Question R5 3600 scores worse after overclocking than before

[joemomumbo]

i just built my first PC this xmas and i thought i would try overclocking out so i took some control numbers in cinebench r20 at stock 3.6Ghz and got 3500 with nothing changed in the UEFI. Then i managed to get to 4.05Ghz stable and got 3777, so not much of a difference, and as i went higher up to 4.2Ghz it thermal throttled and the score got worse down to 3200 in cinebench. so i thought my stock wraith stealth was just not able to handle overclocking at all and reset everything back to 3.6Ghz 1.1V, where i was before then i tested cinebench and got 3200, which is 300 less than when i first tested it. These are all the best of three tests BTW so it wasn't just a one off bad score. I dont know why it is worse than before and as you can tell i am not very knowledgeable of overclocking at all. has anyone had this issue where after overclocking then resetting to default it is worse than before? Also is there a fix?

Specs:
Asrock b450 steel legend
Ryzen 5 3600 with Stock wraith stealth cooler.
16gb Corsair vengeance ram
AMD Radeon HD 6450 (just for display output until 1660 super arrives)
Thermaltake v200 case

 

[CountMike]

i just built my first PC this xmas and i thought i would try overclocking out so i took some control numbers in cinebench r20 at stock 3.6Ghz and got 3500 with nothing changed in the UEFI. Then i managed to get to 4.05Ghz stable and got 3777, so not much of a difference, and as i went higher up to 4.2Ghz it thermal throttled and the score got worse down to 3200 in cinebench. so i thought my stock wraith stealth was just not able to handle overclocking at all and reset everything back to 3.6Ghz 1.1V, where i was before then i tested cinebench and got 3200, which is 300 less than when i first tested it. These are all the best of three tests BTW so it wasn't just a one off bad score. I dont know why it is worse than before and as you can tell i am not very knowledgeable of overclocking at all. has anyone had this issue where after overclocking then resetting to default it is worse than before? Also is there a fix?

Specs:
Asrock b450 steel legend
Ryzen 5 3600 with Stock wraith stealth cooler.
16gb Corsair vengeance ram
AMD Radeon HD 6450 (just for display output until 1660 super arrives)
Thermaltake v200 case

Thermal and power throttling are most common causes of lower scores when overclocking. When overclocking you have to follow it with higher voltage, leaving voltage at auto can cause overvoltage and overheating so normal procedure is to set some reasonable voltage manually and let it correct with Lllc or +/- offset voltage. Did you reset CMOS/BIOS and set voltage to auto ?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Ryzen's boosting algorithm is much better at hitting higher clock speeds when needed for as long as thermals allow than most people can get with manual overclocks. It's those brief periods of much higher clock speeds that provide the performance difference. If you manually overclock to that same clock, or higher, it has to stay there all the time and that never gives the processor a chance to cool down.

That's not to say it can't be done with a manual all-core if you get one of the very few good ones but you'll also need to tweak for the lowest VCore possible (generally around 1.30-1.35) and have very good cooling on the CPU to keep it stable. In general, 3600's get the lowest binning of Ryzen chiplets so there's just not going to be very many samples that can hit voltages that low and stay stable.

 

[zx128k]

If all you are going to be doing on your PC is play games. Then RAM overclocking is worth trying. If you spend the time tightening the memory timings it will give you more performance. Here is some benchmarks for different speeds and timings

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IY_KlkQK1Q

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH3qq_mSxTM


Normally you are looking for a RAM frequency that works well with the maximum IF frequency your CPU is stable at.

You are pairing with a 1660 super. You just want to reach the point were performance in your games is limited by your GPU. Once GPU bound there is little point overclocking much further.

If you are not happy messing with the RAM timings then just do what you are comfortable with. You might have slow RAM that could rule out RAM overclocking anyway.

Just be careful. Just don't go overboard with your overclocking.