#news

We are pleased to announce the new feature that allows you to have an independent and unified experience to search for official compatibility between memories and motherboards from all the world's largest hardware manufacturers.

What is QVL?

The Qualified Vendor List (QVL) is a list of components tested and confirmed by a system manufacturer to work on its hardware. This allows them to ensure that specific parts will work on normal conditions in their system.

Is QVL really important?

The most common opinion among hardware enthusiasts about this gray area of compatibility is that you don't need to worry about the QVL for consumer PC configurations, while it might be critical to stick to lists in a professional environment such as high-end server farms or similar solutions.

The QVL published by a manufacturer is only a snapshot of the compatible RAM modules on the market at that time, as they probably can't test every single RAM model on the market (with new models being released continuously). No QVL will include every single type of memory that will work with a specific motherboard, and the manufacturer may review the RAM compatibility of a particular motherboard through BIOS updates, but not by updating its QVL.

If you want to be as safe as possible, especially if you're thinking of building your next PC using an AMD Ryzen (even newer generations) that in recent times tend to be more demanding with RAM compatibility than Intel, checking the QVL for the motherboard you are going to buy it will definitely have its benefits.

QVL and CPU memory controller

In some cases, memory compatibility support may also depend on the CPU memory controller, such as for Ryzen processors from several generations of the image above. Each CPU family will have its own list of memories certified for operation. The BIOS version can also change support for a particular RAM model.

The default DIMM frequency depends on its Serial Presence Detect (SPD), which is the standard way of accessing information from a memory module. Under the default state, some memory modules for overclocking may operate at a lower frequency than the vendor-marked value.

When running XMP (or AMD EXPO) at DDR4 3200 MHz or higher for example, the system’s stability depends on the CPU’s silicon capabilities.

In general, using two DIMMs can allow for higher RAM speeds than using four DIMMs. This is because the memory controller has to divide its bandwidth among the DIMMs, and using fewer DIMMs allows for more bandwidth to be allocated to each DIMM. As a result, the system may be able to support higher RAM speeds with two DIMMs than with four.

It's also worth noting that while overclocking the RAM may result in improved performance in some cases, it may not always provide a noticeable improvement, and it can also potentially increase the risk of system instability or hardware failures. As such, it's generally recommended to only overclock RAM if you have experience with this type of modification and are comfortable with the risks involved.

Troubleshooting RAM issues with Ryzen platforms

If you're having stability issues with your system, try with a BIOS update first, then start optimizing RAM settings using DRAM Calculator for Ryzen.

DRAM Calculator for Ryzen helps with overclocking your memory on the AMD Ryzen platform. It suggests stable memory timing sets optimized for your memory kit, for example B-die. Using Ryzen DRAM calculator, you can achieve higher memory overclocks with better stability. Ryzen DRAM calculator is designed to work with all AMD Ryzen Zen architecture first and second generation processors.

When enabling Dual Channel mode with two or four memory modules, it is recommended to use the same capacity, brand, speed, and chips of memory modules and also installed in the same color of memory slots.

Product search in QVLs with Pangoly

With the inclusion of QVLs in the compatibility lists between motherboards and memories on Pangoly, it is now possible to search and filter through thousands of products and hundreds of thousands of associations between the motherboards of the world's largest manufacturers such as ASUS, MSI, GIGABYTE and ASRock in a single, completely free web service.

We are constantly updating our product database and more and more hardware models are going to be added. If you are looking for a particular hardware product that is not yet on our lists, please contact us, and we'll try as soon as possible to add it to our compatibility lists.

 

Happy Building!

  • By Pangoly,