AMD – Blame Board Makers for Ryzen Memory Issues

Between launching a new processor line and preparing for a big unveiling at Computex 2017, AMD has had a busy time. Its first Ryzen CPUs, while lauded, were criticised for poor memory clock speed issues. As a result, AMD has released a number of AGESA microcode updates over the last few weeks in an effort to fix the problems. Rather than apologise, though, AMD has laid the blame squarely at the door of its motherboard partners. The accusation was made by James Prior, AMD’s Channel Business Development Manager.

“Hit and Miss Memory Support”

According to Prior, Ryzen’s poor memory performance was due to manufacturers rushing out B350 chipset boards. He told Forbes:

“It’s really only the B350 chipset motherboards that we’re seeing this hit and miss memory support. This is down to the design of the board and how much time the manufacturer has invested into that board in maintaining support for high memory speeds. 

We are finding most B350 boards can hit 2,933MHz without any issues and some can do 3,200MHz. It’s that last little bit of special magic sauce – the number of layers in the board and how much trace copper they put into it and the time they invest in the BIOS.”

Prior’s statement, in picking on B350, is curious. Similar memory issues have been reported with X370, so it doesn’t appear to be exclusive to just one chipset.

Are Board Manufacturers to Blame?

While Prior’s statement cannot be discounted, it seems motherboard manufacturers don’t agree with his assessment. An anonymous source told PCGamesN:

“Blaming the motherboard manufacturers was perhaps a little unfair, especially as they are providing platforms for the AMD CPUs. It also seems strange that all motherboard manufacturers seem to be having some level of compatibility issue with certain memory speeds, wouldn’t this perhaps indicate that the fault or issue was something outside of their immediate control?”

Another nameless contact confirmed that memory issues extend beyond B350:

“The bottom line is that with more layers the memory layout is better. The B350 usually is a four layer board, and the high end are six layers. Some memory will work on an X370 six layer board, but not on a B350 four layer board.”

Maybe both AMD and manufacturers are to blame. Maybe no one is to blame. Regardless, whatever teething problems the impressive Ryzen chips are experiencing, AMD seems committed to fixing them.