AMD Epyc 4005 ECC Memory

[snoof378]

Hello! I am trying to select ECC memory for my first home server, which will do many different things, TrueNAS, Jellyfin, Immich, etc.:
CPU: AMD Epyc 4465P (12 cores)
Motherboard: Supermicro H13SAE-MF

and I am having a hard time finding anything that I am very confident will be compatible. I can see that I need ECC unbuffered RAM. I would like high capacity (the motherboard supports up to 192GB DDR5-5600, so 128GB would be nice). I am wary of 4-DIMM kits as it seems that can degrade performance on AM5, but there may be no way around that depending on what the max supported capacity per DIMM is.

Normally, I would look at the motherboard's Qualified Vendor List (QVL) for parts with guaranteed/tested compatibility. However, in this case, Supermicro just lists some kind of internal part number, 'MEM-DR516MB-EU56', which doesn't mean anything to me beyond some specs I can infer like the capacity. Even on Supermicro's website I can't find any clear description of what this is. Maybe the intention is that you have to order it through Supermicro as part of a system build. But I am building this myself (not in a Supermicro chassis) and I want to order things a la carte.

I've looked through Newegg, MicroCenter, Amazon, and other sites that offer search tools so I can specify DDR5-5600, ECC, unbuffered - but no site seems to have those filters well-controlled enough to be very useful, and I end up having to manually look through product listings one by one to see for myself if they're registered or not, etc. I haven't had much luck with this so far. Even Supermicro is not internally consistent, with the motherboard website stating DDR5-5600, and the manual stating DDR5-5200.

So, my question is, is there some better way to figure this out? Obviously people are using these CPUs and motherboards - I just don't want to order the wrong thing because I didn't do my research. I am doing my best to learn, but I seem to be a little out of my depth here (and I don't remember choosing memory ever being this complicated ). Thank you very much for any guidance you can offer!

 

[Keith Myers]

You might want to read through some of the ECC UDIMM memory threads over on Level1Techs forums like this one.
Where are the DDR5 Unbuffered 256GB 64GBx4 Kits?

One of the posts mentions this 2 X 64GB DDR5-5600 ECC UDIMM kit.
128GB 2x64GB DDR5 UDIMM 5600MHz ECC RAM

Or this choice.
V-Color DDR5 128GB (64GBx2) 6400MHz CL52 2Rx8 ECC UNBUFFERED DIMM 1.1V (ECC UDIMM)

 

[EffrafaxOfWug]

So, my question is, is there some better way to figure this out? Obviously people are using these CPUs and motherboards - I just don't want to order the wrong thing because I didn't do my research.

I'm also gearing up for an Epyc 4005/H13SAE-MF build.

Things like the threads above and OEM QVLs, it's usually just a matter of trawling e-tailers and/or the manufacturer's websites looking for memory products that match the spec of what the motherboard supports, and basing purchases off the model/product numbers. Some sites are better than others and will let you filter exclusively for ECC UDIMMs for example.

Most Zen5 motherboards will drop the maximum memory speed down to 3600MT/s if four DIMMs are populated I think. Whether this matters much to you is really workload dependent if you think you'll be constrained by memory bandwidth; for many workloads it makes little to no difference.

In my case, I've plumped for two Kingston 32GB 5600 ECC UDIMMs, KSM56E46BD8KM-32HA. They also do the 48GB KSM56E46BD8KM-48HM, sadly no 64GB DIMMs yet (but I'm perfectly happy with "only" 64GB).

 

[snoof378]

Thank you both so much for the guidance! I was starting to feel a little lost, but this is clearly a very friendly and helpful community .

I'm also gearing up for an Epyc 4005/H13SAE-MF build.

Also encouraging to see someone else building with similar parts, since I've never really done this before! I think I may end up going with the V-Color TE564G64D852K mentioned by Keith, but I'll have to think about how much memory I really need. In any case, best of luck with your build!

 

[Keith Myers]

Yes, I am rocking a 2 X 16GB DDR5-5600 ECC UDIMM kit by Nemix Ram that just happened to be built with good Hynix dies. So I got very lucky that they show up with an AEMP profile in my ASUS X670E ProArt Creator WiFi motherboard that uses a DDR5-6000 CL32 profile besides the default DDR5-5600 CL40 SPD profile they are built with.

But when I added another same kit part number (but that was built with inferior dies) to give me 4 X 16GB by populating all 4 slots on the motherboard, they would only run DDR5-3600 speeds. The Zen 5 IOD on the Ryzen 9950X cpu just doesn't like running all four slots populated. So I sent back the second kit as I am fine with just 32GB of memory and can use the higher clocks and lower latency of just running two sticks with the AEMP profile.

There are increasing number of forum posts about people able to run all four slots occupied and with higher clocks with the latest BIOS' The motherboad vendors and AMD through their AGESA improvements are making it easier to run higher memory capacities at ever increasing memory clocks speeds.

 

[Keith Myers]

Kingston RAM and V-Color RAM have good reputations for their ECC unbuffered UDIMMS with the higher clocked parts.

 

[louie1961]

Buy somewhere with a good return policy, and they try a couple of sets out, return the ones you don't like.

 

[986box]

You can try memory.net. I bought from there years ago. But return policy is not as generous as Amazon.

 

[tjk]

Will the Epyc 4005 procs see 4x64gb/256Gb ram or just 4x48gb/192gb ram?

 

[EffrafaxOfWug]

Will the Epyc 4005 procs see 4x64gb/254gb ram or just 4x48gb/192gb ram?

I'm sure it'll turn up eventually - but 64GB sticks are very thin on the ground/non-existent currently (I certainly didn't find any in my recent search but possible they do exist in small quantities) so I think just a matter of time (and possibly BIOS/AGESA tweaks) before OEMs get more vocal about support. Non-ECC 64GB DIMMs are already out in the wild and reported to work with regular Zen5.

 

[tjk]

I'm sure it'll turn up eventually - but 64GB sticks are very thin on the ground/non-existent currently (I certainly didn't find any in my recent search but possible they do exist in small quantities) so I think just a matter of time (and possibly BIOS/AGESA tweaks) before OEMs get more vocal about support. Non-ECC 64GB DIMMs are already out in the wild and reported to work with regular Zen5.

V-color has 64gb udimm ecc in stock at newegg, wanted to see if anyone tested 4 of them with a 4005 proc yet. I have a bunch of systems running with 4x 48Gb dimms from them with no problem.