Slow Single Core Performance with Ryzen 3800X

[KazInVan]

GPU: GeForce 1660 6GB

CPU: Ryzen 3800X. Currently OC to 4.2GH all cores but see boost to 4.4GHz on a few.  I had the same probelm with stock speeds too though.

Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus

RAM: G.Skill Trident Neo (F4-3600C16Q-64GTZNC) 3600MHz - CL16-19-19-39

PSU: Corsair Gold 750W

Operating System & Version: Win10 Pro (v1903) fully updated

GPU Drivers: Latest from Nvidia

Chipset Drivers: Latest from AMD (1.9.27.1033)

 

Description of Original Problem: 

Troubleshooting: Low single core performance.  I'm testing with CPU-Z (1.90) and Cinebench 20.  Multicore seems fine, benches with other 3800X, but single core is 420 in Cinebench and should be 500+.  I care about single core as the primary reason for the build is photo editing and many operations are single threaded.

 

Lifetime Intel user but with my new build I decided to try Ryzen as the performance just can't be ignored.  I went with a 3800X as it was bundled the board I wanted for a good price.  Everything got set up, posted first time, Windows installed, all good.  

 

I then started to bench it, multi core is fine and right in line with what others are getting (CPU-Z, Cinebench). But single core seems lacking.  I'm getting 410-430 on Cinebench 20 single core and others seem to be getting 500+.

Some things I have tried

- bios defaults

- bios performance profile 

- Ryzen Master, various profiles

- Different Windows profiles (Performance, Ryzen Balanced)

- AMD chipset from Asus and from AMD

- Flash latest Mobo BIOS

- All Windows Updates

- Too many BIOS overclocking profiles to count.  

 

I did manage to get the RAM running at 3600MHz, it wasn't by default.  

 

I'm not a gamer, I do photo editing mostly and some video.  Single core performance is important as many photo apps or functions in the apps are just single threaded.

 

I'm hoping to figure out where the issue is because right now the single core performance is worse than the three year old 6700K it replaced.  Anyone have any ideas on what to try?

[ddennis002]

49 minutes ago, KazInVan said:

CPU: Ryzen 3800X. Currently OC to 4.2GH all cores but see boost to 4.4GHz on a few.  I had the same probelm with stock speeds too though.

 

What are your temps and voltage set in bios and voltage full load?

 

Any bloatware programs running during the test?

 

Do you have infinity fabric set 1:1 ratio should be automatic but you said you finally got memory running 3600Mhz so double check to be sure.

 

Something is a miss here my 2700x single threaded cpu-z is 460-465 

[Nord]

Depending on where you take the data from to compare the “expected single core performance”, you need to consider a few more things such as almost all review sites will run these tests on a literally bare OS, no AV, no office, no network, no programs other than the benchmark ones. So obviously they get better scores, temps and whatnot than the end user will.

 

Also ryzen boost clocks are temperature dependant: 

 

The TL:DR is, if you sit in an air conditioned room with a watercooler you will get way better results with these chips than any average person would.
Which again, at least the air conditioning is common for review sites.

 

Lastly to point out, the 3800x, while having more cores and whatnot is clock for clock not really faster than any 6000/7000 series Intel chip. Intel is still the IPC champion, AMD is just throwing cores at it, which depending on what you are using the chips for can be a good but also a bad thing.

[KazInVan]

5 minutes ago, ddennis002 said:

What are your temps and voltage set in bios and voltage full load?

 

Any bloatware programs running during the test?

 

Do you have infinity fabric set 1:1 ratio should be automatic but you said you finally got memory running 3600Mhz so double check to be sure.

 

Something is a miss here my 2700x single threaded cpu-z is 460-465 

Temps under load are about 65.  I have a Noctua NH-D15S cooler and 5 Noctua case fans that seem to be working well.

 

No bloatware at all, fresh install of Windows as this is a new build.  

 

Infinity set to 1:1 ratio, everything 1800MHz as my RAM is 3600MHz

 

I agree, something is odd.  It benches slower in single core than my 3+ year old 6700K did. 

[KazInVan]

3 minutes ago, Nord said:

Depending on where you take the data from to compare the “expected single core performance”, you need to consider a few more things such as almost all review sites will run these tests on a literally bare OS, no AV, no office, no network, no programs other than the benchmark ones. So obviously they get better scores, temps and whatnot than the end user will.

 

Also ryzen boost clocks are temperature dependant: 

 

The TL:DR is, if you sit in an air conditioned room with a watercooler you will get way better results with these chips than any average person would.
Which again, at least the air conditioning is common for review sites.

 

Lastly to point out, the 3800x, while having more cores and whatnot is clock for clock not really faster than any 6000/7000 series Intel chip. Intel is still the IPC champion, AMD is just throwing cores at it, which depending on what you are using the chips for can be a good but also a bad thing.

My temps are low, mid 60s at the most even during stress tests.  I don't want massive performance but I can't seem to hit benchmarks that others are getting on their Ryzens.  It is benching about the same as my friends 1700X in CPU-Z single core.  That isn't right.  

[ddennis002]

17 minutes ago, KazInVan said:

My temps are low, mid 60s at the most even during stress tests.  I don't want massive performance but I can't seem to hit benchmarks that others are getting on their Ryzens.  It is benching about the same as my friends 1700X in CPU-Z single core.  That isn't right.  

Can you provide a screenshot of ryzen master please.

[KazInVan]

25 minutes ago, ddennis002 said:

Can you provide a screenshot of ryzen master please.

[KazInVan]

28 minutes ago, ddennis002 said:

Can you provide a screenshot of ryzen master please.

Here it is during a stress test.

[Nord]

Interesting how suddenly it's at 73°C and not at 65 as claimed before.

 

Anyway, as I don't know how to setup a ryzen system and my entire knowledge on that platform is basically from reviews I can't really provide any further guidance on the issue but ddennis seems to know his stuff, so good luck.

[ddennis002]

12 minutes ago, KazInVan said:

Here it is during a stress test.

I would say lets start with a clean slate here. Reset your bios to defaults and set what is absolutely necessary for boot. While you do that I am going to look for a visual of your bios should be close to mine for the most part but it easier when I can see it.

[ddennis002]

37 minutes ago, KazInVan said:

Here it is during a stress test.

Menu: Ai Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner - D.O.C.P
Make sure memory frequancy shows 3600Mhz
Performance Bias - None

Precision Boost Overdrive
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boot Overdrive Scalar - Manual
Customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scaller - 10x
Max CPU Boost Clock Overide - 200Mhz
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - Manual
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - 95

DRAM Timing Control
Make sure timings are correct from D.O.C.P yours should be. If any of these are wrong or set to Auto change them to the value listed.
DRAM CAS# Latency - 16
Trcdrd - 19
Trcdwr - 19
Dram RAS# PRE Time -19
DRAM RAS# ACT TIME - 39
Trc - 58

DIGI+ VRM
VDDCR CPU Current Capability - 140%
VDDCR SOC Current Capability - 130%

DRAM Voltage Sould be set from D.O.C.P set manual to 1.35v most likely or whatever voltage your memory is spec for.

VTTDDR Voltage should be set to half of your DRAM Voltage.

Under Advanced Tab
AMD CBS
NBIO Common Options
XFR Enhancement
Accept Agreement
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - Manual
customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - 10x

All other settings can be set to what you need everything else just leave alone.

Re-run your tests with only the benchmark program running and download HWinfo https://www.hwinfo.com/

Post screenshot with sensor portion of HWinfo and your test results.

[KazInVan]

39 minutes ago, Nord said:

Interesting how suddenly it's at 73°C and not at 65 as claimed before.

 

Anyway, as I don't know how to setup a ryzen system and my entire knowledge on that platform is basically from reviews I can't really provide any further guidance on the issue but ddennis seems to know his stuff, so good luck.

You’re right, that’s my mistake.  Mid 60s temps were with bios defaults (stock speed). Mid 70s with current OC. 

[KazInVan]

3 minutes ago, ddennis002 said:

Menu: Ai Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner - D.O.C.P
Make sure memory frequancy shows 3600Mhz
Performance Bias - None

Precision Boost Overdrive
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boot Overdrive Scalar - Manual
Customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scaller - 10x
Max CPU Boost Clock Overide - 200Mhz
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - Manual
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - 95

DRAM Timing Control
Make sure timings are correct from D.O.C.P yours should be. If any of these are wrong or set to Auto change them to the value listed.
DRAM CAS# Latency - 16
Trcdrd - 19
Trcdwr - 19
Dram RAS# PRE Time -19
DRAM RAS# ACT TIME - 39
Trc - 58

DIGI+ VRM
VDDCR CPU Current Capability - 140%
VDDCR SOC Current Capability - 130%

DRAM Voltage Sould be set from D.O.C.P set manual to 1.35v most likely or whatever voltage your memory is spec for.

VTTDDR Voltage should be set to half of your DRAM Voltage.

Under Advanced Tab
AMD CBS
NBIO Common Options
XFR Enhancement
Accept Agreement
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - Manual
customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - 10x

All other settings can be set to what you need everything else just leave alone.

Re-run your tests with only the benchmark program running and download HWinfo https://www.hwinfo.com/

Post screenshot with sensor portion of HWinfo and your test results.

Great, thanks for this.  I’m going to test it when I get home later.  

[ddennis002]

1 minute ago, KazInVan said:

Great, thanks for this.  I’m going to test it when I get home later.  

Let me know what your results are. We will go from there.

[KazInVan]

9 hours ago, ddennis002 said:

Let me know what your results are. We will go from there.

Here is bios defaults, though before I reset this I was messing with manual ram timings and got a CB20 score of 514 on single core which seems very good.  I think this might be ram timing related.

 

It's bios defaults *except* sata mode is raid as I'm running two arrays (one raid 1 and one raid 0).

 

[KazInVan]

9 hours ago, ddennis002 said:

Menu: Ai Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner - D.O.C.P
Make sure memory frequancy shows 3600Mhz
Performance Bias - None

Precision Boost Overdrive
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boot Overdrive Scalar - Manual
Customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scaller - 10x
Max CPU Boost Clock Overide - 200Mhz
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - Manual
Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - 95

DRAM Timing Control
Make sure timings are correct from D.O.C.P yours should be. If any of these are wrong or set to Auto change them to the value listed.
DRAM CAS# Latency - 16
Trcdrd - 19
Trcdwr - 19
Dram RAS# PRE Time -19
DRAM RAS# ACT TIME - 39
Trc - 58

DIGI+ VRM
VDDCR CPU Current Capability - 140%
VDDCR SOC Current Capability - 130%

DRAM Voltage Sould be set from D.O.C.P set manual to 1.35v most likely or whatever voltage your memory is spec for.

VTTDDR Voltage should be set to half of your DRAM Voltage.

Under Advanced Tab
AMD CBS
NBIO Common Options
XFR Enhancement
Accept Agreement
Precision Boost Overdrive - Enable
Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - Manual
customized Precision Boost Overdrive Scalar - 10x

All other settings can be set to what you need everything else just leave alone.

Re-run your tests with only the benchmark program running and download HWinfo https://www.hwinfo.com/

Post screenshot with sensor portion of HWinfo and your test results.

This is with your settings. I notice fabric clock is 1600 and memory is 1800.  From what I know of Ryzen you want 1:1.  I'm going to go back and change it.  I also can't go to 140% on the voltage.  Mine only goes to 130 and it's show in scary red so I just set it to 120.  

 

 

 

[KazInVan]

FCLK set to 1800 so now it's in coupled mode and seems to be working better.

[KazInVan]

Looking better, though I did manage to get a 514 CB20 single core with different mem timings so might play with that a bit.

[KazInVan]

Too early to say for sure this problem is licked but bench seems fine now.

 

I started testing timings of ram, and dropped my fabric and ram speed to get faster timings.  I then noticed that DOCP profile sets ram to 3603Mhz which means fabric has to go to 1802.  What I read is that anything >1800 and you don't get the 1:1 coupling which isn't good for performance unless you get to very fast speeds.  So I dropped ram to 3533, set timings to stock (16-19-19-39) and did a slight OC on the CPU.  CB 20 is now 515 for single core, which is awesome.

 

[KazInVan]

Oh, and I tried TONS of timings and OC settings getting something even quasi stable at CL14 but much slower bandwidth.  Don't need to push my luck, this seems decent.  Even minor tweaks from here caused post issues.  I had to pull battery about 6 times tonight, no need to wrestle it more to get another 1%

 

[jGD]

3 hours ago, KazInVan said:

Oh, and I tried TONS of timings and OC settings getting something even quasi stable at CL14 but much slower bandwidth.  Don't need to push my luck, this seems decent.  Even minor tweaks from here caused post issues.  I had to pull battery about 6 times tonight, no need to wrestle it more to get another 1%

 

I have a 3800X and I get a CB score of 512 with an all core overclock at 4.4GHz at 1.28V. My chip will not run ANY core higher than 4.525 GHz, and my max stable OC is 4.475 GHz. You must have a decent piece of silicon to be able to set 4.5GHz plus 200 MHz offset. I could boot that way, but had to pull batteries a bunch at that setting.

[KazInVan]

2 hours ago, jGD said:

I have a 3800X and I get a CB score of 512 with an all core overclock at 4.4GHz at 1.28V. My chip will not run ANY core higher than 4.525 GHz, and my max stable OC is 4.475 GHz. You must have a decent piece of silicon to be able to set 4.5GHz plus 200 MHz offset. I could boot that way, but had to pull batteries a bunch at that setting.

It took hours of fiddling with it and pulling the battery to get settings that seem stable.  Pain in the butt, glad that's over

 

 

 

[ddennis002]

2 hours ago, KazInVan said:

It took hours of fiddling with it and pulling the battery to get settings that seem stable.  Pain in the butt, glad that's over

 

 

 

Very Nice, glad you got it up to your satisfaction, AMD is really a great platform its not as seemless as intel and take a good deal of tweaking but it works. I took days to get every bit of performance out of my 2700x. I ended up @ 3400Mhz on my memory from 3000Mhz and I dropped timings a little and I also put a offset under volt on my CPU even on custom water I would get up in the high 70c and the CPU was hitting 1.52v when i knew it didn't need that to get up to 4.3Ghz so I got it down to 1.42v @ 4.3Ghz and it runs great.

 

My next upgrade is going to be the 3950x when it finally comes out. I do alot of video transcoding and rendering so more cores for me will be great, I don't game as much as I use to but when I do I just play 4k 60. I have multiple VM's running on my PC for different tasks and such so its a very rounded system. For the price compaired to Intel you cannot beat it.

[KazInVan]

34 minutes ago, ddennis002 said:

Very Nice, glad you got it up to your satisfaction, AMD is really a great platform its not as seemless as intel and take a good deal of tweaking but it works. I took days to get every bit of performance out of my 2700x. I ended up @ 3400Mhz on my memory from 3000Mhz and I dropped timings a little and I also put a offset under volt on my CPU even on custom water I would get up in the high 70c and the CPU was hitting 1.52v when i knew it didn't need that to get up to 4.3Ghz so I got it down to 1.42v @ 4.3Ghz and it runs great.

 

My next upgrade is going to be the 3950x when it finally comes out. I do alot of video transcoding and rendering so more cores for me will be great, I don't game as much as I use to but when I do I just play 4k 60. I have multiple VM's running on my PC for different tasks and such so its a very rounded system. For the price compaired to Intel you cannot beat it.

Thanks, I'm happy with the result.  Definitely not as seamless as Intel, that platform seems far more tolerant of ram timings, etc. Still, nice to see a good bump in performance overall.  Now I can finally install the rest of my software

 

Thanks for your help.

 

The 3950X looks like a monster, I'm sure that will crush video work.  I'm going to wait for 4000 series Ryzen and hopefully that will be a drop-in upgrade in 12-18 months.  That and a PCIE 4 SSD and I should be good for another performance bump.