ASUS ROG STRIX B350-f, Ram, and Stress Testing Questions From a Beginner

[BadAstronaut]

Hi all,

I recently built a new PC and I have two main questions.
1) I'm unsure as to what frequency, voltage, timings, or DOCP setting I should use for my RAM. I'm new with computers; this is my first time building a PC and bios settings are intimidating.
2) How can I stress test my components to ensure that I have no faulty components that should be returned?

I've downloaded all the drivers (as far as I know) for my components and installed all latest windows 10 updates, so I think all that's left is fixing up the ram settings and stress testing.

Specs:
Ryzen 5 1600
Corsair 2x8 GB DDR4 3000 MHz (CMK16GX4M2B3000C15)
ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F Gaming motherboard Bios Version 3803.
GTX 1060 6 GB
Win 10 64 bit

When I first installed my ram, I had speeds of 2133 MHz and my buddy was telling me to set the frequency to 3000 MHZ, and voltage to 1.35V. However, in my mobo's manual, I see that the supported frequencies are 2933(O.C.) or 3200(O.C.), not 3000 MHz.

There is also a profile under D.O.C.P listed as Profile #1, which sets the ram frequency to 3000 MHz, Voltage to 1.35V and the timings to whatever the timings should be for the ram. If I understood correctly, basically this profile is my motherboard's reading of what my ram specifications are.

I'm unsure what to do. Should I just turn on the D.O.C.P. Profile and use that? Should I manually change settings? And how can I stress test my components after this?

EDIT: I have tried the D.O.C.P. profile 1, and it ended up changing my timings to C16 instead of C15, voltage to 1.4V, and gave me absolutely horrendous performance in games. I think for now I'm just going to leave everything on Auto, seeing as my games are running fine the way they are (90-120 FPS on PUBG, 200+ on CSGO, etc)

Thank you for your time

 

[Darkbreeze]

DOCP translations are usually terrible and should not be used. If you are not using modules with AMD specific XMP settings, then you can simply TRY the XMP settings. If that does not give satisfactory results, you will want to configure settings manually.

Everything you probably will need to know about overclocking the CPU or the memory, is likely to be found in this tutorial.

http://www.overclockers.com/amd-ryzen-overclocking-guide/


For CPU stability and thermal testing, there is only one thing you need or should need to do until and unless you get into more advanced tweaking or have a need for using applications that primarily use AVX instructions, which is not most people.

Run Prime 95 version 26.6. Choose the Small FFT option. NOT blend mode. NOT large FFT.

For graphics testing, run the heaven benchmark utility to stress the GPU card. Run Memtest86 or 86+ for testing the memory. That's it.

Prime95 v26.6 is THE primarily accepted way to do the majority of baseline stability and thermal limit testing running the Small FFT option.

Prime95 Version 26.6 download


Further, you can find extensive information regarding the Intel CPU architectures and specifications at the following link which is a somewhat definitive guide on that subject. The information below is taken directly from conversations with Computronix who is also the author of the Intel temperature guide, found here:

The Intel temperature guide

For AMD systems, specifically Zen/Ryzen, this should offer similar albeit not nearly as detailed information on that architecture.

Ryzen overclocking guide

This is probably about the most referred to overclocking guide around, and it's principles can be applied to a variety of generations and platforms.

The Ultimate Overclocking Guide



This pretty well sums things up and is equally relevant whether working with an Intel or an AMD system.

I can think of several reasons why x264 encoding or AVX / AVX2 / FMA3 apps won't work as a unilateral metric for thermal testing.

(1) A steady-state workload gives steady-state temperatures; encoding does not.

(2) Simplicity in methodology; most users would find encoding apps unfamiliar and cumbersome to accomplish a simple task.

(3) Most users such as gamers never run any apps which use AVX or FMA, so adaptive or manual voltage aside, it makes no sense to downgrade your overclock to accommodate those loads and temps unless you KNOW you will be making significant use of AVX/FMA/AVX2.

(4) Standardization; Prime95 has been around since 1996; many users are familiar with it. It is TRIED and TRUE.

For the minority of users who routinely run AVX/FMA apps, then P95 v28.5 or later can be useful for tweaking the BIOS for thermal and stability testing on THOSE types of systems only. For others, it is not recommended.


regardless of platform or architecture, Prime95 v26.6 works equally well across ALL platforms. Steady-state is the key. How can anyone extrapolate accurate core temperatures from workloads that fluctuate like a bad day on the stock market? They can't. That's why steady state is necessary for testing of thermal compliance and for baseline stability verification.

I'm aware of 5 utilities with steady-state workloads. In order of load level they are:

(1) Prime95 v26.6 - Small FFT's (Important. NOT Blend or Large FFT)
(2) HeavyLoad - Stress CPU
(3) FurMark - CPU Burner
(4) Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool - CPU Load
(5) AIDA64 - Tools - System Stability Test - Stress CPU

AIDA64's Stress CPU fails to load any overclocked / overvolted CPU to get anywhere TDP, and is therefore useless, except for giving naive users a sense of false security because their temps are so low.

HeavyLoad is the closest alternative. Temps and watts are within 3% of Small FFT's.

-Computronix