[SOLVED] (R5 3600) Is my overclock stable/safe?

[Hammad5161]

After some advice, I understood that over 1.325v on all cores full load for zen 2 is not safe. I have manually override to 1.325 and set the clock speed at 4.1GHZ. I have played a couple of hours of BFV and it is stable. I have ran the AIDA64 Extreme stability test on CPU/FPU/CACHE for 20 minutes and no problem. I am running an ARCTIC freezer 34 DUO (Temp max 83C). However prime95 small fft crashes instantly at start. I have researched that real life usage will never reach P95 loads anyway so just ignore it? Maybe some gaming on BFV, some other AAA titles and some video encoding/rendering.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Yeah, small FFTs is really really intense. Preferably you want to run Blend with no AVX instructions enabled for the most realistic P95 load.

FYI, once ABBA 1.0.0.3 AGESA goes out to all boards, our 3600s should be hitting 4.2ghz on all cores. So doing a manual 4.1ghz overclock doesn't really make sense.

 

[Hammad5161]

Yeah, small FFTs is really really intense. Preferably you want to run Blend with no AVX instructions enabled for the most realistic P95 load.

FYI, once ABBA 1.0.0.3 AGESA goes out to all boards, our 3600s should be hitting 4.2ghz on all cores. So doing a manual 4.1ghz overclock doesn't really make sense.

Thanks I didn't know about this update/fix. Is this why my 3600 is like 4050 max on all cores while gaming on all stock settings? I have never seen it go above 4.1GHZ even though I have good cooling. As for P95 with no avx on blend I have not crashed yet

 

[TechyInAZ]

Thanks I didn't know about this update/fix. Is this why my 3600 is like 4050 max on all cores while gaming on all stock settings? I have never seen it go above 4.1GHZ even though I have good cooling. As for P95 with no avx on blend I have not crashed yet

Yup it has been a bug for a while now, the first release BIOS's allows my 3600 to hit 4.1ghz regularly (but still not 4.2), then the latest BIOS's launched and messed the boosting algorithm up completely where i am like you, I can't even get 4.1ghz at all.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks I didn't know about this update/fix. Is this why my 3600 is like 4050 max on all cores while gaming on all stock settings? I have never seen it go above 4.1GHZ even though I have good cooling. As for P95 with no avx on blend I have not crashed yet

With Zen2 I think it's far more important to look at actual performance instead of focusing on clock speed as a proxy for performance. What I suggest doing is to look at Cinebench 20 scores, both comparing overclocked to non-overclocked and to scores other 3600's have racked up in review sites. And I suggest using reviewer's scores as reference (reputable ones) because they use reliably better and controlled setups.

Clock speed is so variable now, and even if you do see it boosting to max clocks it's in light 'bursty' work loads on single cores for very brief intervals that don't really matter in the scheme of things. What does matter is the mid-level boosts on multiple cores that you'll want to be sustained throughout the task because that's what actually does the heavy lifting, so to speak.

Many people are comparing modern CPU's to being more like GPU's in that improved cooling is more likely to have positive impact on performance than trying to squeeze a little bit more Mhz out of it. The Mfr.'s already done that for you.