AMD Extended Frequency Range (XFR) - Explained

[johndms]

There are many opinions on how AMD's Precision Boost and Extended Frequency Range (XFR) work. Several sites on the web have wrong, or perhaps old, leaked information. I'm actually guilty of giving false information based on what I read on the web. From what I can determine, it's explained correctly here.

https://www.pcper.com/news/Processors/PSA-AMD-XFR-Enabled-All-Ryzen-CPUs-X-SKUs-Have-Wider-Range

 

Basically, for a Ryzen 5 1600 with a base clock of 3.2GHz. At default bios settings, Precision Boost, with the help of AMD's SenseMI Technology, will automatically overclock all cores to 3.4GHz in increments of 25MHz. If core temperatures are still within safe ranges, two cores will continue to increase in 25MHz increments up to the reported Boost Clock of 3.6GHz. XFR will then increase these two cores an additional 100MHz, if thermals permit, to 3.7GHz. I never actually see these increments, though. HWMonitor shows my six cores alternating between four at 3400 and two at 3700. Precision Boost and XFR can be disabled in the bios via the advanced Core Performance Boost option.

 

I've begun compiling a list of Ryzen and Threadripper Base and Precision Boost clocks with XFR. If anyone can verify these numbers, or fill in missing numbers, I'd be grateful and will use that to update this list.

		Base Clock	Boost (all cores)	Boost (two cores)	XFR (two cores)		XFR Limit
Ryzen 3 1200	3.1					3.4			3.45			50
Ryzen 3 1300x	3.5					3.7			3.9			200

Ryzen 5 1400	3.2					3.4			3.45			50
Ryzen 5 1500x	3.5		3.6			3.7			3.9			200
Ryzen 5 1600	3.2		3.4			3.6			3.7			100
Ryzen 5 1600x	3.6		3.7			4.0			4.1			100

Ryzen 7 1700	3.0		3.2			3.7			3.75			50
Ryzen 7 1700x	3.4		3.5			3.8			3.9			100
Ryzen 7 1800x	3.6		3.7			4.0			4.1			100

TR 1900x	3.8					4.0 (four cores)	4.2 (four cores)	200
TR 1920x	3.5					4.0 (four cores)	4.2 (four cores)	200
TR 1950x	3.4		3.7			4.0 (four cores)	4.2 (four cores)	200

 

 

[Den-Fi]

I was under the impression that TR was a 4 core boost.

I've never actually looked. I will check on that right now though.

[dcgreen2k]

So all Ryzen cpus, even if they don't have the X, have XFR?

[Nocte]

2 minutes ago, thegreengamers said:

So all Ryzen cpus, even if they don't have the X, have XFR?

Yes, that was known since release. 

[johndms]

1 minute ago, thegreengamers said:

So all Ryzen cpus, even if they don't have the X, have XFR?

yep

 

2 minutes ago, Legendarypoet said:

I was under the impression that TR was a 4 core boost.

I've never actually looked. I will check on that right now though.

It may, I just threw Threadripper in there because the numbers were the same. The list is a work in progress.

[johndms]

9 minutes ago, Legendarypoet said:

I was under the impression that TR was a 4 core boost.

I've never actually looked. I will check on that right now though.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-ryzen-threadripper-1950x-review,2.html

According to that site, and the screenshot at the bottom, you're correct. TR does boost four cores.

[Den-Fi]

Just now, johndms said:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-ryzen-threadripper-1950x-review,2.html

According to that site, and the screenshot at the bottom, you're correct. TR does boost four cores.

Yeah. I set everything back to stock, then ran CB 4 cores hit 3949MHz

[johndms]

4 minutes ago, Legendarypoet said:

Yeah. I set everything back to stock, then ran CB 4 cores hit 3949MHz

At idle, and stock, does your frequency sit at base clock 3.4GHz, or does it boost all cores to something higher?

[Den-Fi]

2 minutes ago, johndms said:

At idle, and stock, does your frequency sit at base clock 3.4GHz, or does it boost all cores to something higher?

All cores @ 3.7GHz using Ryzen Balanced plan. Let me just make sure these are the stock plan settings.

[Santo22]

Even with my overclock in place (i left auto boost) at idle my 1700x sits aroun 3.4 then when i open anything or run cinebench it goes to my set clock speed of 3.8. the overclock is stable as I ran aida for several hours. I am using an offset voltage of + .0375. Is this the XFR still being used?

I was wondering about that today and if I should disable it but I like the fact that idle im only hitting .60 volts and temps are extremely low. 

[johndms]

2 minutes ago, Santo22 said:

Even with my overclock in place (i left auto boost) at idle my 1700x sits aroun 3.4 then when i open anything or run cinebench it goes to my set clock speed of 3.8. the overclock is stable as I ran aida for several hours. I am using an offset voltage of + .0375. Is this the XFR still being used?

I was wondering about that today and if I should disable it but I like the fact that idle im only hitting .60 volts and temps are extremely low. 

I should probably make a note in my original post about using AMD's Ryzen Balanced Power Plan.

 

I'm not sure what plan you're using, but if you've overclocked your 1700x to 3.8, it should stay at 3.8 unless you're using Windows' default Balanced Power Plan which underclocks/undervolts your processor when idle, which it does if you have C-State enabled in the bios (default). At least I think that's how it works.

 

Supposedly boards are supposed to automatically disable Precision Boost/XFR when a manual overclock is applied.

[Den-Fi]

There's no reset for the Ryzen Balanced plan. Can someone tell me their setting for Minimum processor state, System cooling policy, and Maximum processor state?

[Santo22]

50 minutes ago, johndms said:

 should probably make a note in my original post about using AMD's Ryzen Balanced Power Plan.

 

I'm not sure what plan you're using, but if you've overclocked your 1700x to 3.8, it should stay at 3.8 unless you're using Windows' default Balanced Power Plan which underclocks/undervolts your processor when idle, which it does if you have C-State enabled in the bios (default). At least I think that's how it works.

 

Supposedly boards are supposed to automatically disable Precision Boost/XFR when a manual overclock is applied.

I am currently running AMD's power plan and min state is 90% I believe default. 

 

Edit: Forgot to mention i do have Global C State enabled. 

[johndms]

5 minutes ago, Legendarypoet said:

There's no reset for the Ryzen Balanced plan. Can someone tell me their setting for Minimum processor state, System cooling policy, and Maximum processor state?

 

Mine's not default.. I think the min is 90% though. Kinda makes me wonder when and why I changed that.

[Den-Fi]

Just now, johndms said:

 

Thanks. Yeah all 16 cores are 3.7GHz on Ryzen Balanced.

[Dash Lambda]

I don't run it at stock, but I do have my 1700X Pstate overclocked to 3.98Ghz and HWiNFO is showing a maximum clock of 4.0669Ghz on half the cores and 4.0903 on the other half. I don't know how long it's been on (and therefore logging), but it's been at least several days, maybe more than a week.

So, it seems that XFR just bumps up your max clock ~100Mhz, give or take 10-20Mhz depending on the situation. From what I've read, the non-X chips should behave similarly but only go up 50Mhz rather than the full 100.

 

What I find interesting is that my max multiplier across all cores is 39.8. It pushes that last boost with Bclock, for which my maximum is 102.9 (as opposed to 99.8, which is the average, just above the minimum, and what it's been sitting at the whole time I've been writing this).

 

30 minutes ago, johndms said:

I'm not sure what plan you're using, but if you've overclocked your 1700X to 3.8, it should stay at 3.8 unless you're using Windows' default Balanced Power Plan which underclocks/undervolts your processor when idle, which it does if you have C-States enabled in the bios (default). At least I think that's how it works.

With Ryzen, you can change the individual P-states (by my understanding, basically C-states). It's set to static when you just dial in the settings, but if you instead set your overclock to the max P-state you can preserve XFR and the idle downclocking.

[johndms]

1 minute ago, Dash Lambda said:

From what I've read, the non-X chips should behave similarly but only go up 50Mhz rather than the full 100

This seems true for all but the 1600. It's noted in my list above, some only have a 50 xfr boost. I've also not bothered with P-States yet as I've pretty much given up on my ASSrock board being able to push any frequency worth having. The lack of LLC options has seen me settle for a manual 3.8GHz overclock.