Should you get dual channel RAM for Ryzen APU gaming? (Ryzen 3500U) - Strayfire's Collab Review

StrayfireX on 17/07/2019 - 01:44
Last edited 09/08/2019 - 07:11 by 1 other user

Introduction:
We were curious to see how the artificial power limitations on Ryzen Mobile imposed by OEMs would affect performance of the Ryzen 5 3500U. Ryzen Controller, also known as RyzenAdj, developed by "Storm1er" allows the user to bypass some of these power and thermal limits set by OEMs. We tested our laptop's baseline fps, then used Ryzen Controller. We also tested the effect of upgrading from our baseline 8GB DDR4-2400 memory to 16GB DDR4-2400 memory (dual channel 2 x 8GB). Our final test combines the two modifications together for our highest result.

Methodology:
The laptop being tested is the Lenovo Thinkpad e495. Windows 10 Home 1903 64bit was used alongside the "high performance" power plan. The only game tested is Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition, as it was the easiest "real world" game to benchmark in our Steam library. The game was tested on the medium pretest at 1080p resolution with VSync off.

Results	Average FPS	Max FPS	Min FPS
Baseline	16.5	20.9	11.9
Ryzen Controller	25.7	30.8	21.5
Dual Channel RAM	36.5	42.5	29.7
Ryzen Con&DC RAM	40.1	48.7	32.6

Much nicer graph and chart: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/267196316860416001/60…

Recommendations:
If you plan on gaming on the mobile Ryzen APU platform, we strongly suggest picking up a 8GB DDR4-2400 stick of SO-DIMM for your notebook. There is a massive uplift in fps without changing the power settings of the laptop. This is the safest and most notable improvement to fps. We estimate a negligible impact to power consumption (and thus battery life) and negligible increases to heat output. This cannot be said for Ryzen Controller, although we did not have the equipment to test the increases to heat/power draw.

• 

  zrmx on 08/08/2019 - 23:57

  +1

  Thanks for doing the test and sharing the results and figures =) Very helpful for those not as up-to-date with the current hardware/Ryzen.

  (I came from here haha)

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  JJlikes2eat on 10/08/2019 - 14:16

  Thanks StrayfireX!

  Any advantage to getting 2666MHz over 2400MHz SO-DIMM?

  Also, what is your subjective opinion about the heat draw from using the Ryzen controller? What did you observe? TIA

  • 

    StrayfireX on 10/08/2019 - 14:31

    +1

    I think you'll find most DDR4-2666 RAM to have a higher CAS Latency. Usually CL19 (lower is better) so 14.25ns latency (lower is better).

    The DDR4-2400 RAM I see usually has CL17, so 14.17ns latency (lower is better).

    See this chart: https://imgur.com/MhqKfkf

    Basically 2400CL17 is marginally better than 2666CL19, but the biggest difference will come out of getting dual channel for your Ryzen APU.

    Subjective opinion: I'm fine with the heat that my Thinkpad e495 made, no real throttling or overheating. But YMMV given different laptops etc.

    • 

      JJlikes2eat on 10/08/2019 - 14:35

      Appreciate the quick reply. Thanks again

      • 

        StrayfireX on 10/08/2019 - 14:36

        Just to clarify, DDR4-2666 at CL17 is better than DDR4-2400 at CL17.

        • 

          JJlikes2eat on 10/08/2019 - 15:38

          @StrayfireX: Cheers.
          I also have the same E495 model - what brand of RAM did you purchase and use in the test?
          Are there any brands you would choose over others?

          • 

            StrayfireX on 10/08/2019 - 15:43

            +1

            @JJlikes2eat: I got Crucial.

            No real difference between the major companies until you get to the performance RAM.

            The difference would be on desktop RAM not laptop RAM. Mobile Ryzen does not have fantastic RAM support anyhow.