Question OC advice for AMD RYZEN Threadripper 2920X - 12 Core ?

[ivanetxemendi]

Hi, i post this question cos' 4 years ago i think, i bought my PC with this AMD RYZEN Threadripper 2920X - 12 Core, very performing cpu for CAM (Music producing) but actually i never managed to have full potential of my computer with:

AMD RYZEN Threadripper 2920X - 12 Core
ROG STRIX X399E
64 Go ddr4 1465.8 Mhz

I tried to Overclock and i noticed much better performance but one time, bios overclocking + ryzen master led to freeze my computer.

Now, i came back to default setting and performance are not good !

Is there any person here who managed to correctly Overclock this threadripper cpu or is there a way to improve performance of my computer ?

Thanks so much for your future answers.

 

[Misgar]

ThreadRipper CPUs are normally used by professionals who value stability more than speed. If you want more speed, you throw an extra 2 to 4 thousand dollars at a higher spec ThreadRipper and recoup the cost from your customers.

That's not to say you can't overclock a ThreadRipper, if the option is in the BIOS. I'd suggest taking things in small increments, then stress test each setting thoroughly for up to 24 hours before continuing. As soon as you see any problems, stop and consider your options.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

ThreadRipper CPUs are normally used by professionals who value stability more than speed. If you want more speed, you throw an extra 2 to 4 thousand dollars at a higher spec ThreadRipper and recoup the cost from your customers.

That's not to say you can't overclock a ThreadRipper, if the option is in the BIOS. I'd suggest taking things in small increments, then stress test each setting thoroughly for up to 24 hours before continuing. As soon as you see any problems, stop and consider your options.

Ok thanks so much for your advice, what would you suggest for small increments at the beginning ?

 

[Misgar]

Try increasing the CPU frequency in steps no more than 50 or 100MHz at a time. You might have to increase the frequency by fractions of the CPU multiplier.

Run a stress test. How long is up to you.

If the system seems stable, increase by the same small amount.

Run a stress test.

Repeat until the system hangs (BDOD).

Reduce the overclock frequency or or increase Vcore.

Run a stress test.

When you get to the point where you decide not to proceed any further, run a thorough stress test for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours. If you detect any problems, reduce the overclock and test again.

Don't take too many risks. You could destroy your system. System stability is more important than speed.

It pays to boot from an unimportant copy of Windows during testing, in case the OS gets "scrambled" when the machine crashes.

Clone your existing boot drive to a spare SSD and boot from the spare.

Search for overclocking guides specific to your particular model of Threadripper. Your luck will depend on the Silicon Lottery and your skill as an overclocker.

When the magic smoke rises from your machine and the fireworks begin, don't blame me.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Ok thanks so much for your advice, what would you suggest for small increments at the beginning ?

A couple things to add: what cooling are you using? It shouldn't have to be said, but there's a lot of cores under one cooler with TR so you need a very robust cooling solution, probably liquid with 360, 420 or 480 mm radiator when overclocking.

Also: what's your motherboard like? most TR4 socket motherboards have pretty good VRM arrangements but if you have one that doesn't...well that's when the hidden smoke can reveal itself.

There's very little margin left to exploit in the CPU's for overclocking so it's no wonder that TR is not known for it. But also, there's very little profit in it: these are money-makers and crashes when you have a deadline is a great way to lose out on bonus money.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

A couple things to add: what cooling are you using? It shouldn't have to be said, but there's a lot of cores under one cooler with TR so you need a very robust cooling solution, probably liquid with 360, 420 or 480 mm radiator when overclocking.

Also: what's your motherboard like? most TR4 socket motherboards have pretty good VRM arrangements but if you have one that doesn't...well that's when the hidden smoke can reveal itself.

There's very little margin left to exploit in the CPU's for overclocking so it's no wonder that TR is not known for it. But also, there's very little profit in it: these are money-makers and crashes when you have a deadline is a great way to lose out on bonus money.

I don't have Liquid watercooling, i have 5 fans i think ( that's what my pc seller advised me), My motherboard is an ASUS ROG STRIX X399-E GAMING, also 8 cores inside the Thradripper 2920X and i noticed that Cpu Core value is always changing between 2811 mhz to 421 mhz, that's not a constant value.

I tried to follwo this french video on Youtube, very cool :

View: https://youtu.be/BXpEE3Qz4X4


and my computer performances were much better.

I also tried to use AMD ryzen Master, with bios Overclocking settings, it was stale but one day, it became unstable, don't kniw why, but Bios OC + Ryzen Master had very good results.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

Try increasing the CPU frequency in steps no more than 50 or 100MHz at a time. You might have to increase the frequency by fractions of the CPU multiplier.

Run a stress test. How long is up to you.

If the system seems stable, increase by the same small amount.

Run a stress test.

Repeat until the system hangs (BDOD).

Reduce the overclock frequency or or increase Vcore.

Run a stress test.

When you get to the point where you decide not to proceed any further, run a thorough stress test for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours. If you detect any problems, reduce the overclock and test again.

Don't take too many risks. You could destroy your system. System stability is more important than speed.

It pays to boot from an unimportant copy of Windows during testing, in case the OS gets "scrambled" when the machine crashes.

Clone your existing boot drive to a spare SSD and boot from the spare.

Search for overclocking guides specific to your particular model of Threadripper. Your luck will depend on the Silicon Lottery and your skill as an overclocker.

When the magic smoke rises from your machine and the fireworks begin, don't blame me.

Yes thanks so much, but repeated stress tests aren't angerous for my computer ? I prefered to do a "light" OC, i don"t want to take huge risks.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yes thanks so much, but repeated stress tests aren't angerous for my computer ? I prefered to do a "light" OC, i don"t want to take huge risks.

Stress testing itself isn't dangerous...it's the overclocking that can be if exceeding safe limits (temperature, voltage, core current). You should be able to run a stress test 24/7 for the full design life of the processor at stock settings. You have to raise voltage to keep it stable, that's what leads to early life failure of CPU's. But it's necessary to stress test to find out if it IS stable.

LTT rates your board as a Tier E: good enough for a maxed-out 2920 on ambient and that's about it: "On Ambient" means nothing really cold like a phase change cooling system or, especially, LN2. It allows either an air cooler or liquid cooling. And what DO you have for a CPU cooler? That's very important since keeping it cool is as important as voltage to keep it stable.

It looks like it's got 4 channel memory, so make sure you spread your DIMM's around to take full advantage of that.

Any overclocking is likely to only be "light" no matter what you do. That makes any benefit extremely small...probably to the point it's not going to benefit enough to offset the effort involved. I'd say it's only worth doing for the fun of the "doing" itself.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

Thanks another time for your answer very detailed, for cpu cooler i have e Quiet! - Dark Rock Pro TR4, and yes there are 4 channel memory for me 4 X Crucial - Ballistix - Sport LT 16 Go DDR4 3000 MHz CAS 15, 64 GO DDR 4, what do you mean with spread around ?

I can tell you that i followed steps on the video just above (the youtube link) and performance were much much better, maybe it's not due to OC but for example also disabling bluetooth and wifi into the bios, and Oc + adjustments + Ryzen master ( I increased Core to 4100 Mhz on all cores ), it worked well but system was unstable after 1 week.

But what i want to do if i can is to have same result directly into the bios, without using ryzen master which seem to be very weird with my system.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks another time for your answer very detailed, for cpu cooler i have e Quiet! - Dark Rock Pro TR4, and yes there are 4 channel memory for me 4 X Crucial - Ballistix - Sport LT 16 Go DDR4 3000 MHz CAS 15, 64 GO DDR 4, what do you mean with spread around ?

I can tell you that i followed steps on the video just above (the youtube link) and performance were much much better, maybe it's not due to OC but for example also disabling bluetooth and wifi into the bios, and Oc + adjustments + Ryzen master ( I increased Core to 4100 Mhz on all cores ), it worked well but system was unstable after 1 week.

But what i want to do if i can is to have same result directly into the bios, without using ryzen master which seem to be very weird with my system.

Meaning: There are two DIMM sockets for each channel, so if you have 4 DIMM's put one in one of the two DIMM sockets for each channel. Check your manual for instructions for that.

One reason it went unstable after 1 week is the CPU has degraded. That's just a guess, but it's feasible if you pushed it too hard with too high of a voltage to make it stable and let it run at too high a temperature. If it is degraded you'll need to push an even higher voltage to make it stable again at the same clock speed. CPU temperature gets to be even more critical as the higher voltage makes it run even hotter. I'm really not familiar with Threadripper CPU's to know if they are that sensitive to pushing voltage at high temperatures.

You'll have to familiarize yourself with your motherboard BIOS. It should have an overclocking section to put things in it and save it in an overclocking profile.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

Ok thanks for all theses advices, actually there are 8 x DIMM, Max. 128GB, DDR4 on my ASUS ROG STRIX X399E, so what you mean is putting 2 X on one channel and 2 on the other one, that's what you mean with "spreading" my DIMM ?

yes maybe my CPU has degraded but for now i reseted my BIOS to factory settings and no problem for months but performances are lower.
I will try step by step to OC it and i will see, anyway many thanks for your advices. I will make a feedback of what i will do, maybe it could help someone else.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Ok thanks for all theses advices, actually there are 8 x DIMM, Max. 128GB, DDR4 on my ASUS ROG STRIX X399E, so what you mean is putting 2 X on one channel and 2 on the other one, that's what you mean with "..

If you have 8 RAM DIMM's (sticks) you have to use all 8 DIMM sockets, 2 on each channel, so there is no spreading them around. You'd only want to spread them around if you have 4 DIMM's (sticks) where you'd put one DIMM per channel.

 

[ivanetxemendi]

This is My Motherboard, what i did is putting 2 X stick on the left side sockets and the 2 other ones on the right side .

Do you think it's good light that, or is it better to putt all my 4 sRam Sticks on the left side for example.

 

[drea.drechsler]

This is My Motherboard, what i did is putting 2 X stick on the left side sockets and the 2 other ones on the right side .

...

2 on the left side, 2 on the right side, is the correct way and what I meant by "spread them around".

But also use the 2nd and 4th socket going away from the CPU on each side. This ensures that all 4 of the memory channels are being used for best memory performance.