Question Ryzen 5 3600 not boosting properly

[tooearly]

So my cpu only boosts up to 3.8ghz in cinebench R23 while temps are max 80c
when gaming i get the same ghz but CPU runs cooler max 72c

Idle Temp - 45c

I have tried updating to newest bios changes nothing also tried alot of pbo settings still changes nothing

Specs:

CPU - Ryzen 5 3600
CPU Cooler - Be Quiet Pure Rock Slim 2

GPU - RTX 2070

Motherboard - Gigabyte X570 UD

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX

 

[drea.drechsler]

You've updated BIOS, that's good. Have you also reset CMOS? I'd suggest doing it accompanied with pulling the battery for a few minutes.

After that be sure to enable XMP for your RAM.

Now install the latest AMD chipset drivers, get them from AMD's support website and nowhere else. If you installed chipset drivers from the Gigabyte support site uninstall them first. In fact, uninstall anything you got from Gigabyte aside from LAN and audio drivers.

You're probably better off not doing much with PBO at first. Even when you do you have to be careful or it does more harm than good. I believe AMD still installs their power plan with chipset drivers for 3000 series CPU's; if they do run the Ryzen Balanced Plan and open the Power and Sleep settings app in Win11 and use the Balanced power mode.

 

[tooearly]

You've updated BIOS, that's good. Have you also reset CMOS? I'd suggest doing it accompanied with pulling the battery for a few minutes.

After that be sure to enable XMP for your RAM.

Now install the latest AMD chipset drivers, get them from AMD's support website and nowhere else. If you installed chipset drivers from the Gigabyte support site uninstall them first. In fact, uninstall anything you got from Gigabyte aside from LAN and audio drivers.

You're probably better off not doing much with PBO at first. Even when you do you have to be careful or it does more harm than good. I believe AMD still installs their power plan with chipset drivers for 3000 series CPU's; if they do run the Ryzen Balanced Plan and open the Power and Sleep settings app in Win11 and use the Balanced power mode.

did everything you suggested still only boosting to 3.8ghz

 

[drea.drechsler]

did everything you suggested still only boosting to 3.8ghz

What is your monitoring program? and what are your expectations? Ryzen doesn't work like Intel. A Ryzen processor hovers around or above base clock speeds (it's probably actually fully idle in a deep sleep state) and boosts individual cores quickly when a processing load comes along, then returns just as quickly to the base clock when it's over. This way it can keep a cool processor core and use the least amount of power.

The best utility to use for monitoring this is HWInfo64. Look for the individual core clock sensors and right click on them to put a graph of each (6) on the desktop. Then click on settings (the little gear) in the sensor window and change the Global Polling period to 500mS.

Now look at each of the core clock graphs and follow boosting behaviour. Do things to make the processor work a light threaded, boosty workload like running a virus scan.

But also remember this: because Ryzen is so dynamic the real test of CPU performance is a benchmark and not watching clocks. Cinebench 20 is one of the better for a multi-threaded, real-world CPU workload. Compare results to a benchmark Ryzen 3600 CPU. You can also run the Blender benchmark.

 

[tooearly]

What is your monitoring program? and what are your expectations? Ryzen doesn't work like Intel. A Ryzen processor hovers around or above base clock speeds (it's probably actually fully idle in a deep sleep state) and boosts individual cores quickly when a processing load comes along, then returns just as quickly to the base clock when it's over. This way it can keep a cool processor core and use the least amount of power.

The best utility to use for monitoring this is HWInfo64. Look for the individual core clock sensors and right click on them to put a graph of each (6) on the desktop. Then click on settings (the little gear) in the sensor window and change the Global Polling period to 500mS.

Now look at each of the core clock graphs and follow boosting behaviour. Do things to make the processor work a light threaded, boosty workload like running a virus scan.

But also remember this: because Ryzen is so dynamic the real test of CPU performance is a benchmark and not watching clocks. Cinebench 20 is one of the better for a multi-threaded, real-world CPU workload. Compare results to a benchmark Ryzen 3600 CPU. You can also run the Blender benchmark.

looked at hwinfo64 instead of ryzen master and all cores seem to boost fine to 4ghz at the same time with a max of 4.17ghz

 

[drea.drechsler]

looked at hwinfo64 instead of ryzen master and all cores seem to boost fine to 4ghz at the same time with a max of 4.17ghz

It's boosting closer to it's spec. 4.2Ghz but not quite there. Check temperatures and background activity in your system. If your room is warm because of summer-time high temperature then the processor is also running warmer than usual and that can keep it from boosting to it's full 4.2Ghz frequently. The important temperatures to follow CPU (Tdie/Tctl) temp and CPU Die (Average). Tdie/Tctl may spike frequently at idle along with each core boost.

A lot of background activity can keep the processor warm so it's not boosting as high. That would be from background apps you're starting up at every boot.

You can try enabling PBO into "Advanced" or "Manual" mode and increase the PPT, TDC and EDC settings slightly. That won't work very well if temperatures are already running hot (above mid- 70's) at idle though. So another thing to do is to undervolt slightly, but do it only with an offset or dynamic voltage adjustment and never a fixed voltage. Undervolting slightly can help keep the processor cooler so it that PBO helps even more.

You want to make only slight adjustments in these things as major adjustments will make it run hot or go unstable. You're not likely to do any harm (beyond instability) though, not even if you make major changes undervolting or with PBO. So it's perfectly OK to experiment to find the best performance settings.

 

[tooearly]

It's boosting closer to it's spec. 4.2Ghz but not quite there. Check temperatures and background activity in your system. If your room is warm because of summer-time high temperature then the processor is also running warmer than usual and that can keep it from boosting to it's full 4.2Ghz frequently. The important temperatures to follow CPU (Tdie/Tctl) temp and CPU Die (Average). Tdie/Tctl may spike frequently at idle along with each core boost.

A lot of background activity can keep the processor warm so it's not boosting as high. That would be from background apps you're starting up at every boot.

You can try enabling PBO into "Advanced" or "Manual" mode and increase the PPT, TDC and EDC settings slightly. That won't work very well if temperatures are already running hot (above mid- 70's) at idle though. So another thing to do is to undervolt slightly, but do it only with an offset or dynamic voltage adjustment and never a fixed voltage. Undervolting slightly can help keep the processor cooler so it that PBO helps even more.

You want to make only slight adjustments in these things as major adjustments will make it run hot or go unstable. You're not likely to do any harm (beyond instability) though, not even if you make major changes undervolting or with PBO. So it's perfectly OK to experiment to find the best performance settings.

how much would you suggest undervolting right now i put i to -0.102 is that enougt or should i go a little more down

 

[drea.drechsler]

how much would you suggest undervolting right now i put i to -0.102 is that enougt or should i go a little more down

I'm pretty sure that's too much, I can't run my 3700X more than about -.0125. The way to know is to compare Cinebench scores since it might still run stable. A strange thing about how these CPU's run is they can actually lower performance when undervolted too far even though it still runs stable. Something called clock stretching.

 

[tooearly]

I'm pretty sure that's too much, I can't run my 3700X more than about -.0125. The way to know is to compare Cinebench scores since it might still run stable. A strange thing about how these CPU's run is they can actually lower performance when undervolted too far even though it still runs stable. Something called clock stretching.

so i tested alot of diffrent voltages -0.060 seems to be the fastest in cinebench

 

[drea.drechsler]

so i tested alot of diffrent voltages -0.060 seems to be the fastest in cinebench

Something to keep in mind is that really high boost clocks don't add significantly to CPU performance. It boosts a single core at a time, never all the cores simultaneously, to control CPU thermals and it's very short in duration. It may look cool hitting the high clocks in light threaded work but the CPU works most effectively at higher intermediate clocks in heavy workloads which you want to remain as high as possible. That can be significantly improved with tweaking of your PBO settings and good cooling.

But it's nearly impossible to judge that by watching core clocks because the boosting is so dynamic; again, done to control core thermals. So the way to know you're improving and not degrading performance as you tweak is to compare scores for Cinebench (or similar) benchmark runs. Longer runs can also be better to test out cooling performance since the CPU may start off strong but as it heats up the cooler and air in the case the algorithm slows it back down much further than at a less aggressive setting throughout an extended run.

 

[tooearly]

have been playing around with settings alot for the best performance and stability i ended up with

Dynamic Vcore -0.114
PPT - 142
TDC - 95
EDC - 140
Average 3.95ghz and a max of 4.2ghz

Temps:
Idle - 45°c
Gaming - 65/67°c
Cinebench - 73°c

 

[drea.drechsler]

have been playing around with settings alot for the best performance and stability i ended up with

Dynamic Vcore -0.114
PPT - 142
TDC - 95
EDC - 140
Average 3.95ghz and a max of 4.2ghz

Temps:
Idle - 45°c
Gaming - 65/67°c
Cinebench - 73°c

Is your Cinebench much improved vs. a baseline score?

 

[tooearly]

Is your Cinebench much improved vs. a baseline score?

its like 100-200pts better

 

[drea.drechsler]

its like 100-200pts better

There you go! you are seeing improvement.

The only problem is, if you're like me, you're never sure there's not some more if you just get the right combination of settings. That's frustrating...so either tweak and never do the stuff you got the computer for, or just take what you're getting and be happy. LOL

 

[tooearly]

There you go! you are seeing improvement.

The only problem is, if you're like me, you're never sure there's not some more if you just get the right combination of settings. That's frustrating...so either tweak and never do the stuff you got the computer for, or just take what you're getting and be happy. LOL

i do the same always trying squeeze little more performance out but i think i need to stop myself here

 

[tooearly]

There you go! you are seeing improvement.

The only problem is, if you're like me, you're never sure there's not some more if you just get the right combination of settings. That's frustrating...so either tweak and never do the stuff you got the computer for, or just take what you're getting and be happy. LOL

i do the same always trying squeeze little more performance out but i think i need to stop myself here

well addiction struck i managed to squeeze 300pts more out

PBO:
PPT - 75
TDC - 90
EDC - 85

Dynamic Vcore -0.108

Max temp - 70°c

 

[drea.drechsler]

well addiction struck i managed to squeeze 300pts more out

PBO:
PPT - 75
TDC - 90
EDC - 85

Dynamic Vcore -0.108

Max temp - 70°c

I think you're discovering something about how thermally sensitive these parts are. Pulling back on PBO settings help the processor run cooler and perform better.

But also, don't forget how temperature can affect Cinebench runs: a cold system gets better scores.