raven ridge (2200g+2400g) tips

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   a few of you guys are now getting the new apu ryzen chips

as with anything new its coming with teething troubles, below i'll list a few and some solutions which may help

first boot /new install issues :
bios version ~  you will need to have a later bios to support raven ridge ,this at present will not be on the brand new motherboards, this is due to new 'old stock' the board sat in newegg/microcentre etc etc has been made weeks or months ago shipped half way round the world ,sat in customs,sat in warehoues, you cant expect any maker or reseller to have raven ridge bios on the boards they ship/sell yet
solution = you will have to update bios ! , options are
 ........ use an early ryzen cpu 1200/1300/1600 etc etc and update bios 
.... ask the reseller do they have an option to flash bios before selling it to you 
...have a local pc repair guy, or local shop flash for you
...last resort AMD are placing a bios flash kit service (we are assuming they mail you a compatable cpu to flash with and you then return it to AMD)
all options above are a pain to differing degrees choose whats the best for you

BSOD/FREEZING IN WINDOWS :
known issues are 
software based mainly examples being windows 10 versions 1709 FCU is what you should be using,also to note issues with software for benchmarking examples are 3dmark/gpuz these are waiting for newer releases to prevent crashing due to old sys.info files
solutions ........
NEW INSTALL WINDOWS ! download and create a new usb instal file using 1709 windows, updating 1703 to 1709 isnt working smoothly for most systems, you must do a clean install (if your using a ssd from an old intel system ,updated drivers for ryzen and now updated to 1709 you are never going to get it smooth or stable)
AMD DRIVER INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
you must install the latest amd chipset driver direct from amd first, and ONLY THEN install your integrated graphics driver, to prevent the chipset overwriting the gpu driver files

ACTUAL USEAGE AND TWEAKING TIPS :
below well be covering actually using the raven ridge to its abilities and issues with this 

BIOS LIMITATIONS
not all bios were created equal ! , ideally you wish to set tweaking in bios ,due to nature of raven ridge and its price point ,its going into lower end boards a320/b350 these wont have the fancy tweaking options you may see advertised on some other boards,if you dont have bios setting for adjusting cpu speed,gpu speed,gpu ram reservation,soc voltage etc you may and can use RYZEN MASTER, some setting can be applied directly in windws some settings will need a reboot to apply 
watch some you tube videos on how to play with ryzen master 

raven ridge tweaking expectations :
cpu speed = 3.8 to 4.0 ghz depending on cooling and YOUR OWN boards vrm and psu abilities

gpu speed = 1350 to 1650 mhz depending on cooling and your own boards vrm and psu

dram speed .......... to get the best out of the raven ridge package you need as fast ram as you can afford, unlike the normal ryzen that finds its value for money max at around 2933~3200 mhz the raven ridge can find extra use for faster ram at this time still good gains are seen if it has 3600 ram to use due to the gpu side (this of course is theoretical at present with the insane price of ddr4)
as no one will pay more than 200bucks/pounds for 3200 ram when only paying 150 bucks or 100 bucks for a cpu/apu,but the point is try to tweak that ram you have as fast as you can get it 

dram type = dual channel ALWAYS ! by this we mean two seperate sticks of ram eg 2x4gb/2x8gb using just one 8gb stick is a very foolish waste of money for raven ridge, its been tested to basically half your game frame rates, as an example you see an 8gb ram kit (one stick ) for 50 bucks and think ok i'll save 5-10 bucks over the 2 stick 8gb kit , WRONG ! unless you like 30fps instead of 60 fps in your game you intend to play

dram size = of course open to debate and can differ so much depending on your own useage of the system, but basically if this is the new build youve waited for and intend to use for a while there is no sense using less than 8gb in 2018, (please bear in mind the raven ridge will be sharing your system ram so kiss goodbye to 2gb at a minmum now,and some of the games it can play will request/overspill and need maybe 4gb)

dram size for gpu = now the apu will not have on-chip gddr memory it takes it from system ram and this needs thought from you ,dont be fooled into that bios option to 'force' the 2gb reserved option this will wipe out at all times 2gb from the actual operating system, so 2gb less to boot,2gb less to run programs etc etc ,windows is actually very good at doing the maths itself automatically so either set it in bios to lowest 64mb, or leave the dam thing alone at 'auto'

hope this helps and welcome any other tips and experiance to add to this guide

EDIT: the format for this post is heavy reading, moderators please feel free to reformat and or edit to make it easier reading 

Edited by datonyb - 18 Feb 2018 at 10:33pm