Question Advice on whether I should overclock?

[LordGio]

I got a 5600x and anand it tops out around 4.6ghz but only at 60C. I've never done overclocking, nor had a system quite this powerful. Am I correct in assuming that temperature means I've got headroom to work with and that not utilizing that headroom by overclocking would be a waste?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Overclocking on Ryzen 2 and Ryzen 3 platforms is a waste of time. The margins for thermal and electrical headroom are already so minimal that there is really nothing to gain, and the algorithms used by PBO2 already give you about the best sustained performance you're going to see anyhow.

What is the model of your case, what is your case fan configuration and what CPU cooler are you using?

 

[zx128k]

With AMD cpus like the 3000 or 5000 series do you not get better results overclocking the IF and tuning the RAM timings? Then just use great cooling and PBO for a high ingame boost.

 

[Math Geek]

yah just turn on PBO and let it do its thing. any manual efforts are usually wasted since i have yet to see anyone do better than PBO does by itself.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I got a 5600x and anand it tops out around 4.6ghz but only at 60C. I've never done overclocking, nor had a system quite this powerful. Am I correct in assuming that temperature means I've got headroom to work with and that not utilizing that headroom by overclocking would be a waste?

Agree with better cooling and enabling PBO. Cooling, though, is the big contributor since it enables anything you do to work better because of how the boost algorithm works.

But if that's too easy, or you just like to tweak, explore Curve Optimizer. That's basically tweaking the V-F curve of the boost algorithm to lower voltages at key points. Lower voltages >> lower temps, or more correctly allows higher sustained PBO boost clock at a given temp for higher performance.

 

[LordGio]

Overclocking on Ryzen 2 and Ryzen 3 platforms is a waste of time. The margins for thermal and electrical headroom are already so minimal that there is really nothing to gain, and the algorithms used by PBO2 already give you about the best sustained performance you're going to see anyhow.

What is the model of your case, what is your case fan configuration and what CPU cooler are you using?

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster ML240L v2
Case: Kediers C650 Mech w/ Three UpHere aRGB fans (that were not installed when I got those temps)

And yeah, after posting this thread I came across a video demonstrating that overclocking the 5600x is virtually pointless for gaming purposes.

I’m not experienced with overclocking, but Im also not experienced with water cooling so the significantly low temps made me wonder if I was kind of obligated to push it a little harder lol. This is my second build and first time working with this new/powerful of a system.

I should also note that I haven’t activated PBO yet, and that video made me wonder if even that was necessary for my use-case.

 

[LordGio]

With AMD cpus like the 3000 or 5000 series do you not get better results overclocking the IF and tuning the RAM timings? Then just use great cooling and PBO for a high ingame boost.

I havent tried either overclocking or tuning the RAM (outside of setting it to its rated 3000mhz at least). I’m not really sure what I’m looking to gain, but those temps just seemed much lower than I’m used to, so I wondered if I was under utilizing the CPU.

Am I correct in assuming that enabling PBO will change the fact that the 100% load has been hanging mostly around 4.2ghz during tasks while occasionally jumping to 4.6?

 

[LordGio]

Agree with better cooling and enabling PBO. Cooling, though, is the big contributor since it enables anything you do to work better because of how the boost algorithm works.

But if that's too easy, or you just like to tweak, explore Curve Optimizer. That's basically tweaking the V-F curve of the boost algorithm to lower voltages at key points. Lower voltages >> lower temps, or more correctly allows higher sustained PBO boost clock at a given temp for higher performance.

Oh yeah that’s definitely not too easy for me lol— I’m completely new to this! Though I will keep this in mind for some time in the future because I do enjoy the occasional tinker!

 

[candymancan]

I gave up on overclocking whern cpu's started doing turbo boosts and stuff, overclocking was so much fun back in the 2000's.. Now its nearly pointless most cpu's cant even go beyond their boost clock and theyre also way more efficient at regulating themselves.. Your best bet is to mess with memory timmings, and make sure your on duel rank memory for the maximum performance.. overclock your ram instead and make sure the fclk matchs it. usually 3600/1800 is the max or sweet spot without going crazy. Now video cards are diff they have pretty nice headroom to gain when overclocking

 

[Karadjgne]

Overclocking on a Ryzen is possible, within moderation, but the gains aren't measured by strictly GHz. A Ryzen will start to reach a point of diminishing returns, not too far over its stock settings.

If you've heard the term 'what goes up, must come down', that applies. Ryzen boosts on 2 levels, single thread and multi-thread. At a certain point, determined by voltages, temps, workloads, a Ryzen reaches its peak performance. After that, it goes down, and single thread is the first to go.

So you can OC the snot out of a Ryzen, using Cinebench or Geekbench to achieve awesome multi-threaded scores, only to lose actual performance because single thread ability is now in the toilet.

It's a dance where both parts must balance. My Ryzen 3700x for instance, gets better performance with a 4.28GHz boost at 62°C than it does with a 4.4GHz locked core OC at 82°C. Even though the cpu is faster, the multi-threaded score higher, the single threaded takes too big a hit, and games use a Master Thread, with the rest being support threads, so single thread is also very important.

Ryzen are an efficiency engine. The more efficient you make them, the more effective they are, which means higher fps. Speed is only part of the equation. Ram speeds and timings, Fclock, voltages, temps, are also factors.

 

[Darkbreeze]

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster ML240L v2
Case: Kediers C650 Mech w/ Three UpHere aRGB fans (that were not installed when I got those temps)

And yeah, after posting this thread I came across a video demonstrating that overclocking the 5600x is virtually pointless for gaming purposes.

I’m not experienced with overclocking, but Im also not experienced with water cooling so the significantly low temps made me wonder if I was kind of obligated to push it a little harder lol. This is my second build and first time working with this new/powerful of a system.

I should also note that I haven’t activated PBO yet, and that video made me wonder if even that was necessary for my use-case.

Since you have a halfway decent cooler, I'd go ahead and enable PBO and then see where you are. Gains should be there for the taking. You'll probably find that it was already enabled or "Auto" on, by default.