# B450-A PRO MAX -- Ryzen 3400G -- RAM



## Mr_Shocker (Sep 2, 2019)

Hi,
I would like to build a PC with the APU* AMD Ryzen ™ 5 3400G with Radeon ™ RX Vega 11 Graphics*


			https://www.amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-5-3400g
		


with MB *msi B450-A PRO MAX*





						B450-A PRO MAX | Motherboard  | MSI Global
					

Best AMD AM4 B450 ATX motherboard, Turbo M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Core Boost, MSI PRO




					www.msi.com
				




I kindly ask for advice on choosing the RAM memory

Thanks 
Greetings


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## biffzinker (Sep 2, 2019)

Had a look, and yup it would appear there isn't a QVL. You should be able to pick any DDR4 desktop memory dual channel kit, and run since the Ryzen 5 3400G is the older Zen+. You can try your luck with a Corsair kit but usually Corsair's RAM is a bit finicky to get working stable.

What RAM capacity are you looking to get? 2x8GB for 16GB?

No QVL


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 2, 2019)

for the moment I have to evaluate models and prices well. then 2x4 gb or 2x8 gb. depends on the offers. I was also thinking about a kingston hyper x predator 3200 mhz. does ram frequency depend on the cpu?

would like to take this mb because it has the vga and is compatible with the ryzen 3400g without updating the bios. but if there are other solutions, it is welcome


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 3, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Had a look, and yup it would appear there isn't a QVL. You should be able to pick any DDR4 desktop memory dual channel kit, and run since the Ryzen 5 3400G is the older Zen+. You can try your luck with a Corsair kit but usually Corsair's RAM is a bit finicky to get working stable.
> 
> What RAM capacity are you looking to get? 2x8GB for 16GB?
> 
> ...



Hi,
for the moment i am evaluating these 3 rams :

*-Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K8G4D32AESBK 3200 MHz, DDR4, DRAM,16 GB (8 GB x 2), CL16 

-Corsair Vengeance LPX - XMP 2.0 de 16 GB (2 x 8 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz, C16) 

-Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 Vengeance LPX ,XMP 2.0,16 GB (2 X 8 GB), DDR4, 3000 MHz, C15   

*i don't know if they are better cl15 to 3000 mhz or cl16 to 3200 mhz and I don't know what chip they mount.     


the motherboard I will probably take is
*B450-A-PRO






						Motherboard - The world leader in motherboard design | MSI Global
					

Welcome to the MSI Global official site. We are the top Gaming gear provider.




					www.msi.com
				



*


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## authorized (Sep 3, 2019)

Not much to go on. I'd pick Crucial, they should be e-die, seems a safer bet to me.


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## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2019)

If your using the integrated Vega graphics I'd pick one of the 3200 MHz kits for the additional memory bandwidth since the CPU, and GPU share the bandwidth. For the timings you would be looking at the kits with odd timings unless your going to go into the BIOS to turn off Gear Down Mode. Ryzen prefers odd timing values over even like the Corsair 3000 MHz kit with the 15-17-17-35 timings.

Gskill kits are popular with Ryzen because they just work without any fiddling besides turning on the XMP profile. The Corsair Vengeance LPX  3200 MHz is working for a lot of Ryzen users but there usually used with different chip brands from Samsung, Hynix, and Micron. The Crucial kit is always going to be using Micron chips since Crucial is a sister brand to parent company Micron.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/m...2&L=30,160&B=1200000000,1350000000&sort=price


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 3, 2019)

authorized said:


> Not much to go on. I'd pick Crucial, they should be e-die, seems a safer bet to me.




kindly you could indicate the ram model



biffzinker said:


> If your using the integrated Vega graphics I'd pick one of the 3200 MHz kits for the additional memory bandwidth since the CPU, and GPU share the bandwidth. For the timings you would be looking at the kits with odd timings unless your going to go into the BIOS to turn off Gear Down Mode. Ryzen prefers odd timing values over even like the Corsair 3000 MHz kit with the 15-17-17-35 timings.
> 
> Gskill kits are popular with Ryzen because they just work without any fiddling besides turning on the XMP profile. The Corsair Vengeance LPX  3200 MHz is working for a lot of Ryzen users but there usually used with different chip brands from Samsung, Hynix, and Micron. The Crucial kit is always going to be using Micron chips since Crucial is a sister brand to parent company Micron.
> 
> https://pcpartpicker.com/products/m...2&L=30,160&B=1200000000,1350000000&sort=price



thanks

for the moment the most suitable ones must the gskill. and if I'm not mistaken a higher frequency is preferable. so better a 3200 mhz than maybe a 3000 mhz but that has odd times?



biffzinker said:


> unless your going to go into the BIOS to turn off Gear Down Mode



is this function present in the msi *B450-A-PRO*?
(I should update the bios via pen drive to use the ryzen 3400g - flash button)


so could you take the 3200 mhz ram with even times and then turn off the gear mode from bios? Does this guarantee better operation?


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## authorized (Sep 3, 2019)

Mr_Shocker said:


> kindly you could indicate the ram model


I meant Ballistix Sport LT, out of the three you're considering.



biffzinker said:


> For the timings you would be looking at the kits with odd timings unless your going to go into the BIOS to turn off Gear Down Mode. Ryzen prefers odd timing values over even like the Corsair 3000 MHz kit with the 15-17-17-35 timings.


I've read it's the other way around - that it has issues with odd CL timings.


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 3, 2019)

authorized said:


> I've read it's the other way around - that it has issues with odd CL timings.



i dont know



authorized said:


> I meant Ballistix Sport LT, out of the three you're considering.



thanks


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## EarthDog (Sep 3, 2019)

authorized said:


> I've read it's the other way around - that it has issues with odd CL timings.


This is correct. AMD has issues with odd CL timings. Enabling gear down mode helps.


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## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2019)

It's the other way around, I mixed the two up. @authorized, and @EarthDog have already corrected what I was referring to.


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 3, 2019)

EarthDog said:


> This is correct. AMD has issues with odd CL timings. Enabling gear down mode helps.



ok,

what RAM do you recommend ?

is this function present in the msi *B450-A-PRO*?
*(I should update the bios via pen drive to use the ryzen 3400g - flash button)*






						Motherboard - The world leader in motherboard design | MSI Global
					

Welcome to the MSI Global official site. We are the top Gaming gear provider.




					www.msi.com
				




*Bios :*
Version                               
7B86vA8
Release Date 2019-07-10; File Size 10.01 MB
Description
- Update AMD ComboPI1.0.0.3ab
- Fix RAID issue.
- Support Ryzen 3000 series CPU.
Ryzen 9 3900X/Ryzen 7 3800X/Ryzen 7 3700X/Ryzen 5 3600X/Ryzen 5 3600/*Ryzen 5 3400G/*Ryzen 3 3200G



authorized said:


> Not much to go on. I'd pick Crucial, they should be e-die, seems a safer bet to me.



are chip samsung b-die better than e-die?


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## biffzinker (Sep 3, 2019)

Mr_Shocker said:


> ok,
> 
> what RAM do you recommend ?
> 
> is this function present in the msi *B450-A-PRO*?


I wouldn't worry about it unless you were to buy a DDR4 kit with 15-17-17-35 timings.

If you still want to know where Gear Down Mode is located it would be under the big OC button with OC Settings, then scroll down to DRAM Configuration, it use to be at the bottom but MSI recently combined it with Command Rate at the top in the later BIOS updates. Update: It's down in the bottom but greyed out so you would you have to adjust in Command Rate at the top.

The Gui for your board is going to look different because it's a MAX with a larger ROM chip


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 4, 2019)

thank you

I don't know if the b450 a pro card has a bigger bios chip.
the difference between the b450 a pro and the b450 a pro max lies in the fact that the first one has to update the bios, while the second one does not.


I will try to find the ram with even timing, otherwise I will activate the bios gear as you showed me.
so a great model for this cpu is the gskill?


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## Mr_Shocker (Sep 7, 2019)

authorized said:


> I meant Ballistix Sport LT, out of the three you're considering.
> 
> 
> I've read it's the other way around - that it has issues with odd CL timings.



For now I have only seen the qvl list of mb msi for 2400g and at 2x8gb 3200 there are only the crucial ones with micron chips. while the other chips are hynix. while for the 3400g on the list there would seem to be nothing.



biffzinker said:


> I wouldn't worry about it unless you were to buy a DDR4 kit with 15-17-17-35 timings.
> 
> If you still want to know where Gear Down Mode is located it would be under the big OC button with OC Settings, then scroll down to DRAM Configuration, it use to be at the bottom but MSI recently combined it with Command Rate at the top in the later BIOS updates. Update: It's down in the bottom but greyed out so you would you have to adjust in Command Rate at the top.
> 
> ...


honestly I still can't understand the difference on a practical level 

"Most older MSI AM4 motherboards have 128 Mbit (16 MB) SPI flash ROM chips, which proved insufficient to integrate the latest AGESA microcode alongside its feature-rich ClickBIOS 5 UEFI setup program. MSI addressed the issue on two fronts. For its existing motherboards that have 128 Mb flash chips, it released BIOS updates that have AGESA 1.0.0.3ab, but shed some bulk on the setup program, by replacing ClickBIOS 5 with the "GSE-lite" setup program."


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## seb375 (Jun 9, 2021)

Hello !!
I'm Sébastien from France and I just found this interesting topic.

I need some help because I'm stuck with a tricky RAM problem.
I made a "budget Gaming PC" for my nephew.

But first of all, here is my setup:
MSI B450-A PRO
AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
Asus GeForce GT1030
HYPERX Fury DDR4 2666Mhz - 2x 8Go - HX426C16FB3AK2/16 _(I checked it before buying and it was QVL on MSI website)_

All was fine until I tried to boot it:
Nothing happened, and I had no video output on my screen (motherboard graphics or PCI-E card).

My setup works fine with only one 8go installed and Windows 10 works perfectly.
I tried to put my 2x8go of RAM everywhere, but at first, I tried the required positions by MSI on my motherboard.

When I try to run it with both it won't start, but sometimes I have access to the BIOS and I can see the both 2x8go RAM running at 2666Mhz.
Of course, I also tried to run the XMP, and tried to change the voltages (but I don't really know which voltage to try), with no success.

I updated the BIOS with (i guess) the most recent one, but still nothing.
Sometimes, I can access the BIOS but when I save it, and try to run Windows 10, it's just a black screen.

I also ran a MemTest on only one RAM, and no errors...

I'm a bit lost with this and maybe someone here could help me !!


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