Reviews AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Review

Why was this tested with 3400 MHz RAM? It should perform better with even multipliers to the infinity fabric.. Gamers Nexus has a video on this, they found that 3866 run @3800 cl 16, with a 1900 clock on the infinity fabric gave up to16% higher fps in games compared to the worst of their tested. So for rysen 3 i'd recommend to get lowest cl possible with RAM divisable with 1800 (no OC) or 1900 (OC infinity fabric) as this can give a not insignificant boost to performance.
See the video here.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=#&ved=2ahUKEwj5s96fsPjlAhXNs4sKHfS-ChIQwqsBMAp6BAgGEAk&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov

 

No doubt this CPU would perform even better with better RAM but for the results to be comparable, the same RAM has to be used for each tested CPU.

 

Strictly speaking the machines should be tested in their official supported state and any other speeds should be in the overclocking section.

I always find it quite odd that a review site like bit tech would massively overclock one systems RAM versus another it's not like using one speed is in the aid of leveling the playing field here, a 9900k should only have 2666Mhz Ram and Ryzen 3200Mhz.

Once you start OCing RAM there are so many other variables like timing, IF clks etc. Of course to apply an equal memory overclock to a Ryzen system would require RAM over 4100Mhz which is probably not so straight forward even on Gen 3.

 

I hadn't twigged that the results are using overclocked memory (yeah yeah I should read the articles fully!).

I echo Sandys thoughts that tests should be performed using the stock memory speed for non-OC to give a fair representation of performance. The OC result can then be at the fastest memory and CPU frequency achieved for that chip.

This would give you a fairer idea of performance gain from overclocking and/or buying faster memory. It does seem unfair to 'slow down' memory speeds on one CPU just because another cant run that speed - that's another differentiator between the two CPUs I would like to know about.

 

If you really want to complain about RAM 'overclocks' then just give everyone JEDEC speed: 2133MHz.

 

When JEDEC start making CPUs then sure.

 

It's not a complaint, it's an observation, the review is testing performance against competing parts, the two CPU architectures have officially supported RAM speeds that are higher than 2133 out of the box, if you are to compare them stock then they should be stock.

Not one with a 30% RAM overclock vs the other with an 8% overclock particularly as the way the machines are tested here in low res and encodes etc are where the reduced latency and increased bandwidth that comes from good memory performance improves the scores fairly significantly.

It doesn't matter to me a great deal because I do spend the time maximizing my system for greater performance but overclocks such as this can make one CPU look so much stronger than it is in reality, it is good for people to understand this particularly when the myth perpetuated is that memory speed does not matter.

Example of memory speed on Intel platform can be seen here.

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/best-ram-speed,5951-6.html

 

They're both getting tested with RAM running at the same speed. Heck, they're using the same RAM for all tests. That's about as fair as you can get.

After all, RAM prices do not change based on what CPU you plan to use them with. If one CPU has performance reduced by cheaper RAM and one doesn't, that's an important factor in a purchasing decision.