For best results on AM5 prefer two-DIMM (1DPC) configurations, DDR5-6000 kits with EXPO, and avoid the Samsung B-die stuff (e.g. G.SKILL FlareX 36-36-36). If that's too complicated or whatever I would suggest waiting for Ryzen 9000 and the next wave of AM5 boards where this should all be ironed out, or go with Intel LGA1700 this generation.
Personally I am waiting for 64GB DDR5 UDIMMs and stable four-DIMM (2DPC) configurations before I can even contemplate upgrading from AM4. And since I'm already waiting I also want to see a faster chipset link (B650/X670 are still just PCIe Gen4 x4) and TB5 on my next board.
I live ~2.5 hours from Microcenter, so I took a gamble-- reviews were very mixed but the price was insane. If I had bought this setup from my local BestBuy or online, I'd have returned it.
What's your plan if you can get that 256GB RAM config? Run some full-fat LLM's on your iGPU?
No, mostly running lots of VMs and databases, which tend to chew up a ton of RAM. And I dabble in a few cryptocurrency projects that can be a bit RAM-heavy and/or sometimes benefit from a fast RAM disk.
I actually downgraded, going from 256GB on X99 to 128GB on AM4, so it'll be nice to get back to 256GB with modern features and CPU performance (without having to spend thousands of dollars on Threadripper or Xeon W).
My old-old system is a Haswell Xeon E3 in a Dell and that sucker can boot from power button to the Windows 11 login screen before the monitor even wakes up on the Ryzen.
I really, really hope Intel can release something competitive with AMD in the efficiency space. I feel guilty using more electricity than absolutely necessary, but I also don't want to spend my evenings troubleshooting.