AMD Ryzen 5 2400g CPU Frequency Unstable while gaming

[Viermisor]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for your time.

My CPU won't stabilize the frequency no matter what I do and it's causing me FPS drops and performance issues in games. If I manually adjust the Minimum processor state and the Maximum processor state settings of ANY power plan including Ryzen Balanced the CPU will stabilize as following:

From 1 - 62% (Minimum processor state 1 - Maximum 62 or Minimum 62 and Maximum 62) the CPU will have a stable frequency of 1596.76 Mhz / Multiplier x16 / Bus Speed 99.80 Mhz

From 63 - 99% (Minimum processor state 63 - Maximum 99 or Minimum 99 and Maximum 99) the CPU will have a stable frequency of 2295.35 Mhz / Multiplier x23.0 / Bus speed 99.80 Mhz

If I set 100% as the Maximum Processor state (No matter which Minimum) CPU changes Multiplier (Every second) from x25.5 , x25.67, x30.4, x30.6, x30.8 ,x31, x38 , x38.25, x38.5

The speeds were measured while Gaming with CPU - Z

I tried different versions of ALL drivers, I tried all the BIOS versions I found on ASUS Support, I cleared the CMOS, reinstalled the OS a couple of times, nothing helped. I contacted ASUS and they told me that they do not offer assistance for Overclocking even though I do not need Overclocking, all I want is a stable frequency. AMD Ryzen Master does not work for me, no matter which settings I try it asks for a reboot to Apply and after the reboot nothing changes. I am on the A320 Chipset which I know that it doesn't support overclocking but I've seen many people using ASUS Ai Suite to set a stable multiplier on A320 chipsets. No matter which version of Ai Suite I try I do not have the multiplier option. I am currently using the latest BIOS version (4207 AGESA 1006). Any ideas what can I do?

I would like to have a stable frequency within the CPU limits, at least a multiplier of x37.

These are the default CPU Settings in BIOS (Other than this I do not have any other CPU related settings)

------------------------------------
Advanced CPU 
------------------------------------
PSS Support - Enabled 
NX Mode - Enabled
SVM Mode - Disabled
SMT Mode - Auto 
Core Leveling Mode - Auto 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
AMD CBS 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Core Performance Boost - Auto 
Memory Interleaving - Auto
IOMMU - Auto
Global C-State Control - Auto
Power Supply Idle Control - Auto
------------------------------------------------------------- 
Hardware
------------------------------------------------------------- 
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME A320M-R
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400g
GPU: ASUS DUAL GTX 1060 O6G
RAM: 1x8GB DDR4 Kingston 2400Mhz
SSD: Kingston A400
HDD: Seagate Barracuda
PSU: nJoy Titan 500W 80+

OS: Win 10 Pro x64 Version 1809 (OS Build 17763.195)

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

have you checked your CPU temps? it could be thermal throttling.

[samcool55]

What i would do is use hwinfo because that will show per-core clockspeeds.

Also turbo doesn't count for all cores. Not all cores have to run on the same frequency.

3.9Ghz is the max speed 1 core can do (maybe 2, can't find the turbo table, probably because of senseMI 2), not all of them can reach that speed at the same time.

 

And those ratios actually look correct.

100Mhz x 38.5 = 3.85Ghz, which seems about right.

Also if you want to do something with ratios or whatever, get ryzen master.

[Fasauceome]

11 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

ASUS PRIME A320M-R

I'm tempted to write it off as a motherboard power delivery issue as the A320 chipset boards are the cheapest it gets. Maybe disable core performance boost?

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 Yes, the temps are ok, here is a screenshot of Far Cry 5 running at maxed out settings:

 

@samcool55 here is a video link of what's happening. As I stated before, no matter which settings I try when I apply them, Ryzen Master asks for a reboot and then, after the reboot, nothing changes.

 

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

Everything seems okay as far as i can tell, but those fluctuations are insane.

Seems like the CPU is forcing itself to be in a "Power Saving" mode?, i would suggest you disable all the power saving features in your motherboard.

 

PSS support - Disable

CPB Mode -  Enable/Disable and see what changes

APM - Disable

C6 Mode - Disable

C-States - Disable

 

Those settings could be named something else on your motherbard because i'm looking at a different ASUS motherboard right now, but it would help if you could send pictures of the BIOS.

 

You could also try disabling each one of those settings individually to see which one is creating this unusual behavior.

 

[samcool55]

17 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

@syn2112 Yes, the temps are ok, here is a screenshot of Far Cry 5 running at maxed out settings:

 

-snip

@samcool55 here is a video link of what's happening. As I stated before, no matter which settings I try when I apply them, Ryzen Master asks for a reboot and then, after the reboot, nothing changes.

-snip-

It seems to turbo fine, so that's good.

However, it seems really starved for power.

36W peak is way too low and somehow your 1060 doesn't even seem to do anything.

GPU load is basically 0, fans aren't even on and power usage is 30W.

 

Can you run cinebench R15 and post another picture of hwinfo?

Also the score of cinebench would be useful.

 

 

 

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 you can see in my original post all the CPU related settings I have. None except those.

@samcool55 I was alt+tab at that moment, so I assume GPU was idling. Here are the screenshots:

 

The CPU temps didn't pass 45°C. However, as you can see in the screenshot, the CPU multiplier was stable this time. Why isn't it stable like this in games though? Any ideas?

[.Apex.]

2 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

However, as you can see in the screenshot, the CPU multiplier was stable this time. Why isn't it stable like this in games though? Any ideas?

I really think it's just some power saving feature that's being forced when you're playing a game, because the CPU isn't pegged at a 100%, it's trying to downclock other cores that aren't being used heavily, and obviously that's not optimal.

 

5 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

you can see in my original post all the CPU related settings I have. None except those.

PSS support 

CPB Mode = Core Performance Boost

APM = Can't find it in the settings you mentioned, even though it's the most important one.

C6 Mode = Global C-States Control

C-States = Global C-States Control

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 I disabled PSS, CPB & Global C-States Control.

Now the CPU won't go past 3597MHz, but the frequency is still not stable, 2 cores are staying at x28 and 2 at x36 and they keep on changing in between.

However, I found APM configuration in BIOS and I have the following default settings:

ErP Ready - disabled (enable S4+S5 / enable S5)

Restore AC power loss - Power Off (power on / last state)
Power on by PCI-e - disabled (enable)
Power on by ring - disabled (enable)
Power on by RTC - disabled (enable)
 *other options available inside the brackets

 

P.S. With CPB disabled there is no improvement in-game, smoothness wise and the FPS is even lower.

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

hmm that is weird.. 

is the Minimum Power State and Maximum still on 100?

 

CPB doesn't increase the clockspeed, but it does keep it stable at a slightly lower one, so you can keep testing with enabling and disabling CPB, and leave those APM settings as they are, those are different, i guess that particular CPU doesn't have AMD APM function.

 

kinda stupid for a CPU to be this aggressive on power savings.. maybe that's unique to the A320 chipset

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

do you have Asus AI Suite III installed?

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 Not atm, but I've seen a few guys using AI suite on A320M-K and they had the option to set a fixed multiplier in some older AI suite versions.

I tried some AI suite versions but I didn't have the multiplier option, all I had was some VDDCR voltage and frequency settings but no matter what I changed and applied, nothing seemed to have changed.

 

And yes, the Min & Max are at 100&. I'm using the ultimate performance power plan.

[.Apex.]

8 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

@syn2112 Not atm, but I've seen a few guys using AI suite on A320M-K and they had the option to set a fixed multiplier in some older AI suite versions.

I tried some AI suite versions but I didn't have the multiplier option, all I had was some VDDCR voltage and frequency settings but no matter what I changed and applied, nothing seemed to have changed.

 

And yes, the Min & Max are at 100&. I'm using the ultimate performance power plan.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Utility/SW_ASUS_AISuite3_PPSU_V30013_10514_20180201.zip

try this version and see if it enables you to change the multiplier.

 

sorry if the link seems suspicious but you can go here instead https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-A/HelpDesk_Download/ and scroll down to "Utilities" and choose the 2018/02/01 date (version 1.05.14)

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 don't worry, I'm not that newb, I can see where the file is hosted, installed it.

These are all the options I have, no matter what settings I apply nothing changes.

In EPU if I change the settings it will only change the Windows current power plan. I can see there is a vcore downgrade option, disabled it yet nothing changed. 

I even went further and set the load lines and the switching frequency to the max and again, no change.

Also I toyed around with the CPU voltage threshold and again, no change.

 

Fan Xpert works, I can change the CPU fan speed.

 

I also have an option called TurboV EVO for OC the GPU but that's not needed.

What else can I do beside smashing it with a sledgehammer?

 

[.Apex.]

5 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

don't worry, I'm not that newb, I can see where the file is hosted, installed it.

You are far from a newb  

8 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

I also have an option called TurboV EVO for OC the GPU but that's not needed.

that's where you would find the multiplier for the CPU, what's in the Auto Tuning tab on top?

11 minutes ago, Viermisor said:

What else can I do beside smashing it with a sledgehammer?

we haven't reached that step.. yet..

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

also can you reset the BIOS and open that TurboV EVO page again? (or reset the settings you've changed)

[Guest]

I have a 2600 
if i measure with speccy during the measurement it does fluctuate a lot over the 12 logical cores 
during gaming its usually 100% of the max frequency indicated by the current powerplan

I'm not sure, with your observations, if this kind of problem solving will help you any further.

Maybe it should be replaced? 

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 I reset the BIOS and in the TurboV EVO page I have the graphics card option as you can see in a screenshot I posted above and I also have Auto tuning, shown below:

 

I clicked START and my computer rebooted and now my multiplier is x39, which is an improvement.

 

 

As you can see, the clock raised which is awesome but unfortunately, the frequency is still not stable. I ran Cinebench R15 and I kept HW open and the frequencies never went past ~3750MHz and my score was a bit lower than before.

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor
Oh boy..  as I understand it from reading on this topic, this only seems to be a problem with the 2200G and the 2400G, they have aggressive power saving features and supposedly will only be disabled by overclocking and setting a fixed multiplier, but since the motherboard you have is completely blocking any multiplier changes, except that Auto Tuning feature (which means it CAN overclock), i think you're kinda out of luck  

 

I suggest you disable the Auto Tuning thing, and bring it back to stock, because it might fluctuate even more.

 

We literally have gone through everything to fix this issue, I am out of ideas..

 

I think it's time..

[.Apex.]

@Viermisor

Disabling CPB might be your best bet at preventing stuttering

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 even though it still fluctuates, some games seem to perform a bit smoother than before....if I'm not imagining things. The temps are ok but the fans are acting a bit crazy. They randomly speed up their spinning and then they slow down suddenly, even though the temps are not changing. I think it might set some weird CPU fan profile.

 

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

 

I think I will purchase this MBO Gigabyte AB350M-DS2. Believe it or not, it's cheaper than my current MBO, but this computer was bought prebuilt. I'm just hoping it's not the PSU causing the problems.

 

I will keep this post updated and let you know.

Thank you SO much for your help, I owe you a cold one !

[.Apex.]

11 hours ago, Viermisor said:

even though it still fluctuates, some games seem to perform a bit smoother than before....if I'm not imagining things. The temps are ok but the fans are acting a bit crazy. They randomly speed up their spinning and then they slow down suddenly, even though the temps are not changing. I think it might set some weird CPU fan profile.

You're talking about after Auto Tuning? that's good if it improves things, but you could also experiment with disabling CPB if you run into any issues with this Auto Tune, the FPS might be lower but maybe it could fix the stuttering.

 

11 hours ago, Viermisor said:

I think I will purchase this MBO Gigabyte AB350M-DS2. Believe it or not, it's cheaper than my current MBO, but this computer was bought prebuilt. I'm just hoping it's not the PSU causing the problems.

I doubt it has anything to do with the PSU, you would run into other issues long before you would see frequency fluctuations.

 

and just letting you know not all 300 series motherboards support 2nd Gen Ryzen out of the box, some of them might have the BIOS updated already, but if not then you need a 1st Gen CPU to update the BIOS so then you could use your 2400G, if you're buying it from a store ask them to update the BIOS or check which BIOS it's running at, I suggest just finding a B450 motherboard instead to save yourself the headache.

 

11 hours ago, Viermisor said:

I will keep this post updated and let you know.

Thank you SO much for your help, I owe you a cold one !

You're welcome  

[Viermisor]

@syn2112 I looked into the BIOS update issue on B350 chipset and then followed your advice and bought the Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO and saved myself from wasting time in vain.

 

The MBO looks really nice and I can finally do what I was trying to do in the last two weeks without success.

Everything performs better on this MBO , both the HDD and SSD are faster, better benchmark results on the RAM too. All I've done until now is set a multiplier of x40, didn't even bothered to modify anything else in the bios and the CPU is stable at 4Ghz with the stock cooler, and the average CPU temp is about 36°C , all the games are running smooth maxed out.

 

Even though I like ASUS as a brand I'm starting to doubt their price/quality ratio since this MBO is not much more expensive than the A320M-R here.

 

Mounting it was a bit hard with the cable management and everything since it's almost double the size of the old one. I didn't manage to connect the RGB strips on the MBO, I think I am supposed to leave the W(white) unplugged but I have no idea if the RGB order is important or not so I won't plug them upside down into the MBO, would be nice to have them plugged though.

I have some nice profiles, especially the game related ones and the music, the MBO's lit parts look great using those profiles and I think it would look even better with the RGB strips in sync.

Do you happen to have any idea on how to properly connect them? They are from a Deepcool kit and they have no indicators on them except some up & down arrows to match.

 

Anyway, thank you so much again for all your help and I won't forget about the cold one.

 

 

 

[Stefan Payne]

On 1/10/2019 at 7:45 PM, Viermisor said:

 Yes, the temps are ok,

Then its the usual power limit of AMD APUs wich go more towards the GPU part than the CPU, wich makes sense for the most part.

 

Its the same with my Kaveri. When I use the Integrated Graphics, its more on the 3GHz side, without its boosting to 4GHz...