[SOLVED] Trying to overclock

[Inkjunkie]

Have not done overclocking in over 20 years. Not a gamer, just use my desktop for photo editing. Anyways here is what I am dealing with
Asus Tuf Gaming X570 Plus
Ryzen 9 3950x
G.Skill Trident Z 3600 c14
American Megatrends Bios 3405
360mm Radiator with push/pull fans
I bought this particular board after seeing several reviews saying it was a decent all around board.
I have read this guide several times and figured I would give it a go. I don't remember the specifics of what I have done in the bios....other then turning off PBO, and using the DOCP profile. In my previous efforts I have not been able to get the clock past 39.5. Did some more reading/watching YouTube videos and seen several mentions of changing the VDDCR SOL voltage from auto to manual and setting it at 1.1 volts. I just passed a stress test with the clock at 40.5.
What exactly does the VDDCR SOL control? I am tempted to put it back to auto to see if my machine fails the stress test.
Wondering how far I am going to be able to push this thing....some point I may look for another board but with the availability issues it is going to have to wait. Not to mention race season will be starting here in about 6-7 weeks so then all of my free time will be put into trying to help support the local track so may have to wait until Fall....

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

TBH, you are better off using PBO, which is like auto OC'ing. For your usage, I wouldn't even bother. OC'ing while fun and often yields better performance, specially in gaming, doesn't yield much noticeable effect in photo editing. Your CPU is already one of the top gamer/productivity CPU's available.

You might check this out: CPU overclocking guide and tutorial for beginners | Tom's Hardware Forum

It's pretty comprehensive and is a good guide for beginners and those looking to refresh.

 

[Inkjunkie]

Hey there,

TBH, you are better off using PBO, which is like auto OC'ing. For your usage, I wouldn't even bother. OC'ing while fun and often yields better performance, specially in gaming, doesn't yield much noticeable effect in photo editing. Your CPU is already one of the top gamer/productivity CPU's available.

You might check this out: CPU overclocking guide and tutorial for beginners | Tom's Hardware Forum

It's pretty comprehensive and is a good guide for beginners and those looking to refresh.

I have read that guide several times. Ran into a bit of a problem. Got home from town today, went to power up my computer. Nada. Monitor would brighten up a bit, then back to darkness. Coolant pump running, one of the LEDs on the board was lit. Didn't pay much attention to it. Pulled the plug, cleared the camos and fired it up. Loaded default settings. Just curious so I opened RealBench. Set the RAM at 16g, time for 15 minutes. At about the 5 minute mark stress test stopped, system instability. Tried the DOCP setting, same result.
I understand what you are saying about the manual ocing. Just bored and want to figure out how to do it. Was not planning on running it manually over clocked when I am editing.

 

[BogdanH]

Your CPU is already one of the top gamer/productivity CPU's available.

Agree!

to OP:
Don't look at 3950X as being some high-core Intel K alternative (in sense "let's see how much juice I can squeeze from it"). 3950X (and 3900X) deliver expected results out of the box -both are tuned that way.
Yes, overclocking/undervolting is possible, of course and will slightly increase speed and/or decrease heat. But in case of 3900X/3950X you shouldn't expect wonders.

I'm not really into overclocking and stuff, because I prefer 100% stability and silent PC. Still, being curious, I was playing a bit with my 5900X. My goal was:

1. to keep PC as silent as it is (not increasing fans speeds),
2. not exceeding 80°C at long time full load (I use air cooler),

After many settings and restarts, I managed to increase multithread performance by 5% and 2% increase for single thread (Cinebench R23), compared to default settings in BIOS. Is not a lot.. I mean is not really noticeable in real PC usage. I could get a bit more by increasing fan speeds and by allowing higher (but still safe) CPU temperatures -but for me, it just wasn't worth to go any further.

I recommend watching following two videos:
Undervolting with PBO2 and Precision Boost Overdrive 2 Guide

EDIT I just realized, that when I was writing this post, I though OP has 5950X CPU (even he clearly states he has 3950X). Anyway, my opinion about overclocking remains valid for both CPU series: 3900X/3950X and 5900X/5950X.
However, 3900X/3950X don't support PBO2 overclocking, and so watching videos that I recommended is not useful for OP.
I apology for confusion.