Question Ryzen 9 5950X never falls below base clock rate (3.6 GHz) even when idle?

[Sonew1964]

Hello,

I noticed that my new Ryzen 9 5950X never falls below the base clock rate of 3.6 GHz even when the system is completely idle. Is that normal?

This is how things look in HWInfo when the system is sitting idle:

https://imgur.com/uVFzCsr

View: https://i.imgur.com/uVFzCsr.png

Looks pretty much the same with Core Temp.

Note: My old Intel Core2 Quad (Skylake) definitely went down to a few hundred MHz - way below its official "base" clock rate - when the system was Idle.

Thank you!

 

[drea.drechsler]

Many monitoring utilities aren't properly set up to monitor Ryzen CPU sensors. Instead, get HWInfo64 and set it up for monitoring Ryzen.

Info - How to use HWINFO to track sensors in Ryzen CPU

How to use HWINFO to track sensors in HWINFO

forums.tomshardware.com

Have you installed the chipset drivers? Get the latest ones from AMD's support web site. Also update your motherboard's BIOS to latest, if you haven't.

And to understand Ryzen: 3.6Ghz is the base clock. the max boost clock of a 5950X is 4.9Ghz. It will drop clocks below 3.6Ghz (turn it off, so 0 actually) when it puts cores in sleep state. When in sleep state it wakes the cores up...bad monitoring utilities often wake cores up so that may be what your seeing. But the more likely is they just report 3600 and ignore that the core's in a sleep status (clocks off).

 

[Sonew1964]

The above screenshot is from HWInfo64, but Core Temp shows the same. Don't know what needs to be "set up" in HWInfo64 for Ryzen though 🤔

I'm running Windows 11 with all updates installed. Latest AMD chipset driver is installed. BIOS has been updated to latest version. Power plan is set to "Balanced" as well.

 

[drea.drechsler]

The above screenshot is from HWInfo64, but Core Temp shows the same. Don't know what needs to be "set up" in HWInfo64 for Ryzen though 🤔

I'm running Windows 11 with all updates installed. Latest AMD chipset driver is installed. BIOS has been updated to latest version. Power plan is set to "Balanced" as well.

hah...i thought that was hwmonitor's screen as I never use that screen in hwinfo so never noticed it before!

Open the hwinfo sensor screen and monitor core clocks. that's a lot more accurate.

You might post a question to Martin (HWInfo's author) on his web site forum about why that screen is so wonky. He's usually very good about replying to serious questions. If it's something that needs fixing, he'll often times roll it out in the very next beta which come out fairly often.

 

[Sonew1964]

Open the hwinfo sensor screen and monitor core clocks. that's a lot more accurate.

Thanks for the pointer!

In "Sensor Status" screen I see that "Core Clocks" are stuck at 3.6 GHz, but there is also "Core Effective Clocks" which falls down to ~7 MHz when idle 😵

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for the pointer!

In "Sensor Status" screen I see that "Core Clocks" are stuck at 3.6 GHz, but there is also "Core Effective Clocks" which falls down to ~7 MHz when idle 😵

When you say 'stuck'....all the time? never boosting above 3.6Ghz even with activity?

Ryzen's usually very dynamic with constant boosting and idling of cores in normal Windows activities. The only way that changes is if some BIOS settings are out of whack. If you're not sure what might have been changed I'd save a profile (so you can come back to these settings if you want to) then reset CMOS and see how it behaves then.

 

[Sonew1964]

When you say 'stuck'....all the time? never boosting above 3.6Ghz even with activity?

Nope, "Core Clocks" are stuck in downwards direction. They do go up, to at most 4.9 GHz, when I put on some load. Just never falls below 3.6 GHz for any core.

But "Core Effective Clocks" definitely do go down...

 

[drea.drechsler]

Nope, "Core Clocks" are stuck in downwards direction. They do go up, to at most 4.9 GHz, when I put on some load. Just never falls below 3.6 GHz for any core.

But "Core Effective Clocks" definitely do go down...

That's definitely suggesting it's going into sleep states, so must be dropping clocks really low.

Check the section "C6 Residency" C6 is deep sleep, when clocks are at 0. C0 is full performance, so clocks will be somewhere between base and max boost, in light loads probably right around max boost. C1 is partial sleep and I'm not sure what clocks should be then, possibly also 0.

 

[Sonew1964]

Just noticed that HWInfo has an interesting tool-tip:

This would indicate that the "Core Clocks" simply doesn't update properly when a core goes to sleep. So, after all, the behavior I see probably is "normal" 😊

 

[5900x]

Just in case, maybe check with AMD's own Ryzen Master. I have 5900x which is 3.7 - 4.9Ghz min/max and during idle state the base or "current" clock runs as low as 100 MHz. But I also have locked it all cores max at 4.5GHz @ 1.28v.

HW_anything shows the same.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Just noticed that HWInfo has an interesting tool-tip:

This would indicate that the "Core Clocks" simply doesn't update properly when a core goes to sleep. So, after all, the behavior I see probably is "normal" 😊

I've never actually watched that chart much either, I guess. I put graphs on the desktop instead: Click on the Core Clock sensor and then select to 'SHOW GRAPH'. You can do it for each of the 16 cores and drag it open to increase the amount of time it displays a graph of the clocks. What's interesting is even though the the charted value never drops below 3600Mhz on my 3700X I see the graphed value frequently dropping below it when the system is 'idle'.

Although it's still no where near '0' clocks I don't think that can be real, it has to be inferred. The reason for that is should a utility poll the CPU when it's in C6 deep sleep it has to wake up to report which would essentially prevent it from ever sleeping. Properly behaved utilities just report the last value before entering sleep which is the lowest P-State clock, probably 3600Mhz.

 

[crramirez]

Hello,

The only way I could lower the speed is by changing the Power Mode in Settings to "Best power efficiency"

Regards

 

[Noobpunk]

Hello,

The only way I could lower the speed is by changing the Power Mode in Settings to "Best power efficiency"

Regards

That is what I have done too, this does not pose a risk in damaging the CPU?

 

[drea.drechsler]

That is what I have done too, this does not pose a risk in damaging the CPU?

No possible risk.