What is this "b-die" that I keep reading about in various threads?

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My RAM is Crucial Ballistix CL 3600. Is this b-die or something else?
 
My RAM is Crucial Ballistix CL 3600. Is this b-die or something else?
Download typhoon and run it. It will tell you what you have (usually). Or, you can pull the heatspreaders off the ram and look at the chips, but typhoon is easier.
 
Download typhoon and run it. It will tell you what you have (usually). Or, you can pull the heatspreaders off the ram and look at the chips, but typhoon is easier.
Is b-die related to the timing specs of the memory chips? Or a manufacturing process?
 
Is b-die related to the timing specs of the memory chips? Or a manufacturing process?
It's the chip designation. They have similar specs, but are made by different manufacturers or on different processes/equipment, so their performance and overclockability varies.
 
My RAM is Crucial Ballistix CL 3600. Is this b-die or something else?
Some Crucial-branded RAM used Samsung chips, but most use Micron chips.

And the "B-die" that we've been talking about comes from Samsung. My 32 GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 CL16 kit used lesser-binned Samsung B-die chips.
 
The b-die chips usually end up being good quality stuff. I bought mine rated cl18 3600, it turned out to be cl16 3866 capable memory.
 
Bought a 3600 CL17 set of GSkill TridentZ RGB, currently doing 3666 CL14 stable, going for 3733 next.
 
Generally it’s the lower latency memory which usually equates to higher over clocks at higher latency. Basically good stuff if you can find it affordable.
 
Generally it’s the lower latency memory which usually equates to higher over clocks at higher latency. Basically good stuff if you can find it affordable.
Which you really can't. You might as well just buy sticks rated for what you want. At least you are guaranteed to hit those speeds outside cpu/MB factors.
 
Some Crucial-branded RAM used Samsung chips, but most use Micron chips.

And the "B-die" that we've been talking about comes from Samsung. My 32 GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 CL16 kit used lesser-binned Samsung B-die chips.

Are you sure? That's like a Samsung branded TV using an LG panel. I'm not saying that Crucial wouldn't use Samsung. I'm just saying that why would they since they are the retail arm of Micron.
 
Which you really can't. You might as well just buy sticks rated for what you want. At least you are guaranteed to hit those speeds outside cpu/MB factors.
If you know what you’re looking for, it’s not super hard to find. I’ve bought it multiple times in the last 3 years and all about the same price as non b die. But it takes a bit of research.
And for the un initiated, it’s just easier to buy higher latency ram and be happy with advertised speeds.

but this is [H]. Low latency high speed overclocked ram, fits well with some of these people’s deep pockets lol.
 
If you know what you’re looking for, it’s not super hard to find. I’ve bought it multiple times in the last 3 years and all about the same price as non b die. But it takes a bit of research.
And for the un initiated, it’s just easier to buy higher latency ram and be happy with advertised speeds.

but this is [H]. Low latency high speed overclocked ram, fits well with some of these people’s deep pockets lol.

It depends. Anything that has been hand binned for higher speeds whether it be B-die or Micron E-die will cost a premium. And not all B-die is good. I have a couple of confirmed B-die 3466 sticks that won't do a drop over that or tighten timings without extra voltage (over 1.35V) where a set of Hynix CJR would tighten timings fine at stock voltage.
 
It depends. Anything that has been hand binned for higher speeds whether it be B-die or Micron E-die will cost a premium. And not all B-die is good. I have a couple of confirmed B-die 3466 sticks that won't do a drop over that or tighten timings without extra voltage (over 1.35V) where a set of Hynix CJR would tighten timings fine at stock voltage.
That’s what I meant by research. I know what models I’m looking for before I buy. And they are usually tested in a similar setup. Overclocks of course aren’t promised, but usually I know what I’m looking for. It does take some work and of course nothing is promised.
 
My RAM is Crucial Ballistix CL 3600. Is this b-die or something else?
It will more than likely be Micron E-die

I had that RAM set. it is good. You'll get decent OC out of it, moderate. They are still solid RAM and unless you are really OCD about getting timings as low as possible for no measureable real life benefit, you will be more than happy.

I used and OC'd them to the max I could over a period of a couple weeks, then decided to try another RAM (for unrelated reasons to not being happy with the Crucials or anything). The new RAM ended up being Samsung B-Die (Patriot Viper Steel 4100), and it was a lot lot easier to get low timings.

A lot of the success of the b-die I assume has to do with their ability and even desire for high voltage ranges compared to other dies. Most dies you don't want to go over 1.4-1.45V if you follow common recommendations online. With b-die 1.5-1.6V is the safer upper limit on air cooling. But even at the same 1.5-1.55v I pumped into both the Crucial and the Patriot, the Patriot was much much easier to OC and stay stable.

If you are running Ryzen, it won't matter much because you likely won't be able to get more than 1900 FCLK on the infinity fiber to keep a 1:1 ratio which means realistically the max RAM speed you want on a Ryzen system would be 3800 (if lucky on the CPU FCLK front, and perfectly attainable on the Crucial 3600 with its E-die), or 4000 if you hit the silicon CPU jackpot, with 3600 being perfectly reasonable to be on. So basically the only real benefit you will get from a b-die is if you wanted to enter RAM OC competitions, or somewhat tighter timings. But probably won't be that much tighter than the Crucial in terms of providing much if any real world improvements to FPS and the like.

Basically if you do your research before hand and know which has a b-die, it's certainly nice, and possibly will aid in future proofing if you upgrade to a CPU that can handle 2000+ FCLK in the future (or run Intel, I suppose?). Otherwise, it's not worth fretting over. They are typically quite a bit more expensive, as well. The Patriot Viper Steel goes from $100-$130 online, and is the cheapest B-die you will probably find. With the excellent Crucial 3600 with its e-die being some of the most affordable high end/quality RAM sticks at typically $75 online. price/performance you can't lose with Crucial. It is *the* safe purchase in enthusiast space.
 
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I downloaded from there and many others. Odd. Not going to say dismiss that and install anyway, but just saying I installed it again just ~1 week ago and MS Defender didn't warn me about anything, neither do I see anything funny going on with my computer
 
Yeah, the domain threw up red flags in my head. Can't remember what it was, but could've sworn it was a different site that hosted the program.

It's possible that is a legit site, and that at one point it was hacked and the binary compromised. If you're concerned about it, there are a few antivirus sites you can upload the binary to for scanning (or paste the url to be scanned), to be sure it's safe.
 
I downloaded from there and many others. Odd. Not going to say dismiss that and install anyway, but just saying I installed it again just ~1 week ago and MS Defender didn't warn me about anything, neither do I see anything funny going on with my computer
Someone could have hacked the website just yesterday.
 
Yeah, the domain threw up red flags in my head. Can't remember what it was, but could've sworn it was a different site that hosted the program.

It's possible that is a legit site, and that at one point it was hacked and the binary compromised. If you're concerned about it, there are a few antivirus sites you can upload the binary to for scanning (or paste the url to be scanned), to be sure it's safe.
I'm more concerned with "drive by downloads" that have nothing to do with the program I'm wanting to download. I got hacked earlier this year, and it took like friggin weeks to nuke Windows and then reload everything from scratch, re-do all the configs and scripts, etc.
 
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