21-21-41 to 1,35v.

G.SKILL Ram

In all cases the modules will have a G.SKILL TridentZ heatsink with a RGB lighting system on the top, something that could not be missing considering the trend that exists in the sector for everything that has to do with multicolor lighting.

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AMD launches its Radeon R7 DDR4 Ram modules for Intel CPUs

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has started to sell their first Radeon DDR4 memory modules. The new DIMMs are not compatible with existing AMD platforms, but they can work with Intel CPUs, as well as the upcoming AMD chips that will be released around 2016.

Radeon R7

The AMD Radeon R7 DDR4 memory modules are available in 8GB capacity kits in a dual-channel setting (2 x 4GB) qualified to operate at a frequency of 2133 MHz or 2400 MHz with CL15 latencies. It is unclear whether the modules feature the Intel XMP [Extreme Memory Profiles] technology, but definitely support AMD’s own memory profiles.

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How much RAM do I need? Select the best memory for your PC

When we buy a new computer, many times we stop to think how much RAM is needed for our day to day activities. It is easy to let yourself be convinced by the vendors, or the desire to have the “best of the best.” But before spending our hard-earned savings, you should think about the use that you will give to the machine.

How to choose the memory

[toc]In all cases, it’s usual to buy RAM memory in an even number of modules. That way you can take advantage of a motherboard feature (the models from the latest few years have it) that lets you use both modules at the same time during the execution of tasks (what is known as Dual Channel). So, I will focus on memory amounts that are multiples of 2. To obtain performance from 4GB of RAM or more, you must have a 64-bit operating system.

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