Question Overclocking TR 1950x properly. Any Help/Tips plz.

[spledang]

SPECS
PC: 1950X THREADRIPPER
CASE: Phanteks Pro M Tempered Glass
MOBO: MSI Pro Carbon
AIO Cooler: h100i V2 Noctua NH-U14S TR4 Air Cooler
OS: Windows 10
GPU: GTX 1080 TI
RAM: Corsair set to 3200mhz
PSU: Corsair RMx Series RM850X

In a previous thread I was trying to figure out if my PSU or AIO cooler (h100i v2) is dying because of my temps being so high and core speeds were being lowered. I ran this CPU since release (aug 2017 I think) under ALL AUTO making base clocks at 3.7 and a core boost of 3.9ghz. What I didn't realize is that it was bumping the voltages from low as 1.1 to 1.450! and now I just want to set manual settings to properly OC. After writing that previous post my pump died on my aio cooler and I now use a Noctua NH-U14S TR4 Air Cooler. It has been amazing since I've installed it with 30 on idle with 40c with small stuff like gaming/browsing.

Now that my CPU is being properly cooled I've been trying to find a good medium Overclock like 3.7 to 3.8ghz. Everyone seems to use an AIO and OC to 3.9-4.0 (sometimes even 4.1). This CPU is going to be 2 years old in 4 months and the last thing I want to do is ruin the chip OCing wrong. Reading tutorials and beginner OC settings for the 1950x I see people test with AIDA64 and Prime 95. So my results were the following:

PRIME 95 TESTS
-3.7GHZ @1.2V & RAM3200mhz. MODE 2 LLC - no custom settings. Temp 72C and 194Wattage full load
-3.7GHZ @1.2V & RAM3200mhz. AUTO LLC - Custom torture test settings: Min and Max FFT 96 with RUN FFT's in place checked. Time to run each FFT 15min - Temp 71C and 231 Wattage full load
-3.8GHZ @1.225V & RAM3200mhz. MODE 2 LLC - no custom settings. Temps 72C. I forgot the look at wattage..
-3.8GHZ @1.225V & RAM3200MHZ. MODE 2LLC - Custom torture test settings: Min and Max FFT 96 with RUN FFT's in place checked. Time to run each FFT 15min - Temp 82C and 250 wattage

CINEBENCH r15 TESTS - 5 attempts one after another.
-3.7GHZ @1.2V & RAM3200mhz. AUTO LLC - Scores were 3151-3163. Temps 55-60C
-3.7GHZ @1.2V & RAM3200mhz. MODE 2 LLC - Scores were 3144-3206. Temps 56-65C
-3.8GHZ @ 1.225V & RAM3200mhz. MODE 2 LLC - Scores were 3070-3132. Temps were 62-65C

AIDA64
-3.7GHZ @ 1.200V & RAM3200mhz - MODE 2 LLC - Temps 71C MAX
-3.8GHZ @ 1.225V & RAM3200mhz. MODE 2 LLC - Temps 74C MAX


ALL TESTS WERE 1 HOUR LONG and always dropped back to 35-38C right after. I really didnt know whether 15mins or 24hrs was the way to go. I felt 1 hour was at least reasonable and I wouldnt feel like I'm destroying my chip.

I honestly didn't know which stats mattered. I just wrote down on paper what I saw people were posting on other forums and 1950x threads. Anyways, after all these tests I did (which I probably did wrong), I have a few questions I hope the overclockers in here can answer.

1. What is the MAX TEMP allowed on the 1950x and when does THROTTLING occur? I see a lot of people claim 68C is the highest but I've definitely gone above that. If that's true about 68c, I may have been destroying my chip all these months when I render out 4k clips through Premiere. Are my temps based on tests good or bad?

2. All the people who are overclocking the 1950x @ 3.9-4.1ghz, are they expecting to only use their chip for only a few years or is it actually possible to OC that HIGH for 5-10years? Because obviously I'm a noob at this OCing stuff and I do want to get the most for my chip but at the same time I want it to last me a long time.

3. if you look at my tests for PRIME 95 I did some with the Load Line Calibration (LLC) on auto and some on Mode 2 (which is a straight leveled line). Is it best to keep this on AUTO? Most people don't mention their LLC settings based on their OC settings.

4. Most of my OC tests have passed but then they were only for an hour long. Should I be adjusting my voltage or core speed? I actually don't know how people choose which to change but I'm assuming if its too hot (whatever max temps allowed - 68c?), then you lower core speed. And if your overall wattage ("Package Power" in HWINFO) is too high, then you lower wattage. Those are just gusses though. Someone teach me how to judge if you change the VOLTAGE or CORE CLOCK.

Ideally I'd like to stay in the 3.7-3.8ghz range for longevity of my chip. I've seen some videos stating the differences of 3.8ghz to 4.0-4.1ghz is not worth the voltage and stress you put on your cpu. I forgot to mention I do run my comp 24/7/365. Maybe not 100 percent of the time but A LOT of the time it's on.

IM A NOOB. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! Any help appreciated thanks!

 

[spledang]

Bump. Been running at 3.7ghz 1.200v no problems just yet.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Wow, AMD wasn't kidding when they said Threadripper is cherry picked. I have to push 1.365v just to get 3.8ghz on my 1700X.

Anyways, back on track:

Temperature wise, you are looking good. For Ryzen 75C is ok, so if you stay around there or below that, that is your optimal temperature.

3.9-4.1ghz can be attainable and last years, if those clocks can be hit at under 1.35v in my opinion. 1.35v and under Ryzen seems to not degrade hardly at all. AMD even recommends 1.35v as a good voltage for Ryzen for 24/7 overclocks, so anything below that will definitely last a while.

LLC you need to play with yourself, make sure your voltage is on manual mode (for now you can switch to adaptive later), and if your idle and load voltages are different, keep changing LLC until they are basically the same. If your idle voltage is lower than your load voltage, turn up LLC, and vise versa if idle voltage is higher than load voltage.

For an absolute stable overclock I recommend these:

Prime 95 Blend for 8 hours
ROG RealBench for 8 Hours

Optional:
Prime 95 with 512k FFTs and half of your memory usage config for 8 hours (this will stress test your memory)
OCCT for 8 hours. If you want to absolutely insure stability. Running an additional layer of stress tests like OCCT can help. But it is optional.

These don't need to be run all together, you can run them one at at time whenever you want.

 

[spledang]

Wow, AMD wasn't kidding when they said Threadripper is cherry picked. I have to push 1.365v just to get 3.8ghz on my 1700X.

Anyways, back on track:

Temperature wise, you are looking good. For Ryzen 75C is ok, so if you stay around there or below that, that is your optimal temperature.

3.9-4.1ghz can be attainable and last years, if those clocks can be hit at under 1.35v in my opinion. 1.35v and under Ryzen seems to not degrade hardly at all. AMD even recommends 1.35v as a good voltage for Ryzen for 24/7 overclocks, so anything below that will definitely last a while.

LLC you need to play with yourself, make sure your voltage is on manual mode (for now you can switch to adaptive later), and if your idle and load voltages are different, keep changing LLC until they are basically the same. If your idle voltage is lower than your load voltage, turn up LLC, and vise versa if idle voltage is higher than load voltage.

For an absolute stable overclock I recommend these:

Prime 95 Blend for 8 hours
ROG RealBench for 8 Hours

Optional:
Prime 95 with 512k FFTs and half of your memory usage config for 8 hours (this will stress test your memory)
OCCT for 8 hours. If you want to absolutely insure stability. Running an additional layer of stress tests like OCCT can help. But it is optional.

These don't need to be run all together, you can run them one at at time whenever you want.

Thanks for the notes. I'll try an 8hour prime 95 blend when I go sleep.

 

[spledang]

Alright so I did a Prime95 12 hour blend using 3.7ghz at 1.200v on LLC mode 2. I took a screenshot of all of the info on HWInfo but I'm sure there was a lot of stuff not important so I just wrote down what was important.

I had a temp of 62c AVERAGE and 74C MAXIMUM.
Wattage or "CPU Package Power (SMU) - 193 AVERAGE and 248 MAXIMUM

I sort of want to try 3.8ghz but man waiting 8HOURS + is long. I actually went 12 hours for this test because in the middle of it I got bored and started browsing and using some apps occasionally which probly caused a few degrees maximum. Anyways, I think for now I'm at least happy to know this was a decent test to realize my clock speed/voltage is stable. Also, on the brighter side I got a warranty on my h100i v2 and getting a new one I'm staying with the Noctua Air Cooler though and using the corsair as a backup or possibly resell since its double the price for some reason right now on Amazon.