Microcenter: Ryzen 7 2700 $199.99 + $30 off MB.

sooo temmmmped. Must wait for Ryzen 2...

I think the 1600 for $80 - 30 board rebate is the best bargain right now. Those things should be selling out IMO. 1700x are solid for $150 - 30 board rebate as well. So many great deals, makes you wonder if after zen2 comes out, if they will really get much lower...

The larger problem is the RAM. If you're doing such an upgrade, it probably means you have to replace CPU, MB, and RAM. 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM that is compatible with Ryzen is still pretty expensive.

mlcarson said:

The larger problem is the RAM. If you're doing such an upgrade, it probably means you have to replace CPU, MB, and RAM. 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM that is compatible with Ryzen is still pretty expensive.

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Not really. Ram has plummeted down in price. I seen deals for 16GB 3000 ram under $100. Sure it is not 3200 but is the price difference really worth it? More then likely you could get 3200 oc out them also.

RAM is one of those things that can often go from system to system meaning it can outlive the CPU. It's also the chief culprit in system stability issues. I wouldn't recommend going cheap on it or trying to overclock but maybe others have had better experiences.

elite.mafia said:

I think the 1600 for $80 - 30 board rebate is the best bargain right now. Those things should be selling out IMO. 1700x are solid for $150 - 30 board rebate as well. So many great deals, makes you wonder if after zen2 comes out, if they will really get much lower...

Click to expand...

Jeez that is a crazy deal. Miss having an MC close by.

I thought/hoped by now that any older 1st-gen Ryzen would have the latest AGESA update and 3200 (even with looser latencies) would be painless, if not uneventful?
I'm not even talking about squeezing additional IPC, just set it and forget it; no additional hand-holding needed for stability. Is this not true?

Judging by a few (and probably outdated benchmarks) - see here and here, above 3200 but especially 3466, it doesn't seem too bad. 3333c16 or 3400c16 at $125 or so isn't bad per se.
There are both 3466c19 and 3600c19 listings that are cheaper than the 3333 kits I mentioned earlier.

The funny part for me is that I bought a 3000c15 kit a long time ago, but haven't used it yet. But it's clear that kit is likely better paired with either a used CFL or heck the upcoming Sunny Cove at this point.

odditory said:

The crap-latency ram you see "deals" on isnt the kind that plays nice with AMD CPUs.

I spent days pricing out the perfect AMD system not long ago and kept running into the same sticking point: I didn't want to spend $400 for 4 sticks of 8GB Samsung B-Die to get the most of the CPU. The expensive ram ate up any cost savings of an AMD CPU over an Intel. So I went Intel because expensive CPU will hold resale longer than expensive ram in this falling market.

I know people say "memory situation improved with Zen+" but then you look at AMD forum on Reddit and everyone still talks B-Die being preferred.

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I've never seen any benchmark showing b-die actually being significantly better. Care to share one?

If you want the best you buy samsung b / e die or similar.
And if you require the best it probably means your job depends on it, either get work to pay for it or raise your rates if you're self employed.

mlcarson said:

The larger problem is the RAM. If you're doing such an upgrade, it probably means you have to replace CPU, MB, and RAM. 16GB DDR4 3200 RAM that is compatible with Ryzen is still pretty expensive.

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As long as you know how to tweak your RAM, it won't be a problem. You just have to put some of the timings in manually to get the desired speeds. I run Hynix Intel memory just fine.

This is [H] ffs. Not some click a button and it does everything for you and makes you nice fluffy pancakes.

odditory said:

There's no badge of honor to having to manually dick with memory timings and then go in circles stability testing, when I can just 1-click XMP set-and-forget on an Intel MB. Rationalizing as 'you need to be [H]ard' is kind of silly.

In fairness I've heard that Gen2 Ryzen and TR boards are better about memory support, yet even with them I'll see AMD enthusiasts on /r/AMD saying "buy G.Skill FlareX to be safe and to get best performance". F that.

To me, Ryzen/TR CPU performance being directly tied to memory speed architecturally due to infinity Fabric is its achilles heel.

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Then pay the outrages price then for slightly better ram. People around here like to tinker.

odditory said:

The crap-latency ram you see "deals" on isnt the kind that plays nice with AMD CPUs.

I spent days pricing out the perfect AMD system not long ago and kept running into the same sticking point: I didn't want to spend $400 for 4 sticks of 8GB Samsung B-Die to get the most of the CPU. The expensive ram ate up any cost savings of an AMD CPU over an Intel. So I went Intel because expensive CPU will hold resale longer than expensive ram in this falling market.

I know people say "memory situation improved with Zen+" but then you look at AMD forum on Reddit and everyone still talks B-Die being preferred.

Click to expand...

There's plenty of assumption there. I hardly see any ram issues today, people preferring bdie is commonly because it clocks well. If your not that worried about it the 3200c16 stuff has been fine for me. But I stay away from the 3xx chipsets so that may be part of it.

Yes, X370 is mainly the culprit. I still own one but I figured out how to deal with the quirks.