As I said in PM it is the same tech, only better. So yes, I would say you could apply the QVL from Zen 1000 and 2000 series and be OK. The reason B die is better, dude, is because it's well, better. I know with the 1000 and 2000 series it was very important to clock your ram to at least 3000mhz because Infinity Fabric runs at the RAM speed which made a big difference. Like, 20% over running 2133mhz RAM. I know that with Zen 2 they have increased the cache which apparently alleviates that problem but I have yet to see any concrete evidence. No one has tested it at slower RAM speeds, and I have a 16gb 2666 kit I wanted to use. If I find, however, that I have to buy RAM I will stay where I am at for now. Both rigs I have do what I want them to so it would be daft spunking money down what could be a expensive drain.
My last upgrade was a 2700X, B450, 32GB of DDR4-3000, and a 1GB M.2 NVMe. It's pretty durn nippy, and 'cos I'm on a B450 board I can drop in a Zen 2 chip in a few years time for a cheap upgrade.
You can always buy a single stick of 16gb with the option to add another in later if you need it. That's what I did with my current daily (but with 8gb sticks) and have yet to actually get another stick haha.
The max version of that board will be out soon, probably best to pick one of those up with the increased BIOS size.
Yup, it's getting a 32mb BIOS. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X470-GAMING-PRO-MAX So are their B450s, i think there's just one that isn't. https://hexus.net/tech/news/mainboard/132881-msi-launched-amd-400-300-series-max-motherboards/
yep, there is a measurable difference between single and dual channel: https://hardforum.com/threads/ryzen-2-single-channel-vs-dual-channel-best-ram-settings.1967859/
Measurable, yes; noticeable... eh. Depends how sensitive you are to the difference between 79 FPS and 84 FPS, really.
Out of interest, why did you settle on an X470 and not a B450? You started with a B450 and then the X470 became a definite?
I think its possible but you are going to have to be patient and watch sales like a hawk I did that took like 4 months but it gave me plenty of time to mod my case lol
I strongly recommend an M.2 drive. I upgraded and notice an improvement in system usability. Even running large work documents with referencing software was significantly improved over SATA based SSD. I'm looking into upgrading from 16GB to 32GB as prices are coming down, but I'm not sure I really need it.
The msi b450 boards are a decent choice just do not get too heavy handed with overclocking as there is only 1 vrm heatsink on the gaming + boards Mine has been very happy but I'm not maxing things out ( 8 core 4ghz 2700 at 1.3 volts) If I put it in what I call "asshole mode" 1.4 volts 4.3 something ghz its fine but everything gets toasty (for not a large gain)
I'm wondering if they will drop further. Prices in the used market have not really dropped in line with recent sales. RAM is something I'm happy to buy used.