I picked up an RX 580 8GB, Ryzen 5 3600, ASRock B550M-C motherboard, Cooler Master Hyper 212, and a 650W Corsair power supply used for about $120 total. I know buying used hardware comes with some risk, but the graphics card and power supply are confirmed to be working, and the parts came from sellers with good ratings.
I still need to buy memory. What DDR4 speed and capacity make the most sense for this system? I've mainly used Intel systems before, so I'm not sure how much Ryzen benefits from faster RAM.
Also, the Hyper 212 currently has the Intel LGA1700 mounting hardware installed, but I was given the AM4 mounting hardware as well. How do I remove the existing brackets and install the AM4 parts on the motherboard?
3 Answers
For the cooler, you should not need to improvise anything. The LGA1700 brackets need to be removed and replaced with the AM4 mounting brackets from the kit. Check the Hyper 212’s installation manual for the exact screw and bracket order, since Cooler Master has released several revisions of that cooler. After mounting it, apply thermal paste if the cooler does not already have some installed.
DDR4-3600 is a nice match for the Ryzen 5 3600 because it usually pairs well with the CPU’s 1800MHz Infinity Fabric setting. That said, DDR4-3200 is still perfectly fine if it costs less. Avoid mixing unrelated memory kits if possible, since matching sticks are more likely to run their advertised settings reliably.
DDR4-3200 CL16 or DDR4-3600 CL18 are both good choices. Pick whichever is cheaper; the real-world difference is small. For capacity, 2x8GB is a reasonable budget option, while 2x16GB is a better long-term choice for modern gaming. Use two matching sticks so the system can run in dual channel, and enable XMP or DOCP in the BIOS after installing them.
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