Undervolting seems almost mandatory for Ryzen 5000

[Hans Power]

I undervolted my R5 5600x almost instantly after buying it but I just did a BIOS update which always resets my settings so I thought I'd take the chance to let the system run at stock voltage and see how it performs with my relatively new Scythe Fuma 2. So, first, albeit increased, temps are still fine, although the cooler certainly spun up a bit more often. However, boost clocks are so much more stable after undervolting the CPU. It makes about a ~200 MHZ difference while boosting under heavy load. Undervolted, even under full load tested with OCCT, the CPU is almost always boosting all cores to 4650Mhz. Unless you get a real dud of a CPU, I think it's almost mandatory - my undervolt of -30...things (not sure what MSI's measurement is in this case) runs without any stability issues whatsoever for weeks, now, it boosts significantly higher, I get lower case temps and longevity is likely to be improved, although the latter is probably a moot point. So, what's your experience? Did you try it? Did the silicone lottery treat you well in that regard?

 

Just to make sure everyone is on the same page - this is not about older attempts at overvolting Ryzen but the new(er) with official BIOS support. This explains very well how it's done:

 

[Guest]

Since Ryzen is monitoring it's own temps, when you under-volt it boosts better because of the better therms.

 

I suppose with adequate cooling, you could leave the v-core stock and that would have the same effect. 

 

However most stock coolers are only built to handle it's rated TDP, often times near throttle temps and you get poor sustained boost clocks as a result.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by ShrimpBrime
spelling corrections

[Hans Power]

On 4/10/2021 at 8:22 PM, ShrimpBrime said:

Since Ryzen is monitoring it's own temps, when you under-volt it boosts better because of the better therms.

 

I suppose with adequate cooling, you could leave the v-core stock and that would have the same effect. 

 

However most stock coolers are only built to handle it's rated TDP, often times near throttle temps and you get poor sustained boost clocks as a result.

 

 

I think if anything it has more to do with the PBO limits you disable during the process. Cause the clocks were dropping even right from the start before reaching any significantly high temperatures. I need to check how it works with disabled PBO limits but without undervolting eventually.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Hans Power said:

I think if anything it has more to do with the PBO limits you disable during the process. Cause the clocks were dropping even right from the start before reaching any significantly high temperatures. I need to check how it works with disabled PBO limits but without undervolting eventually.

You're restricted by PPT and EDC limits mainly, the restriction being power measured in amps.

 

So with Ryzen master open, you can increase EDC limiter and it'll boost higher.

 

With PBO disabled, the cpu should run only its max p-state. 

With PBO on auto, that is default boosting and PBO enabled should give a little better performance. Lower temps = better with auto and enabled, so a negative offset should help thermals.

 

However, the cpu will not boost past its max boost state in any situation even if sub ambient temps are applied. Then, you must manually overclock.

[schwellmo92]

You used curve optimiser, it’s not the same as a traditional undervolt because you’re not actually undervolting at all you’re moving the voltage frequency curve. Each tick is 2-3mv. It allows you to get higher clocks for less voltage.