LM317 VS AMS1117 as Constant Current Limiter for LED SMD Boards
If your voltage drop is 15V, and your current is 450 mA, then your linear regulator, no matter whether it's just a transistor, a LM317 or an AMS1117, will have to dissipate 7W.

That's an insane amount of power you waste and convert to heat. They will all overheat. 

So, you're wrong, and all your solutions are inadequate; they are wrong "by the same amount".

In fact, you're also misinterpreting what "current limit" is here. But that's been asked multiple times on here...

You need a switch-mode power supply here. And you don't want a constant-voltage supply, but a constant-current supply, so design accordingly. Actually, I'd argue you'd really want three constant current supplies, one for each string, to avoid thermal runaway if any of your LEDs has a lower forward voltage than the others.