[SOLVED] Do you need an unlocked motherboard to achieve Max Boost Clock on CPU's

[HaroldTheUnseen]

Hello,

I have Ryzen 3 1200 and it runs on 3.1 ghz under heavy load never reaches higher ghz. I made a big mistake by buying a320m motherboard instead of unlocked b450 motherboard. So my question is, do i need an unlocked motherboard to achieve ''Turbo Clock Speed''. For example Ryzen 5 2600 has 3.4 ghz as a Base Clock and 3.9 ghz az a Max Boost Clock. Do i need unlocked motherboard to use ryzen 5 2600 on 3.9 ghz?

 

[rgd1101]

no you don't need a unlocked motherboard, but you need a good motherboard that can handle the cpu load

 

[HaroldTheUnseen]

no you don't need a unlocked motherboard, but you need a good motherboard that can handle the cpu load

I have an MSI Gaming a320m so i think its okay. In AMD's website it says Ryzen 3 1200 has 3.4 GHZ Max Boost Clock, but i never saw my CPU working on 3.4 GHZ its always 3.1.

 

[rgd1101]

3.4 is when only 1 active cores

 

[drea.drechsler]

... but i never saw my CPU working on 3.4 GHZ its always 3.1.

3.4Ghz is it's max boost and as @rgd1101 notes it only boosts on 1 core at a time, but what's more it only boosts to that clock on light loads and briefly. It should do that on your A320 board, the best way to see it is look at the MAXIMUM clock speed for each core in something like HWinfo which is the highest clock a core gets to for the period. It certainly won't sustain that speed while working hard but you might be able to get it to do better than 3.1Ghz (it's base clock speed) with better cooling.

An A320 board doesn't let you overclock the processor and while a B450 board would let you overclock to 3.4Ghz, all-cores, all the time (maybe even higher) you'll definitely need a better cooler.

 

[HaroldTheUnseen]

3.4Ghz is it's max boost and as @rgd1101 notes it only boosts on 1 core at a time, but what's more it only boosts to that clock on light loads and briefly. It should do that on your A320 board, the best way to see it is look at the MAXIMUM clock speed for each core in something like HWinfo which is the highest clock a core gets to for the period. It certainly won't sustain that speed while working hard but you might be able to get it to do better than 3.1Ghz (it's base clock speed) with better cooling.

An A320 board doesn't let you overclock the processor and while a B450 board would let you overclock to 3.4Ghz, all-cores, all the time (maybe even higher) you'll definitely need a better cooler.

I tried to check HWinfo while running cinebench r20 benchmark before. Did both multi core and single benchmark and i never saw 3.4 or even something higher than 3.1 but while computer was idle HWinfo shows cpu frequency as 3.1 and 3.4 most of the time. So i guess its normal and if i buy a new cpu i can achieve the max boost clock frequency with a nice cooling without needing to upgrade my motherboard. Thank you for your answer.

 

[drea.drechsler]

...So i guess its normal and if i buy a new cpu i can achieve the max boost clock frequency with a nice cooling without needing to upgrade my motherboard...

What CPU are you considering? It's important to make sure your BIOS has been updated before putting in some CPU's. But don't do it until you actually have it as it may not work with your old CPU then!

 

[HaroldTheUnseen]

What CPU are you considering? It's important to make sure your BIOS has been updated before putting in some CPU's. But don't do it until you actually have it as it may not work with your old CPU then!

I have Ryzen 3 1200 and im considering to buy Ryzen 5 3600. I heard about that bios thing but never fully searched for it. I dont thint bios support for my cpu is ended so idk

 

[drea.drechsler]

I have Ryzen 3 1200 and im considering to buy Ryzen 5 3600. I heard about that bios thing but never fully searched for it. I dont thint bios support for my cpu is ended so idk

I assume you mean MSI A320m Gaming Pro.

To support a 3600 I'd suggest using at least 7A39v1KQ(Beta version), which is up on the support web site for that board. I'd only update to that BIOS if, or when, you actually have the 3600 since it may not work well with your 1200 and may not let you revert either.

Do not be dismayed by it being a Beta version. That's because A320 was never supposed to work with 3000 series CPU's so AMD furnishes only beta version AGESA code to enable the CPU's on the boards when mfr's pushed back. That's what you get and it's the same with all mfr's boards.