[SOLVED] OCing 3600 all-core to advertised boost (4.2ghz)

[ChronicBuildsx]

Hi!
A couple months ago I planned on grabbing the 3300x for my first build when it released at 119$. I planned on coupling it with with an MSI A320M a pro "MAX". However, I found a fantastic deal on a 3600 for 130 new so I figured why not get that instead.
Everything's going great, works fine, except I'm unhappy with my turbo clocks. I've seen multiple people do bios tuning and get their 3600 to boost up to 4.1 - 4.2ghz on this board except I can't manage to get mine above 3.95. Figured I'd give OCing a try. I have an msi MAX board, so I know it comes with a lot of features beyond the typical a320 chipset to have it behave as b350/b450. Luckily, the bios options for CPU overclocking are all unlocked. Bus speed, ratio, voltage control, the whole package.
However, when I apply an OC (I used ratio), in both windows task manager and in bios it says the base speed is what I indeed set it to, but the speed is still all over the place, acting like I never actually applied the overclock.
I tried turning off PBO but that did nothing. I'm also on the most recent bios.
Any answer besides the old "a320 can't oc" would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jojesa]

Not two CPUs are the alike.
It might not be that motherboard model, even though I would not try OCing on A320.
Which app are you using to monitor your CPU performance?
Which benchmarks are you running to get the CPU max speed?
Depending on the software used to record frequencies, you might not see the actual CPU speed.
Did you installed the AMD chipset drivers for your specific AM4 platform?
How are your temperatures?

Could you post your system specs.

 

[ChronicBuildsx]

Not two CPUs are the alike.
It might not be that motherboard model, even though I would not try OCing on A320.
Which app are you using to monitor your CPU performance?
Which benchmarks are you running to get the CPU max speed?
Depending on the software used to record frequencies, you might not see the actual CPU speed.
Did you installed the AMD chipset drivers for your specific AM4 platform?
How are your temperatures?

Could you post your system specs.

Thanks for your inquiry.
I'm using both MSI afterburner, and CPU-Z (both give same results) with stress testing with Cinebench R20.
After further investigation, when it's not under load, it bounces back and fourth from 3.6 to the targeted OC clock and sometimes in between every other second, staying at really low utilization. When I run Cinebench it stops being sporadic, staying at 3.8-3.9 and never going up or down. This is regardless of what OC clock is set. My guess is that the OC feature does actually work but there are some issues along with it. I changed to 4.2 and then 3.7 (for testing) as well, same thing there (jumping from 3.6 to the targeted OC clock back and fourth, sometimes a little bit in between, rarely but still sometimes a little over). I believe Windows Task Manager was reading it off flat 4100mhz because it was just reading it off the bios.
Temps are fantastic, 69-73.
A320 Chipset drivers installed. All other possible drivers are installed and up to date. Most recent windows version.

cpu: 3600
cooler: hyper 212 black edition
mobo: msi a320m a pro max
ram: 2x8 patriot viper cl16 3000mhz
gpu: vega 56
psu: thermaltake smart 700w 80+
case: coolermaster masterbox q300l w/ 6 uphere case fans (3 intake 3 exhaust, airflow is pretty good.)
storage: crucial p1 1tb nvme ssd & 1tb seagate barracuda 7200rpm 32mb cache.

 

[jojesa]

Download and install the AMD drivers for your A320 motherboard from AMD website (A320 Drivers)
Make sure to have the latest BIOS for Ryzen 3600
Use these BIOS Settings without OCing and with your 4200MHz OC and see what's best.
PBO: Off
Volatge Offset: -0.1125
LLC: Mode 3
Cool & Quiet: On

 

[Mxrcoz]

OCing on a A320 board, WUT?
Do you want to risk this board's VRMS? A320s are the lowest end with very decent VRMS and features ok for powering the Ryzen 3s and Athlons. I advise you to at least get a B450/550 for ryzen 5 considering that they have better VRMS and better power phases for more stabile overclocking.

And OCING all CORES of the 3600 in an A320 Chipset is strongly not recommended as the A320M A PRO MAX has only 6 phase power which is bad for OC.

I personally would prefer OCing on a 10-12 power phase MOBO as it gives more power stability.

 

[ChronicBuildsx]

Download and install the AMD drivers for your A320 motherboard from AMD website (A320 Drivers)
Make sure to have the latest BIOS for Ryzen 3600
Use these BIOS Settings without OCing and with your 4200MHz OC and see what's best.
PBO: Off
Volatge Offset: -0.1125
LLC: Mode 3
Cool & Quiet: On

THIS IS IT!!! This got me to all-core 4.15-4.17. My mobo still doesn't want to give me the 4.2 but at this point I don't care.
I tried something similar to this (only undervolting with a .11 offset) and it helped, but doing your way yielded better results.
I think it's just VRM's, undervolting+llc3+c&q draws less power while the OC still pushes it to the desired clock.

 

[ChronicBuildsx]

OCing on a A320 board, WUT?
Do you want to risk this board's VRMS? A320s are the lowest end with very decent VRMS and features ok for powering the Ryzen 3s and Athlons. I advise you to at least get a B450/550 for ryzen 5 considering that they have better VRMS and better power phases for more stabile overclocking.

And OCING all CORES of the 3600 in an A320 Chipset is strongly not recommended as the A320M A PRO MAX has only 6 phase power which is bad for OC.

I personally would prefer OCing on a 10-12 power phase MOBO as it gives more power stability.

No, contrary to popular belief, an am4 platform when you put in a cpu that draws much more power than the vrms like, they don't throttle, they don't overheat, they simply don't allow the cpu to clock as high. There are tons of videos across youtube to back this up. I selected the best answer, which worked fantastic, because it was a way to draw less wattage while still maintaining the higher oc. Vrms are happy and so am I!